The 2024 Eater LA Holiday Gift Guide

The season for giving has arrived, with Los Angeles-based producers, roasters, and craftspeople assembling deliciously inventive (or just plain delicious) items for your favorite food lover. In a world with TikToks flashing on phone screens or Amazon items getting discarded within days, these gifts will delight friends and family for longer with something sweet, savory, or hopefully very useful in the kitchen. Here is Eater LA’s guide to the most thoughtful gifts around town, including a celebrity-backed sparkling wine, a soba-making kit, and even some ready-to-eat lobster rolls.

Snibbs Clogs This do-it-all clog will be right at home anywhere a supremely comfortable (but still sleek) shoe is needed. From working the line in a professional kitchen to preparing an extravagant meal at home, or even those early-morning farmers market runs, it’s hard to resist slipping on a pair of Snibbs. Buy this for the dinner party aficionado who keeps complaining about sore feet or the sous chef in your life who is looking for a little more support at work.



Note: Snibbs has pairs that aren’t quite this flashy, like dark gray or black vegan leather. Luke’s Lobster Roll Kit While a trip to the Maine coast to go lobstering may not be in the cards this holiday, the Luke’s Lobster roll kit is just as good. The kit comes with everything needed to make a restaurant-quality lobster roll right at home, including fresh-caught lobster and New England-style split-top buns.

Just let the lobster thaw in the fridge for one day, and dress however you like (a little warm butter or even mayonnaise works). For good measure, Luke’s throws in a wild blueberry pie from Two Fat Cats bakery in Portland, Maine. The company recently made its first expansion to the West Coast with a restaurant in Santa Monica just steps from the beach.

Messermeister’s Edward Lee Chef’s Knife Louisville-based chef Edward Lee has obtained global recognition thanks to his appearance on the Netflix cooking competition Culinary Class Wars , which was produced in South Korea. Lee’s limited edition collaboration 8-inch chef’s knife comes from Ojai-based Messermeister, made in Japan by artisans, and secured by a charred Maker’s Mark bourbon barrel wood handle. This is a stunning piece that will impress any hardcore cook, and a portion of the proceeds go to the Lee Initiative supporting increased diversity and equity in the restaurant industry.

Mise’s Soba Kit Mise, a specialty shop inside Little Tokyo’s Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, has a very cool $100 soba kit with “half raw” noodles made in Nagano, natural dashi packet, ceramic cups from Gifu, and a gold grater for the perfect textured wasabi and ginger. The noodles in particular will be better than what’s typically available even in Japanese markets, with a superior texture and flavor. An optional $20 Japanese wrapping cloth called a furoshiki completes the traditional presentation.

Agnes Tinned Fish Club Tinned fish is still pretty hot, and the club works as a great gift for canned sardine aficionados. Pasadena’s Agnes will curate a box with three different fish tins, recipes, and accoutrements for $65 a month — a recent pack touted Matiz mussels in olive oil and vinegar, tuna pate, and sardines in escabeche. Valerie Confections’ Grand Assortment Sometimes, a simple box of chocolates is the best gift — something to enjoy over a few weeks with an espresso or after a filling dinner at home.

One of Los Angeles’s most adored chocolatiers, Valerie, is now celebrating 20 years of business with a 31-piece grand assortment. The box features almond fleur de sel toffee, mint toffee, black pepper truffles, scotch truffles, liquid caramel bon bons, almond toffee, and 72-percent cacao bon bons, so there’s something new for every day (or hour). The Joint’s DAFG Scissors The DAFG (short for Dry Aged Fish Guy) scissors are a super useful kitchen tool for avid home cooks.

The Joint in Sherman Oaks (founded by Liwei Liao, the DAFG) sells these shippable scissors in two sizes: The original green spec that can break down everything from fish and poultry to shellfish and game, and the more nimble yellow pair with a shorter blade for more cutting power. Fly By Jing’s Ultimate Sichuan Noodle Kit Los Angeles-based chile oil company Fly By Jing released a new set of wavy Sichuan noodles that can be prepared within minutes. Sun-dried and just aching for various kinds of sauces, these packets can serve one hungry appetite apiece or make two shareable servings.

Get creative with sliced vegetables and protein, and finish off each bowl with Jing Gao’s crave-worthy chile oils, like the peanut-laden Chengdu Crunch. Camphor’s Wine and Candle Arts District restaurant Camphor, an ode to upscale French bistros, has a custom candle made by Nepo Latrop that burns for up to 60 hours with notes of black currant, sandalwood, bergamot, and, of course, camphor. And for the oenophiles: The Michelin-starred restaurant also has its own rosé from Valle de Guadalupe made with Sangiovese grapes for something crisp and versatile.

Copa Vida’s Dreo Milk Frother and Coffee Kit Pasadena coffee company Copa Vida is offering a handy three-piece set with two bags of its coffee, including one espresso roast, and a Dreo milk frother that founder Steve Chang says can make foamed milk “better than 90 percent of baristas.” The frequently out-of-stock frother normally costs $100 retail, which means this kit, with its 1.5 pounds of beans, is a solid deal for coffee lovers.

[Note, the item will be available for purchase after November 22, 2024] Porto’s Bakery Favorites This Los Angeles-based Cuban bakery has myriad fans around the world, so much so that folks often hand-carry boxes to the airport to deliver to friends and family. Make that process easier by just shipping the par-baked treats, in both savory and sweet versions, that feature popular items like potato balls, guava-cheese rolls, and the sugar-topped cheese rolls. Pull them out of the freezer and warm up for about 20 minutes for something equivalent to the caramelized goodness served in the bakeries.

Giadzy’s Pandoro Los Angeles-based celebrity chef Giada de Laurentiis is going full Goop with her stylish line of tomatoes, pastas (both regular and gluten-free), and Italian holiday breads. The pandoro, a glorious eight-pointed sweet bread enriched by butter and eggs, is a nice complement to the holiday season’s more typical panettone sightings. Dust it with powdered sugar for something that looks worthy of royalty.

Nice Coffee Roasters Never run out of coffee again with a subscription to Los Angeles-based Nice Coffee coffee roasters. Pick up a monthly bag of beans from its Downtown LA location, or have them shipped directly to your door. The beans, either single-origin or blended, rotate each month depending on the roaster’s choice, so there will always be something new to try.

Gucci Osteria’s Panettone There’s a lot of panettone out there, but for a truly luxurious holiday treat, there’s no better bet than Gucci Osteria’s panettone. Opt for the traditional with raisins and candied orange peels dotted throughout, or try the special panettone which adds in candied pears and chocolate. Both options come in an exclusive decorative tin with a touch of that Italian-born Gucci flair.

Hedley & Bennett’s Star Wars Beskar Knives Hedley & Bennett has reimagined its chef’s knife, bread knife, and utility knife to look like they could belong in Star Wars . The Japan-forged 67-layered folded Damascus steel blades have taken on the look of Beskar, one of the strongest alloys in the Star Wars universe. It may not be a lightsaber, but this will indeed have you feeling like a Jedi in the kitchen.

Amrikan by Khushbu Shah Former Food & Wine restaurants editor Khushbu Shah has published her first cookbook chock full of recipes inspired by the Indian American diaspora. In Amrikan , Shah reimagines chevdo, an Indian snack mix, with Chex, and even offers a dupe for McDonald’s India McSpicy Paneer sandwich. The cookbook is emotional, personal, and irreverent — a good read even beyond its compelling recipes.

Crumbs by Ben Mims Dive into the world of baking with former Los Angeles Time s cooking columnist Ben Mims in his cookie-focused cookbook, Crumbs . The recipes in the book feature handheld sweet treats from around the world, including a citrus-infused Greek butter cookie often served around Easter. Eataly’s Viva L’Italia Gift Box Give the gift of a trip to Eataly this holiday season, without having to book a trip to Europe.

This gift box has everything you need to bring the spirit of Rome home with bucatini, coffee, hazelnut spread, olives, and more. Viarae Sparkling Wine Insecure actress Issa Rae launched a new sparkling wine last year called Viarae — a Black woman-owned label that makes for a festive gift this winter. The flavors are crisp and easy with notes of peach and apple, pairing with basically anything or great on its own.

A prosecco rosé comes in a clear bottle to show its pink color, and tastes of strawberry, citrus, and honeysuckle. Buy online or locally at places like Sprouts. Art Direction by Julia Hess Sign up for our newsletter.

Check your inbox for a welcome email. Oops. Something went wrong.

Please enter a valid email and try again..