Looking for Mediterranean food in Koreatown is a slightly wrong question with a genuinely useful answer. Koreatown proper — the blocks between Vermont and Western, Beverly and Olympic — has almost no Levantine cooking in it. What it has is a ring: a Greek and Armenian belt along Pico to the south, an Armenian and Lebanese belt along Hollywood Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard to the north, and both within a fifteen-minute drive of Wilshire and Western. The ring is where the food is, and one end of it changed permanently last year.
The Levantine food near Koreatown is spread around it rather than inside it, and the neighbourhood's oldest anchor is gone. Ask Karpo which of these kitchens is open now and which side of K-town to drive toward.
The Anchor That Closed After 77 Years
Papa Cristo's at 2771 West Pico Boulevard closed on 4 May 2025. It had been trading since 1948 — a Greek market with a taverna attached, in the stretch of Pico known as the Byzantine-Latino Quarter, a few minutes south of Koreatown. For three generations it was the single most reliable answer to this question, and it is worth being direct about the fact that it is not coming back.
This matters beyond nostalgia because of what the shop was: a market first. You could eat there, but you could also buy the olive oil, the feta by weight, the dried oregano on the stalk and the phyllo. That combined format — grocery and kitchen in one room — is the traditional shape of Greek and Levantine business in Los Angeles, and there is now one fewer of them.
The Northern Arc: East Hollywood
The strongest surviving concentration sits north of Koreatown, in the Armenian and Lebanese blocks of East Hollywood. Marouch has been running there since 1982, which makes it one of the longest-standing Armenian and Lebanese kitchens in the city, and the longevity is the recommendation — this is not a room chasing a trend.
Order structurally rather than by dish. Levantine menus of this kind are built around a table of small plates that arrive together, and the mistake is treating them as starters before a grill order. Hummus, muhammara, tabbouleh, labneh and a plate of pickles is a complete meal for two people, and adding a mixed grill on top of it is how you end up carrying home most of what you paid for.
Further along Hollywood Boulevard, Levant Mediterranean Restaurant at 5527 Hollywood Boulevard covers similar ground in a smaller, more casual format. Between the two, the northern arc is the reliable half of this map — closer to Koreatown than the Pico blocks, and busier in the evening.
Open Sesame and the Lebanese Argument
Open Sesame at 7458 Beverly Boulevard is the room to know if you want Lebanese cooking done properly with a schedule you can plan around. It runs 3pm to 10pm Monday to Wednesday and midday to 10pm Thursday through Sunday, with later closes at the weekend.
The Monday-to-Wednesday 3pm opening is the detail that catches people: there is no weekday lunch. If your plan involves eating before three on a Tuesday, this is not the address. From Thursday it opens at midday and behaves like a normal all-day restaurant, which makes it a much better Thursday-to-Sunday proposition than a midweek one.
What to order here is the chicken tawook and the falafel, in that order, and then whatever dip the room is proudest of that week. Lebanese kitchens in Los Angeles tend to be judged on the grill; they are usually better judged on the mezze.
Why the Ring Exists At All
The geography is not random. Los Angeles's Armenian and Lebanese communities settled heavily in East Hollywood and Glendale, and the Greek community around Pico and Normandie, both patterns that predate Koreatown taking its current shape in the 1970s and 1980s. The result is a Korean core with a Mediterranean perimeter, and the perimeter is old.
Practically, that means you should stop searching for Mediterranean food in Koreatown and start searching around it. Fifteen minutes north gets you Armenian and Lebanese; twelve minutes south-west gets you what remains of the Greek blocks on Pico. Both are closer than the Westside options that a map will otherwise push you toward, and both are considerably cheaper.
Building a Meal Out of It
A sensible plan for a first pass: go north in the evening, order mezze-first at one of the East Hollywood rooms, and skip the grill entirely on the first visit so you can see what the kitchen actually does. Save the Pico blocks for a daytime trip, when the remaining markets along that stretch are open and the trip is as much about shopping as eating.
Parking is easier on both arcs than in Koreatown itself. East Hollywood has metered street parking that turns over reasonably, and the Pico blocks have surface lots. Neither requires valet, which after a few weeks of eating around Wilshire feels like a small holiday in itself.
Practical notes
Marouch, East Hollywood — Armenian and Lebanese, open since 1982; order mezze-first. Levant Mediterranean Restaurant & Catering, 5527 Hollywood Blvd — smaller, more casual, same broad region. Open Sesame, 7458 Beverly Blvd — Monday to Wednesday 3pm to 10pm, Thursday to Sunday midday to 10pm with later weekend closes; no weekday lunch Monday to Wednesday. Papa Cristo's, 2771 W Pico Blvd — closed 4 May 2025 after operating since 1948. East Hollywood has metered street parking; the Pico blocks have surface lots, and neither arc requires valet. Hours change; confirm before you drive over.
Tags: #mediterraneanfood #levantinefood #losangelesfood #easthollywood #koreatown #lebanesefood #armenianfood #greekfood #mezze #opensesame #marouch #papacristos #laeats #losangelesguide
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Ask Karpo first
The Levantine belt around Koreatown keeps uneven hours and has lost one of its oldest anchors. Ask Karpo which of these kitchens is open at the hour you are heading out, whether you should be driving north to East Hollywood or south-west to Pico, and what to order once you are sitting down.
