Let’s face it, from time to time, we all enjoy going out for a bite to eat. And based on our schedule, or culinary confidence, some of us rarely cook. But when we do eat out, and especially when we get take out, food vendors tend to pack our leftovers or takeaway items in plastic. From the food container to the plastic utensils wrapped in plastic, all placed in a plastic bag, one could easily fill a trash bag just with take away/leftover accessories.

And sure, some easy ways to reduce this is to bring your own containers, to carry your own utensils, and to skip out on the plastic bag in favor of your fabric bag. And if you’re already doing that, that’s amazing! But we have to be realistic. Not all of us are willing to do this, and some people simply don’t care enough to change.

Fortunately for everyone, some restaurants have stepped up to reduce their waste voluntarily. In Los Angeles, the list seems to grow every month! Here is our compilation of low/zero waste restaurants and cafes in the Los Angeles area.

If you’d like to add your venue, or your favorite venue, comment below with their information!

Palette Food and Juice – Los Angeles

Recommended to us by several happy patrons, Palette Food and Juice serves water by request only in adorable metal cups. They have many vegan options, and compost their food scraps. They are also allow customer’s to use their own containers for take away and leftovers.

Kye’s – Santa Monica

From their compostable packaging to their promise to compost, Kye’s is a dream restaurant come true. They’re a Santa Monica Certified Green Business and they also cater school lunches!

The Plot – Oceanside

The Plot is a plant based restaurant that strives to reduce their waste output to zero! They’re brand new to the scene, so show them some love and check them out!

A vegan restaurant and cafe, Plant Food + Wine uses compostable takeaway containers and utensils. They strive to use the as much of the food as possible to avoid wastage, and to compost food scraps in order to avoid contributing organics to landfill.

Bel Air Bar + Grill – Los Angeles

Reservations recommended. Bel Air is working hard to reduce their impact by composting, carbonating their water in-house to avoid single-use cans or bottles, and

Yalla – Los Angeles

This bright and cheery Mediterranean only distributes 100% compostable packaging from their containers to their utensils and everything in between, which is great, because they cater!

Bar Nine – Los Angeles

B.Y.O.Mug. No, for real, if you want takeaway that is. Because Bar Nine will only serve up their delicious beverages in glass. But you know what, if you forgot, they’ll let you borrow a glass. Just make sure to return it. Honor systems melt my heart. Bar Nine serves their baked goods compostable packaging. And just as exciting? They use solar power!

Food Vendors and restaurants that will use customer’s containers:

In addition to the venues listed above, the following restaurants are happy to utilize the customer’s containers instead of their own takeaway containers. Whereas these restaurants are not necessarily low/zero waste, and may still distribute some optional single-use plastic items, the fact that they voluntarily decided to learn the hygienic standards imposed by California law (AB-619) in order to safely allow customer’s to use their own containers means a lot to us!

We wanted to give them a mention too!

Gracias Madre – Newport Beach / West Hollywood

De nada, padre. Another customer recommendations that aims to please! Gracias Madre serves up their cocktails with paper straws and is happy to package any left overs in the customer’s containers. They step it up with fancy cloth napkins which adds a touch of elegance and doesn’t waste paper. But if you are getting delivery, they even give you an option to opt out from receiving single-use utensils. Awesome!

Antigua Bread – Highland Park

Antigua Bread serves up breakfast all day, lunch, dinner, and everything in between. Antigua Bread is very aware of their waste output, diverting 50% of their waste from landfills by recycling and composting.

Preux and Proper – Downtown LA

Owner Joshua Kopen and Chef Sammy Mansour are making great strides when it comes to reducing restaurant waste and in less than a year, diverted 45% of their landfill waste. Keep up the great work!

Burger IM – Lake Baboa

Burger IM Franchising is happy to package their food on your serving ware or in your containers.

Mom’s BBQ House – Van Nuys

Mom’s BBQ House – Customers have reported that Mom’s has no problem scooping their servings into your own, clean containers. This business has been around for 30 years!

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Honorable Mention:

Restauranteur Sam Fox, who owns several restaurant chains, is working toward utilizing compostable packaging in his restaurants. In the meantime, he’s happy to have customer’s bring their own containers instead of using single-use items. (Source)

His LA based restaurants include:

The Henry – West Hollywood

Flower Child – Santa Monica / Del Mar / Newport Beach

More Resources:

How to become a “Zero Waste” Restaurant

LA Guide: Ocean Friendly Restaurants

Images: Pixabay