Ryla. In 2022, husband-and-wife team Ray Hayashi and Cynthia Hetlinger combined their considerable culinary experiences with their Japanese and Taiwanese backgrounds to open a lively upscale restaurant in Hermosa Beach. (He previously worked at David Lefevre’s South Bay standouts M.B. Post, the Arthur J, and Fishing with Dynamite; she spent five years at Providence.) Ryla’s modern design draws a crowd to its wraparound bar where classic cocktails, like Suntory whisky Penicillins made with ginger liqueur and honey, are crafted. There is nothing fussy or pretentious about the menu at Ryla. The food is bright, inventive, and comforting. The fried rice comes flecked with sweet Chinese sausage and pickled ginger and is buried in a thick dusting of shaved black truffles from Burgundy. Start a meal with Hokkaido milk bread with fish roe-nori spread and make your way down the menu to a main dish like the grilled New Zealand Tai snapper that comes in a pool of lime-coconut broth with mussels, daikon, and Fresno chiles. Since opening, Ryla has launched a popular brunch menu with everything from cold sesame noodles to breakfast sausage sandwiches to Taiwanese dan bing (egg crêpe).⁠ ⁠ 1220 Hermosa Ave., @eat_ryla 💰💰💰💰