Firstborn: Where to Eat in Los Angeles

With a tasting menu, the kitchen plans your evening. At Firstborn, that kitchen belongs to chef-owner Anthony Wang. The menu changes with the seasons and sits where Chinese-American cooking meets classic European technique.

It is new to Chinatown, and it has already made a national list. Yelp’s 2026 Best New Restaurants ranking put Firstborn at #2. That is reason enough to plan ahead instead of hoping to walk in.

A tasting menu in Chinatown

You are signing up for a sequence of courses, not a menu to order from. That format shapes your whole night. You give the evening a fixed block of time, the courses come at the kitchen’s pace, and you don’t spend the meal arguing over shared plates.

Firstborn changes its menu with the seasons, so we won’t list dishes here. Anything we named could already be gone. Take the menu as you find it on the night.

The setting is part of the appeal. Los Angeles’s Chinatown sits just north of Downtown, below Elysian Park and the hill that holds Dodger Stadium. Its older restaurants and bakeries share these blocks with a growing number of newer, chef-led places. Firstborn is one of the newcomers.

Chinese-American, cooked with European technique

This pairing is the reason people book. Chinese-American food is its own cuisine, shaped by generations of immigrant cooks adapting to American ingredients and diners. Classic European technique brings a different discipline: sauces, precise cooking temperatures, careful plating and a structured run of courses.

At Firstborn, Wang puts the two together in a single seasonal menu. Expect flavours you may recognise from Chinese-American cooking, served the way a European kitchen paces a meal. The fixed sequence of courses comes from that European tradition.

Because the menu follows the seasons, a second visit in another season can bring a different meal. If you liked your first dinner, that alone justifies going back.

Why the Yelp ranking matters

Yelp’s Best New Restaurants list is built on diner reviews, not a critics’ panel. Coming in at #2 in 2026 shows that people who paid for dinner went home and wrote about it.

That has a practical side for you. Once a restaurant is that visible, its reservation book fills faster. Treat Firstborn as a booking you make days or weeks ahead, not a same-evening plan.

Getting to Chinatown

The easiest arrival is by rail. Metro’s A Line stops at Chinatown Station, an elevated platform on the neighbourhood’s eastern edge. From there you are a short walk from the streets around Broadway and Hill Street.

Other options:

• From Union Station: about a 15-minute walk north past Olvera Street, or one stop on the A Line.
• By car: Chinatown has paid lots and metered street parking, which get tighter on busy evenings.
• Rideshare: the simplest choice if you plan on drinks with dinner.

Check the Dodgers schedule. Dodger Stadium sits right above Chinatown, and on home-game nights traffic on the surrounding streets and the 110 freeway backs up badly. If your reservation falls on a game night, take the train or allow a lot of extra time.

Booking and the bill at Firstborn

A tasting menu works differently from a neighbourhood restaurant, and a few habits make the night go smoothly.

• Reserve, then confirm. Book through the restaurant’s own channels. Check the current schedule before you set out, because new restaurants often change their days and hours in the first year.
• Read the reservation terms. Many tasting-menu restaurants in Los Angeles take a card to hold the table, ask for prepayment, or charge for late cancellations. Find out which applies before you commit.
• Mention dietary needs when you book. The courses are fixed, so allergies and restrictions need to reach the kitchen early. Telling the server once you’re seated is usually too late.
• Arrive on time. In a paced meal, a table that starts late can throw off the kitchen’s timing for the whole room.
• Know how tipping works. In the US, tipping around 18 to 22 percent is standard at sit-down restaurants. Some tasting menus add a service charge instead, so check your bill before adding a tip on top.
• Expect to pay by card. Cards are the norm in Los Angeles restaurants at this level.

Pricing isn’t something we can confirm, so check the restaurant’s booking page or website for the current price. Assume a multi-course tasting menu will cost more than an à la carte dinner in the same neighbourhood.

Before and after dinner

Give yourself time on either side of the meal. Chinatown rewards a slow walk.

• Central Plaza: the pedestrian courtyard off Broadway, with its gateway and painted mid-century buildings. Coming from the station, you walk past it.
• Los Angeles State Historic Park: a wide, flat stretch of grass on the neighbourhood’s northern edge, with views of the Downtown skyline. Good for an early-evening walk before a late booking.
• Olvera Street and El Pueblo: the historic plaza at the city’s founding site, a short walk south toward Union Station.
• Union Station: the 1939 terminal, worth walking through for its waiting room alone if you arrive by train.

A tasting menu is a full meal, so arrive hungry and skip the snack stops on your way in.

Who it suits

Firstborn suits diners who enjoy giving the menu over to the kitchen. It works for a celebration, or for anyone curious how Chinese-American cooking changes in the hands of a European-trained kitchen.

It suits travellers less well if they want a quick bite between sights, or need to choose every dish themselves. If that’s you, Chinatown’s older counters and bakeries are a few minutes’ walk away.