LA Times: The Latest and Greatest L.A. Restaurants The latest and greatest L.A. restaurants don't fit into one category--unless you count eagerly anticipated By S. Irene Virbila June 19 2005 Those of us who live and breathe restaurants have had a tough time. It's the first year that I can remember when so many major restaurants have straggled late to the finish line, shanghaied by permit or partner problems, design glitches or that old standby—money. We've had to sit back and wait for this or that anticipated place to open, clogging a prospective restaurant's answering machine with messages, crossing out plans to dine at the new spot again and again.