Overview 101 Best Restaurants in L.A. is the Los Angeles Times' annual ranking of the city's restaurants, and the event is the night the list comes out, with the chefs on it cooking in one room. Critic Bill Addison and the Times food team build the list; the 2025 list put a food hall at No. 1. For 2026 the Times folded the reveal into Food Bowl, its grand-tasting weekend, and scheduled the full countdown to run live on stage for the first time. On site The format is a walk-around tasting: restaurants from the list pour and plate signature bites at their own stations while a stage runs cooking demos, DJ sets and the countdown itself. The published 2026 countdown-night lineup included Alta Adams, Baroo, Budonoki, Darling, Dunsmoor, Funke, Holbox, Kato, Komal, Saffy's, Sqirl, Two Hommes and Wilde's. A VIP lounge sits apart from the floor, and a printed 101 Best guide is handed out at the event and sent to Times subscribers the following Sunday. Audience The Times describes the room as chefs, restaurant owners, food media and the diners who follow the list, and the night is built for them to meet: guests can talk to the cooks behind the restaurants and to the Times food editors who ranked them. It is 21 and over, and tickets are all-inclusive, so guests eat and drink their way around the full floor. Track record The Times says its 2025 event marketing campaign delivered more than 129 million advertising impressions, which it valued at over $1.5 million in media. At Food Bowl 2025, Cathay Pacific parked a full aircraft fuselage on site and ran a ticket giveaway from it. Brand presence Partners get a customizable activation space on the tasting floor, from 10 by 10 feet up to 10 by 30, plus logo placement on event signage, the Food Bowl website, pre-event emails and print ads, and an ad in the 101 Best print guide. The two largest integrations are the Cooking Stage, where a sponsor's product can sit inside the chef demos, and the VIP lounge. A brand can also add presenting rights on the livestreamed countdown show or take over an immersive facade build.