The first restaurant from the guys behind Jon & Vinny’s, Animal paved the way for half the dining trends LA has seen in the past decade, small plates and loud rap included. The place closed in March 2020 like everything else, but the doors stayed shut until very recently. Now, they’re back and we can tell you that this Fairfax spot hasn’t changed a whole bunch. That is a good thing. You’ll still find a sparsely “decorated” room, Biggie blasting, and a bunch of familiar dishes. Some are slightly tweaked—you now have to spread your own chicken liver on toast, the hamachi tostada is a lot less loaded than it used to be—but you’ll find classics like the bone burger and crispy pig ear essentially unchanged. There are some delicious newcomers on the menu too, including chicken oyster yakitori served with a salty crème fraiche and some fantastic braised rabbit with a boozy vin jaune sauce. Even if all that nostalgia means nothing to you, one dinner here and you’ll understand why it’s a place we get all starry-eyed about.