Steps from the Third Street Promenade, Interstellar is the best breakfast and lunch option in Downtown Santa Monica. The small cafe’s Korean-American co-owners pull off lots of dishes from lots of cuisines - like bulgogi burgers, katsu curry, pasta, chilaquiles, breakfast burritos, club sandwiches, and much more. The tiny patio and interior are always filled with both locals and tourists, and many of the locals are on a first-name basis with the staff.

The curry is silky smooth, practically golden in the right light, and comes with a generous mound of rice that’s topped with a panko-crusted chicken cutlet. Slicing through the crunchy katsu with your knife, and scooping it up with a bit of rice and curry to craft the perfect bite is what it's all about. And you’ll have similar perfect-bite experiences with the breakfast burrito, turkey club, and bulgogi burger. We’ve never tried anything here that we wouldn’t fully endorse. And the dogs gobbling up whatever their owners ordered them from the dog menu probably wouldn’t disagree.