Yuko Kitchen

Yuko Kitchen has been serving Japanese comfort food in Los Angeles since 2009, and over the years it has grown into one of the leafiest places in the city to order a matcha latte. Chef Yuko Watanabe runs two locations, the original in Miracle Mile and a downtown outpost in the Historic Core, both of them packed with hanging ferns and hand-painted murals. Watanabe grew up cooking with her parents in the Japanese countryside and worked as a pastry chef in her teens, then moved to Los Angeles at 21 and found work as a sushi chef. The greenery arrived much later, and it is our favorite thing about this place. When the dining rooms sat empty in 2020 with the chairs turned upside down on the tables, she started filling them with plants and never stopped. Ferns, pothos and rubber plants now run from the tables to the ceiling in both dining rooms. Most are for sale, though she keeps a few of the longtime ones because they are, in her words, so happy here. On the matcha side, both kitchens pour an organic matcha latte, a Strawberry Matcha Latte, and a Matcha Latte Boba that drops to four dollars at happy hour every afternoon. Green tea then takes over the cookie case, which is the part worth planning around: a Green Tea Choco-Chip, a Green Tea Sesame, a vegan Green Tea Strawberry, and a Green Tea Marshmallow Blondie shot through with roasted sesame.