Now that coffee concoctions have nowhere left to go, the pick-me-up beverage of choice for adventurous gourmands is tea. Zen Zoo, with three LA locations, may revolutionize the movement—much like the way Starbucks did coffee—with tea lattes, frappes and "Zenfusions" modeled on the Chinese zodiac.

Despite drinks made with coconut, passion fruit and black tapioca boba pearls, this isn't a gimmicky place; the fun, unfussy Zen Zoo also serves regular cups of black, herbal and especially good green tea. And by "cup" we mean "gargantuan mug," which is accompanied by a tea-timer made of three small hourglasses. (Depending on how strong you like your cuppa, you pull out the teabag after three, four or five minutes.) Skip the crumpet-like items in the deli case and opt instead for the popular ginger chicken salad, or tender dumplings and potstickers that are shareable after a movie at the nearby ArcLight. The edamame's no better the frozen bags at Trader Joe's, but the baos—small, steamed sandwiches with fillings like barbecue pork—are fluffier than we often find elsewhere. Live bamboo in vases affixed to the wall add a necessary green touch to this urban-mall location, which is larger than it seems. The few tables on the ground floor fill quickly, but upstairs there are more tables, plus a semi-enclosed alcove and a corner booth that can accommodate half a dozen with views out the windows and down the stairs. —Laurie Pike