Red Hill Restaurant | Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA

Echo Park's Red Hill

We're willing to bet that hipster-heavy Echo Park tends toward the left side of the political spectrum.

But the new Red Hill is named after an even more radical era in the neighborhood.

During the late 1910s, a thriving anarchist commune located above Cerro Gordo Street helped the neighborhood earn the nickname Red Hill. Late in 2011, Local owner Jason Michaud opened a new restaurant just off of Sunset that takes Echo Park's old moniker as its own.

With cheap prices and plenty of local-ish craft beer, Red Hill practices culinary populism rather than anarchism. And considering that main courses like lamb braised in Telegraph Stock Porter and chiles–the rich beer and touch of heat accentuating the flavorful meat–only cost 15 bucks, the consistent crowds are understandable.

The only aspect of Red Hill that speaks even vaguely of the commune is the way plates are delivered: one by one, as dishes are ready, starters and entrées alike.

So even if your dining partner orders the beer-steamed mussels with sausage and mint ($12) and you order the half-chicken ($14), you'll either end up sharing or having to sit awkwardly while the other person eats.

It's delicious collectivism in bourgeois dining.

Red Hill, 1325 Echo Park Ave., Echo Park; 213-482-0886 or redhillrestaurant.com