The best places to eat and drink this month, according to our food writers

It’s awards season and our restaurant scene deserves recognition. Weeks of catastrophic wildfires were particularly devastating to local restaurants and food businesses, with many damaged or destroyed and contending with loss of business and smaller staffs as a result.

But those challenges haven’t discouraged chefs and restaurateurs from stepping up to provide continuous aid to those affected, including free community meals, fundraisers for wildfire relief and initiatives to help displaced fire victims replace home kitchen equipment.

And new spots continue to open, keeping our dining scene as fresh and exciting as ever. In Koreatown, a Hong Kong-inspired cafe launched a small-batch creamery next door. In downtown L.A., new vendors are switching things up at Smorgasburg L.A.’s weekly market. Recent debuts also include a pair of New York-founded restaurants landing in splashy West Coast digs and the expansion of a handful of locally renowned pastry shops.

If you want to stick to tried-and-true staples, you can’t go wrong with a family-owned chicken pot pie institution, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, or San Gabriel Valley spots specializing in rou jia mo, the world’s oldest sandwich, which hails from the Shaanxi province in China.

Here are 25 places to add to your dining schedule this month, including a vegan Filipino bakery in Long Beach, budget-friendly charcoal-grilled skewers in Torrance and a new seafood restaurant on Melrose.