Saddle Peak Lodge

Once Ernest Hemingway’s favorite post-hunting hang-out, this historical stone and timber lodge in the Santa Monica Mountains has been repurposed as a gourmet game restaurant with one of the most unusual menus in Los Angeles. The speciality of the house is the seared New Zealand elk tenderloin, but the chef also serves buffalo, venison, quail, and antelope to gourmands who have by and large never sullied their hands on a hunting rifle. But aside from the food and the 50-page award-winning wine list, not much has changed here since the place was built in 1920—from the rawhide pillars to the bent willow armchairs to the crackling hearth and romantic view.