The past few years have been good to Ventura Boulevard and a great range of new options for dining and drinking have been popping up. Studio City’s Sushi Row maintains its status, but has been paired with a growing cadre of places to eat and drink that don’t necessarily involve rice and fish. Sherman Oaks’ classic restaurant row on its eastern end is starting to make a comeback after feeling a bit stale over the last decade. Meanwhile, new places are opening westward, injecting a life to a part of town we don’t often think of.

LOCAL ICE

Local Ice is where you can satisfy your sweet tooth with their selection of organic ice cream or Italian ice. Their flavors are often quite traditional—think vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, mint, java—but they have a few fun flavors that pop up, like lemon blueberry or apple pie, too. The Italian Ice is great for the lactose intolerant and comes in a number of fruity flavors, plus chocolate. All of their ice cream is made on-site in small batches with a small number of organic ingredients. —Juliet Bennett Rylah

Local Ice is located at 12747 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City (it’s near the back of the strip mall), (818) 505-8111.