Where the Chefs Eat is an ongoing series in which we ask a local chef to give us his or her favorite dining options. This week, we check in with Allumette chef Miles Thompson.

Chef Miles Thompson eats a lot of Asian food. While his internationally-influenced menu at Allumette, the highly ambitious Echo Park restaurant that grew out of his pop up The Vagrancy Project, isn't pointedly Asian, there are a lot of obvious Chinese, Thai and Japanese flavors and ingredients here and there in Thompson's food. And so it's not surprising that much of what he eats when he's not working comes from L.A.'s great wealth of Asian restaurants. Check out Thompson's recommendations, Asian and otherwise.

7. La Isla Bonita

“The shrimp tostada is stunning. Extremely salted tostada with crema, an unapologetic amount of chopped white onions and perfectly cooked shrimp.”

6. The Original Hoy-Ka Noodle

“A very nice cleanly designed restaurant. Their tabletops are some type of rubberized material to absorb sound as well as make a sweating water glass less noticeably drippy. Their Hoy-Ka Noodle spicy is amazing, bolstered by tiny dried shrimp in the pork broth, truly dimensional. Their Sour Sausage is very sour and nicely foiled by thick slices of ginger, peanuts, cabbage, and serranos.”

See also: Where The Chefs Eat: 4 Restaurant Picks from Alma's Ari Taymor.

5. Fu's Palace

“I love the Pan-Fried Pork Dumplings (they remind me of those served in take out spots in New York) and the fact that they do weddings there! Also it's an old-school Chinese Restaurant, read: white tablecloths and servers folding your mu shoo pork pancakes for you with spoons. The cabbage and pork noodle soup is a gem.”

4. Santouka Ramen (any location)

“Go. Number 7 with a flavored egg. Everything about it is perfect ramen. Plus Mitsuwa is the happiest place in the world.”

3. Siam Sunset

“It's a Thai Breakfast spot. The Hainanese Chicken is very good, and the rice and broth it's served with are both terrific. A very fun option, often taken up after the Sunday market in Hollywood.”

2. El Comal

“My favorite dish is the birria, or goat stew, served only on the weekends. It's undeniably soulful. I also like that they make their own (fantastic) corn tortillas, the name of the restaurant is El Comal, or the pan that's used for making tortillas, so it's fitting that they would have good ones. They also have a delicious pork Milanesa.”

1. Ruen Pair

“Everything! This restaurant that is an obsession of mine and everyone who I've gone there with. I was tipped off to it by chef Frank Anderson and chef Vinny Dotolo. Favorite of favorites: Pork Jerky, Deep Fried Egg Salad, Salty Turnip and Egg Cake, Spicy Clams, Grilled Shrimp Salad (This dish was the inspiration for a dish I serve at Allumette called the Spicy Blue Prawn).”

See also:

– Allumette Review: Miles Thompson's Echo Park Restaurant Is Outrageously Ambitious

– Where The Chefs Eat archives

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