You might expect a restaurant from the opening chef of Pizzeria Mozza to be jammed from the moment it opened, and you wouldn't be surprised to find quartinos of crisp Italian white wine. Diligent ingredient sourcing would practically be a given, as would be the wood-burning oven and the complex small-plate vegetable preparations. What you probably wouldn't expect would be that Bryant Ng's Spice Table serves not regional Italian dishes but chefly riffs on the multicultural street food of Singapore, including Hainan chicken rice; thin, bouncy kon lo mee noodles with chashu; crumbles of ground pork and braised choi sum; and the perfect crossover dish of sambal potatoes — basically Mozza's fried potatoes smeared with spicy chile paste. If Ng has a specialty, it is probably his satay, the skewered, marinated meat, grilled over a live fire, which is a Malay mainstay in Singapore, and the lamb belly satay is especially magnificent, crusted black and spurting gamy juice. And if Spice Table is running offal as a special — it often is — it is essential, especially the tripe, which becomes pure smoke and sex over the flames. After dinner, there is soft-serve ice cream flavored with palm sugar or kumquat — and, better yet, industrial-strength Vietnamese filter coffee, brewed at table, mixed with condensed milk and stirred into a glass of ice. 114 S. Central Ave., Little Tokyo. (213) 620-1840, thespicetable.com. Lunch, Mon.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; dinner, Mon.-Wed., 5:30-11 p.m.; Thurs.-Sat., 5:30 p.m.-mid. Beer and wine. Partially validated lot parking in lot on First Street at Central Avenue. AE, MC, V. Singaporean.

99 Essential L.A. Restaurants 2011:

Jonathan Gold's Introduction
Anne Fishbein's Photos
The Google Map

The List:

A-Frame
Akasha
Alcazar
Angeli Caffe
Angelini Osteria
Animal
Antojitos Carmen
Attari
Babita
Bludso's
Border Grill
Bottega Louie
Bulgarini Gelato
Cacao
Campanile
Casa Bianca
Chang's Garden
Chego
Chichén Itzá
Chung King
Church & State
Ciro's
Comme Ça
Cut
Dae Bok
Din Tai Fung
Drago Centro
El Huarache Azteca
El Parian
Elvirita's
Euro Pane Bakery
Eva
Fab Hot Dogs
Father's Office
Fig
Gjelina
Golden Deli
Golden State
Good Girl Dinette
The Gorbals
Guelaguetza
Guisados
Huckleberry
Hungry Cat
Ink.
Jar
Jitlada
Kiriko
Kobawoo
La Casita Mexicana
Langer's
Larkin's
Lazy Ox Canteen
Le Comptoir
Little Dom's
Lou
Lucques
LudoBites
Lukshon
Mantee
Marouch
Mayura
Meals by Genet
Mélisse
Mezze
Mo-Chica
Mother Dough
Mozza
Musso & Frank Grill
Nem Nuong Khanh Hoa
Newport Tan Cang Seafood Restaurant
The Nickel
Night + Market
Oinkster
101 Noodle Express
Palate Food + Wine
Park's Barbecue
Picca
Playa
Pollos a la Brasa
Providence
Ray's
Red Medicine
Rivera
Rustic Canyon
Salt's Cure
Sapp Coffee Shop
Sea Harbour
Son of a Gun
Sotto
Spago
Spice Table
Street
Tacos Baja Ensenada
Tasting Kitchen
Terroni
Tsujita L.A.
Vincenti
Waterloo & City

 

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