L.A. Chefs Share Their Favorite Restaurant Dishes

Though chefs admittedly survive on cobbled together staff meals and quick bites during their work week, our city's toques do enjoy a proper bite from time to time. That is, when they're not slaving away over the stoves at their own restaurants.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the dishes that chefs crave veer far away from the cuisine that they're cooking on a daily basis. Michael Cimarusti of Providence, for instance, digs the belgian fries at Wurstkuche. (We don't blame him for wanting to unwind with a beer and some fries after presenting such intricate plates of seafood week in and week out.) Similarly, Ricardo Zarate of Mo-Chica and Picca goes for Umami's hatch burger with green chiles, which he says is spicy but not overpowering.

Sunset Magazine compiled a list of these dishes and more in their annual food issue, which just hit the stands, and with it came a story on our local chefs' favorite dishes around town.

Other chefs included are John Sedlar of Rivera, who just so happens to adore the butterscotch budino at Osteria Mozza as much as we do.

And offering up some more affordable, low-brow cuisine is Roy Choi of A-Frame, Chego, KogiBBQ Truck, and Sunny Spot

 and Susan Feniger of STREET. Choi a loyal fan of Din Tai Fung's soup dumplings, which he says are worth the long lines. And Feniger loves the Godmother sandwich from Bay Cities Italian Deli, made with Italian cold cuts, mustard, mayo and spicy sauce.

A big nod came to the folks at Red Medicine in the form of some love from none other than Wolfgang Puck, who said that Jordan Kahn's Wagyu beef brisket is his favorite dish in town. Puck says that it's braised perfectly, and can feed a whole family. Which is nice, because Wolf told us in a recent interview that he cooks for his family nightly. After doing double time in his restaurants and at home, he deserves a night off.