One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
The Spice Table Heats Up Little Tokyo
By Maya Meinert of ShopEatSleep / Special to LAist
The Spice Table in downtown Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo is a welcome distraction from the neighborhood’s Japanese food. The restaurant at the corner of 1st Street and Central Avenue combines Singaporean and Vietnamese flavors, the culinary heritages of chef and owner Bryant Ng and his wife Kim, respectively. Ng, a former Mozza chef de cuisine, serves Southeast Asian-inspired sandwiches by day and all kinds of grilled satays, fried vegetables, noodles and more by night.
We had dinner here on a recent night, and our favorites centered on the vegetables. The sambal fried potatoes were addictive, as were the fried cauliflower florets, which were perfectly fried. The grilled eggplant with chili sauce had nice texture and was even a bit too hot for us, but our dining companions liked it. The asparagus with garlic, chives, lap cheong sausage, ginger and salted egg, on the other hand, was just how we like our veggies - with lots of flavor.
We also ordered the Black Pepper Crab Toast and the bone marrow topped with prawn sambal, both of which we would probably pass on in the future. The crab toast lacked creativity - it was simply a bunch of sautéed crab in a lightly peppered sauce (surprising, given its name) with some slices of toast served on the side. And the bone marrow, something we would normally love, tasted a little strange with the prawn sambal on top. Maybe surf-and-turf just isn’t our thing.
We did really like that night’s special: a whole pig’s tail. It was served with a dipping sauce, but I don’t think any of us used it (it looked like Vietnamese fish sauce) because the pig itself was so tasty on its own. Yes, it was a bit disconcerting to pull the meat right off the piggy’s tail bone, but not enough for us to keep our hands off it!
For dessert we ordered the Kaffir lime custard, which was good in theory but inconsistent in practice. By inconsistent we mean the flavors in the custard weren't evenly distributed; one bite would yield tangy lime and another straight-up cream. We wanted all those flavors in each bite.
As for what to drink, there's a respectable rotating beer list with brews from Craftsman and Allagash, among others. Wine is also available, with a mix of Californian, French, Italian, Spanish, Argentinean and German wines.
Sponsored message
One of our dining companions took an order of headcheese with pickled mustard greens home and reported back that she loved it. Next time, headcheese will definitely be on our table.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
