Rambutan, Los Angeles

Rambutan's elegant eatery welcomes diners to colorful feasts of coconut-milk curry, small plates of skewered barbecue, spicy papaya salad, and fragrant lemongrass noodle soups. Like a chauffeur wearing skinny jeans, the décor is cosmopolitan hip with a refined elegance, surrounding diners at close-knit tables with soft lighting. As guests sit on luxurious, padded seating, they tweeze lacquered chopsticks around morsels of water-chestnut-stuffed steamed dumplings, or they plunge spoons into aromatic galanga seafood soup or oyster mushroom tom yum. Weekends often find revelers sipping craft cocktails in the adjacent lounge area while DJs churn out danceable beats.