Susan Feniger's STREET, Los Angeles

Though best known as one half of Too Hot Tamales on the Food Network in the 1990s, Susan Feniger has been a part of Los Angeles's culinary scene for 30 years. STREET, her first solo venture without fellow Tamale Mary Sue Milliken, celebrates a diverse corner of the world's lunchbox: street food, particularly that of Asia and the subcontinent, tweaked and re-contextualized with the help of co-chef Kajsa Alger. A large patio, crackling fire pit, and open-window kitchen makes diners feel at home, if their home has all of those things. The dining room's bright orange walls add funkiness to the mix with minimalist line drawings of traffic signs, windows, and pedestrians.

Entrees are inspired by carts and bar food from all over the world: Japanese, Indian, and Middle Eastern foods are all obvious favorites of the chefs in charge, and a streak of Caribbean, Mediterranean, and Southeast Asian flavors keeps tongues guessing. In an ebullient 2009 review for LA Weekly, Jonathan Gold praised the “direct, accessible twist” that ran through dishes throughout the “virtual museum of world street food, snacks and savories from every part of Asia.”

Though the menu changes with the seasons and whether the chefs are sick of slicing tomatoes, certain items have already become classics, such as the paani puri—an Indian finger food of semolina puffs, spiced potato, yogurt, and cilantro-mint water—and the STREET burger, made with all-natural beef, Vermont white cheddar, and piquant yuzukosho mayonnaise. Drinks stand up to the intense spices with their own bold flavors of coconut and citrus or, at brunch, effervescence in the form of champagne cocktails.