MATZO BALL soup, pecan kugel, Caesar salad dotted with fried oysters, an avant-garde jellied berry pie: On his ever-evolving menu of comfort foods, Jeremy Fox traces his zigzagging roots through Eastern Europe, the South, the Midwest and California. After following Fox’s career through his cerebral vegetable-based innovations at long-gone Ubuntu in Napa, and the tightrope between earthy and heady cooking he navigated at nearby Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, it’s wonderful to see him settled into a more lighthearted sort of creativity. One great example: “pickle chick,” in which Fox seemingly imagines the flavor possibilities of Southern fried chicken crossed with the brine from a jar of kosher dill spears. A coating of rice flour and potato flakes gives the bird an unusually fine crumb; fresh dill, dill pickle powder, hot sauce sharpened with pickle brine and a few slices of dill pickle drive home the theme. Blasting salty twang and dry wit, this is excellent fried chicken.

• 2421 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 310-3616, birdiegsla.com

Knife and fork tomato sandwich, top, the relish tray; and “pickle chick” fried chicken.