I’ve happily followed the breadcrumbs of Bryant Ng’s career, from his pizzas at Pizzeria Mozza to his now-shuttered Spice Table, where he served fried soft-shell crabs with salted egg and smoldering beef rendang. There are echoes of his former kitchens woven into the menu at Cassia, in the flatbread that accompanies the chickpea curry, chewy and crisp like both pizza crust and naan; in the Hainanese chicken leg served over rice kernels plump and slick with duck fat. Ng continues to merge the idea of a grand French brasserie with his own Chinese-Singaporean narrative. Cassia also nods to the decades his family spent cooking Chinese American food in L.A., and to wife-partner Kim Luu-Ng’s Vietnamese heritage. Sunbathing prawns are inspired by those a friend made in Vietnam — spicy, a little sweet, deeply savory with chicken powder. Ng dresses dan dan noodles in a tahini-leek sauce hot with roasted chile oil. Fried calamari rings are buried in cereal crumbs, mirroring the cereal prawns found in Singapore. At Cassia, which in 2019 won The Times’ Gold Award, Ng has perfected his syncretic style of cooking, and every plate feels immensely personal. — J.H.

1314 7TH ST., SANTA MONICA, (310) 393-6699 l CASSIALA.COM