Must-try new restaurants and pop-ups in Los Angeles

David Tewasart, the owner of the Sticky Rice mini-chain, with locations in Grand Central Market, Highland Park and soon, West 3rd Street, has opened what he calls his passion project, Miya, on Lake Avenue in Altadena. Named after his 6-year-old daughter, it serves home-style Thai cuisine. The handwritten menu is short with soups, stir fries, noodles, curries and papaya salad. The pad thai is already emerging as a favorite dish, though it might be more savory, less sweet and less saucy than what you’re used to, with thin, pho-style rice noodles that are fried with pickled radish, baked tofu and egg, then garnished with crumbled pork cracklings, raw bean sprouts, stalks of green onion, dried chiles, crushed peanuts and a wedge of lime. If you see the fried chicken on the changing menu, columnist Jenn Harris encourages you to add it to your order. The restaurant has plans to offer indoor dining and expand into lunch hours, but it is open for takeout or dine-in on a few sidewalk stools.
Read about David Tewasart’s latest restaurant opening.