Gamboge

LA's Best Dishes: The Infatuation's favorite meals of the week.

"I’m absolutely in love with Gamboge, a tiny Cambodian cafe that opened in Lincoln Heights this past summer. With a streamlined ordering process (everything’s done at the front table), a concise menu ideal for a quick lunch, and a secret back patio that feels like you’re in a friend’s backyard, Gamboge has made opening a restaurant in the middle of a pandemic look like a standard process. I highly recommend either the chicken salad or the grilled coconut-glazed corn, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say the star of the show wasn’t the num pang. A close cousin to the banh mi, they’re served on crunchy bolillo bread (a variation of a baguette) and filled with everything from poached chicken to grilled oyster mushrooms, but my favorite is the pork shoulder. - BC" - the infatuation los angeles crew