While chile crisp and chile oil, especially Lao Gan Ma brand, are staple ingredients in Asian kitchens, it wasn’t until entrepreneur Jing Gao introduced her line of smartly designed and marketed Fly By Jing products that the Chinese condiment became a household staple across the country. Today, there are dozens of chile oil and chile crisp brands lining mainstream grocery stores and shoppy shop shelves alike. Several cookbooks even explore the subject including one written by Gao and another penned by former Eater staffer James Park.

Before Gao became the Chile Crisp Queen, she operated a restaurant in Shanghai while hosting a roving pop-up serving the Chengdu flavors she grew up on. In 2020, she raised $120,000 on Kickstarter and founded Fly By Jing. In recent months, Gao opened Larchmont grab-and-go spot Suá Superette with partner Stephanie Liu Hjelmeseth in November 2023, selling prepackaged salads, sandwiches, and more made with Sichuan-inflected flavors. While living in LA and traveling to other cities, Gao continually searches for food that speaks to and inspires her. From hot pot restaurants to sustainable seafood purveyors, Eater LA sat down with the entrepreneur to hear where she likes to eat around Los Angeles.

On SGV favorites

Jing Gao: My number one recommendation is Chengdu Impression in Arcadia. They serve refined Chengdu food, which is different even from Chongqing. It’s sophisticated — not about blowing your taste buds. It’s more subtle and balanced. Some other Sichuan restaurants are a bit more excessive regarding spice, presentation, or showmanship. The mapo tofu and mustard green fish are really good. They have a really nice honey-glazed roasted duck, hot and sour jelly noodles, and husband-and-wife slices. I think Chengdu Impression keeps it pretty classic.

Another place that needs no introduction is Yang’s Kitchen in Alhambra. I just like them a lot for the quality of the ingredients which you can really taste, and they switch it up all the time. It’s a reason to go back often, and I just like their approach. I love their amazing Meiji tofu bowl with ikura and avocado. Their combo plates and breakfast set meal are really nice. I’m a big fan of Peads & Barnett, and they use a lot of their pork. I also love the smoked salmon hash. It’s very random and it’s not always Chinese food, but it’s delicious.

Matthew Kang

On an under-the-radar hot pot spot

In San Gabriel, there’s a place called Shancheng Lameizi, it’s a hot pot chain from Beijing where the soup base and all the ingredients are on point. They give nice little snacks and appetizers like peanuts and other crunchy things. I always look forward to the puffed-fried pastry they give out. They even have a dessert bar with white lotus seed soups, bing su, and iced clear jelly with brown sugar that helps alleviate the spice. There’s a nine-grid hot pot with that many different soup bases. It’s my go-to hot pot.

On other favorites around town

I go to Yangji Gamjatang in Koreatown all the time. The giant rib dish is insane. I’m a soup person and I’m always craving soup, their gamjatang, oxbone soup, and soondubu are my favorite. I personally love Chi Spacca; I go there a lot for the focaccia. I’m also a person of habit and convenience and because I live near Anajak, I go there a lot. And I quite like Mogu Mogu in Sawtelle.

On the best ingredient sourcing

I quite like Crudo e Nudo. I don’t know how consistent they are but the crudo has been outstanding. When I used to live in Silver Lake, I went to Found Oyster all the time, but now they’re so popular I can’t be bothered to wait in line. It’s good stuff and they do it well, but I can’t deal with the hype.

I also love what Junya Yamasaki does at Yess. I think he’s incredible. I’ve known him for years from the food truck up until the restaurant. There’s just good thought behind the food and they switch the menu up all the time. It’s his philosophy and approach to ingredients: He only does sustainable fishing and goes diving himself for ingredients. I think he’s one of the best chefs in LA.

Baroo also belongs in this camp. I’ve only been once since they opened and I would go more if I lived closer to Downtown. I think again, it’s his philosophy and slow approach that they take to flavors with a lot of fermentation. There’s a lot of thought when it goes into sourcing seasonal ingredients. It’s restrained with really high-end flavors, which I love the most.

On LA’s unique dining landscape

I like that eating in LA takes you all over this giant city. It allows you to explore so many neighborhoods and that’s really unique. I like how diverse it is. I like that you have access to such great ingredients. The wealth isn’t concentrated in one pocket. People are so spread out that you don’t just have that concentration of clientele to support as many refined restaurants.

On launching Fly By Jing in LA versus NYC

I think the brand would’ve succeeded in either city. In New York, there’s a concentration of wealth that’s beneficial to entrepreneurs. There’s more social friction here in LA because of distance and traffic. We’re really happy about being in LA. The big reason why we’re here is that we go to China for production, so it’s a lot closer.