Cassia - Santa Monica

I know nothing about Singaporean food, but it must be stunning if that's what we ate at Cassia. 

All I know is that Singaporean food is like a newly-married bride. It adds something new to something old, something borrowed, and something blue, and it seems that every dish at Cassia captures that exciting essence.

This gorgeous dish of Vietnamese "Sunbathing" Prawns, for example, is a mix of the best of the sea and the best of several lands. The jumbo prawns are FOB in the only way that that acronym is flattering, and they are soaked to the spine with the red-hot wrath of brazen Fresno chiles that banter with the pungent garlic and silky Vietnamese hot sauce.

The Grilled Pig's Tail is their version of lettuce wraps/lumpia, basically a culinary opportunity for a vegetable to balance out the most delectable, filthy-fat of meats. 

To say that the pig's tail is marbled with fat is an understatement. Individual slivers slide from the bone, a glistening, gristling mix of 50-50 fat and flesh, with a sheath of crackling skin. It tastes less the garden of Eden inside a shell of bright Bibb lettuce enlightened by a melange of fresh herbs and a flicker of fish sauce.

The pig's tail is a hard act to follow, and I thought we would regret getting the Grilled Pork Belly Vermicelli immediately after. But these two pork dishes couldn't be more different. This iteration of a favored cut is served savory and sliced paper-thin with skinny rice noodles to add a little more texture. It's Vietnamese bun with bacon and it's as satisfying as alliteration.

They say the Vietnamese Pot au Feu is their signature dish, and what a dish to stand by. This delectable stew boasts of the softest short rib I've ever seen. It is a certain stand-out, and even the cabbage and potatoes are soaked with an unforgettable soup. There is a striking shank of bone in the middle, full of melting bone marrow.

Dessert kills two birds with a single, decadent stone. The Vietnamese Coffee Pudding is thick like a velveteen mousse, and the dark chocolate cookie is as light as an airy meringue.

The Vanilla Egg Custard tastes like a legend...of the fall. The gingersnap crust conjures a hearth-fire, the pumpkin apple butter is the color of turned leaves falling from scarlet trees, and a ginger apple syrup settles like the cozy comfort of caramel.

I love it. I love it in a way that I don't have the words to express. I've tasted so much of Asia, the real Asia, that I didn't think anything could surprise me. What Cassia did was a sneak-attack on my senses, and every moment was dazzling.