Jet Tila Frequents Nem Nuong Ninh Hoa in Rosemead

Los Angeles is home to a lot of restaurants, and among them are hidden gems some Angelenos just aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's many food luminaries to share with us their under the radar recommendations for Dining Confidential.

Chef Jet Tila bounces between Los Angeles and Las Vegas where he operates The Charleston and newbie Kuma Snow Cream, respectively. Tila recently signed on to curate the country's first ever Thai Food Festival, which will take place in Hollywood on September 29 at Paramount Studios backlot. More to come on that. Here now Tila waxes poetic on one of this favorite Vietnamese hidden gems, Nem Nuong Ninh Hoa, and what to order:

They serve a special type of Vietnamese Spring Roll (so popular that it's actually part of the restaurant's name, Nem Nuong translates to marinated pork sausage – which is one of the star ingredients in the fresh spring roll) that is stuffed with this delicious marinated pork and a mini egg roll stuffed into the outer fresh spring roll topped with a crispy garlic chive – nothing like anything I've eaten before. To make this even tastier, the spring roll is served with a sauce that is unlike any other dipping sauce around. It's a luscious, unctuous velvety sauce – almost like a thick delicious amazing brothy soup that you dip the rolls into ß kind of looks like Hot & Sour soup. I will happily drive out an hour to eat the rolls.