Carson isn’t just known for Dignity Health Sports Park, the Goodyear Blimp base, and IKEA. This city at the intersection of the 405 and 110 freeways also houses one of Southern California’s largest Filipino populations and some great Filipino food. Fiesta Barbecue & Bibingka features bright lime green walls and specializes in grilled-to-order meats and bibingka, a rice flour bread that’s topped with cream cheese and salted egg and baked in a banana leaf. Definitely grab one for the road from an incubator by the register. The Fiesta Family Pack features a whole bird with peanut sauce, atchara (pickled vegetables), and enough rice to last all week. Atypical offerings include juicy grilled tuna belly and tuna collar.

Ngu Binh has become beloved in Little Saigon for central Vietnamese comfort food. Sister restaurant Ben Ngu serves the same food with a fraction of the crowds and warrants a quick detour down the 22. It’s definitive Bún bò Huế, Huế-style beef noodle soup, features bouncy noodles, touts tongue tingling spice, and comes chock-full of proteins like sliced beef shank and pork loaf, collagen-rich pig trotter, and pork blood cubes. Mì quảng is another standout bowl starring turmeric-stained noodles, pork, shrimp, fish cake, crushed peanuts, and a crunchy shrimp chip. Ben Ngu also specializes in a variety of glutinous rice flour and tapioca creations topped and filled with ground shrimp, pork, scallions, and fried shallots that make great share-friendly starters.

Little Saigon is a required stop for some of the best Vietnamese food outside Vietnam. Kim Nguyen has stuffed, rolled, and fried egg rolls on Little Saigon’s west side since 1999. The current Kim Hong Eggrolls location contains just three faux wood tables and houses fridges bursting with 100-packs. Icons on a wall-mounted menu decode egg rolls, which cost a dollar each, with a $10 minimum. Crisp coats with good give yield peppery fillings that also include carrot flecks and glass noodles. Dip into sweet chile sauce. Call ahead, since they fry egg rolls to order, to save time.

Irvine has flashier dining options, but Vishnu, located in an industrial park near the 405 and 55 interchange, has become a staple for its weekday Indian lunch buffet. Hyderabad native Ram Kadiyala has been filling steam tables since 2013, naming Vishnu for a Hindu god that works to balance good and evil. The offerings are served cafeteria, but servers still bring water and bread to tables beneath two versions of Edward Hopper’s painting “Nighthawks,” including one starring Simpsons characters. Depending on the day, highlights might include butter chicken, roasted baby eggplants in peanut sauce, or okra curry. Meals also come with complementary naan, lacy dosas, vegetable rice, chutneys, cooling raita, and sweet rice pudding with raisins.

Meiji Seimen provides flavorful counter-programming to Costa Mesa’s ubiquitous ramen shops. To find the small strip mall restaurant, just look for the words Japanese restaurant above the door. They make udon and soba daily and are popular for limited edition monthly udon specials like spicy oxtail and creamy King crab carbonara. Regular, but still special offerings include seared oyster udon with scallions, ginger, yuzu zest, and an umami rich broth crafted with Hokkaido kelp and four types of bonito flakes. They also serve small plates like luscious skin-on grilled mackerel, sesame tofu, and chicken karaage.

Elizabeth Harris ran with a Wild West theme at Betty’s Pie Whole Saloon next to Sunshine Gardens Nursery in Encinitas. Pass by wagon wheels, grab a horseshoe-branded chair, and revel in a blackboard menu with over 20 savory and sweet pies. In season, lattice topped strawberry rhubarb pie is a sweet tart masterpiece. Year-round, Grandma Lucy’s chicken pie showcases juicy chicken and vegetables in light gravy beneath Parmesan herb crust that’s accented with rosemary.

If the Chino family ever decided to sell their farm, which resides amid grand gated Rancho Santa Fe homes, they’d no doubt earn a fortune. Instead, Makoto Chino, son of current patriarch Tom and a UCLA law school grad, will take over the family business that his grandfather Junzo Chino established. Wolfgang Puck, Jonathan Waxman, and Alice Waters are longtime proponents, and luminaries still make public appearances at the farm. The Vegetable Shop, Chino’s farm stand, grows pristine specimens of produce like strawberries and tomatoes. You’ll also find more esoteric fruits and vegetables like star-shaped Chinese winged beans, French black turnips, and golden snow peas. Grab a healthy snack or stock up on edible souvenirs to cook once you get home. Weekends bring Nōjō, a coffee bar that features local Manzanita Roasting beans and sells cold brew coffee and tea growlers.