Fatty Crab

Description
Long before chef Zak Pelaccio became a “consulting chef” extraordinaire, he opened this 30-seat restaurant named for his favorite joint in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The low-key decor belies the incredible food. The family-style dishes include “fatty duck”—boiled and fried, and then dusted with sugar—and Dungeness crab that’s been steamed and bathed in a chili-based syrup that tastes like an aggressive oyster sauce. Don’t miss the watermelon pickle...like the rest of the menu, it’s an unexpected delight. At the enormous second location, Pelaccio has filled in the holes in his Malay repertoire. New additions include satay skewers (chicken or scallops) and a pitch-perfect version of Hainanese chicken rice featuring silky poached chicken on aromatic grains. A new triumph: the Fatty Dog, slices of pork sausage infused with XO sauce on a bun with chilies, aioli, shrimp paste, cilantro and cucumber.