Bastide chef Joseph Mahon said his mission is to “redefine how people think/feel about common everyday items and flavor combinations.” He’s certainly accomplished that aim with his Tomato Salad ($14). The “salad” is a study of summer, featuring an imaginatively plated thigh and leg. The dark meat was juicy without being greasy and hosted crispy coats that Mahon accented with espelette pepper. The plate features several complementary elements, including thick-cut tomatoes (red and yellow) garnished with gobs of tangy Feta, pillars of sweet compressed watermelon, a judicious drizzle of Sherry emulsion and mache for crunch. Happily, Mahon insists that fried chicken will always have a place on Bastide’s menu; the accompaniments will just change depending on what’s in peak season.

Zoe Nathan and Josh Loeb’s market-driven Santa Monica bakery/café regularly churns out dozens of tantalizing specialties, but it’s the Friday-only Jidori fried chicken ($12.50) that warrants special attention. Tad Weyland, Nathan’s chicken-crazed sous chef, developed the recipe for his premium yardbird. He bathes Huckleberry’s plump free-range chickens in seasoned buttermilk for two days before coating them in house-made breadcrumbs, typically a mix of baguette, ciabatta and multigrain baguette, depending on availability. Weyland lets the chicken sit overnight, then fries the birds on Fridays. The result is a heaping mass of uniformly juicy half-chicken sheathed in a crispy, absolutely addictive crust. Strangely, the wing and drumstick were nowhere in sight, but there was still more than enough food, especially when plated with a thatch of spicy, lightly-dressed arugula leaves and a sweet corn salad tossed with green beans, radicchio and onion.

Tomo Ueno trained at a yakitori bar in Saitama Prefecture before he and wife Megumi moved to Los Angeles to open their five-table, 520-square-foot shoebox on Redondo’s International Boardwalk. Sit at the counter and watch the chef work his magic on Fried Chicken Wings ($6.50), served fresh from the fryer, with miraculously thin skins and a spicy-sweet chile glaze that builds in intensity with each bite. Tomo san only uses premium free-range chicken.

The southern Thai restaurant from Chef Tui Sungkamee and sister Jazz Singsanong has become a Hollywood phenomenon, and their magic extends to fried chicken. Kai Kamin ($9.95) features bone-in nubs of chicken showered with turmeric and completely addictive fried garlic. The dish doesn’t need any embellishment, but the accompanying honey chile sauce sure didn’t hurt.