The Conejo Valley is hardly a bastion for Asian cuisine, but the nearly 2000-square-mile area northwest of Los Angeles has started to get some notable restaurants. I’d recommend eLoong Dumplings for anything dough based. Nearby in Thousand Oaks, Dong Ting Spring is a new Hunan food haunt from the same owner as San Gabriel’s long-running Dong Ting Chun. The strip mall space looks boring from the outside, but the dining room touts a massive two-wall mural that depicts horse riders and a temple in a mountain village, and the kitchen serves flavorful regional Chinese dishes.

Emperor’s Cumin Ribs ($15.75) involved a towering pile of fork-tender, well-spiced pork spare ribs bolstered with fried garlic and dried chiles that were still easy to eat. I plucked meat from the bones and ate over rice for a filling, comforting lunch. However, the Emperor’s eponymous dish definitely could have used more salt.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.