Best Fried Oysters

Dylan Moore is one weird cat. He bailed on a promising career as a young chef, turning his back on the food world just when he, and California Cuisine, were at the height of their powers. But after more than a decade on the outside, he's picked up right up where he left off. At Deluxe, the food sometimes seems like we're still in 1991 in the L.A. Basin. This oddness is most pronounced in the masa-fried oyster shooters on Deluxe's small-plates menu -- an offering right out of the Jeremiah Tower playbook, with a half-dozen shellfish fried in masa and each served in pho spoons with a dot of salsa fresca and a blazing-hot smoked chile aioli. This dish may be on a time trip, but the destination is unbeatable. What comes around goes around.