Pork, please

The other white meat is incredibly versatile. No wonder so many chefs love using it.

La Terza

At this chic, 3-month-old Italian restaurant, strips of organic pork belly are scored and seasoned with kosher salt, fennel, bay leaf and garlic, rolled and tied like little presents, and put in a rotisserie for five hours. The result is melty pork with irresistibly crispy skin. It’s served with rosemary-scented beans and roasted cipollini onions.

* Rotisserie pork belly, $27. 8384 W. 3rd St., L.A. (323) 782-8384.

Baby Blues BBQ

This stylish new barbecue joint has a pulled pork plate, a pulled pork sandwich and Memphis-style long bone pork ribs. But our hands-

down favorite is the meaty baby back ribs, finger-lickin’ beauties smoked over Guinness for hours and finished with a spunky house-made sauce. Save room for key lime pie or banana pudding.

* Baby back ribs, $15.95. 444 Lincoln Blvd., Venice. (310) 396-7675.

Table 8

What Kobe is to beef, Kurobuta is to pork: generously marbled so the final product is tender and flavorful. Here, chefs Govind Armstrong and Andrew Kirschner brine and roast a whole rack of American Kurobuta pork. Each ample bone-in chop is served with a grilled mushroom grit cake, braised collard greens and sweet whole roasted garlic cloves. The crowning touch is a piece of pork belly, crisped like bacon.

* Kurobuta pork, $24. 7661 Melrose Ave., L.A. (323) 782-8258.

Senor Fred

Among the specialties at this hip, sexy Mexican spot is cochinita pibil: tender shredded pork roasted and served in a banana leaf. Crunchy pickled red onions counter the richness of the meat. The large plate also features fried plantains, black beans, yellow rice and chunky salsa.

* Cochinita pibil, $15.50. 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. (818) 789-3200.

Traxx

Chef Tara Thomas can’t ever take the house-cured roasted pork loin chop off the menu at her Union Station spot because it’s so popular. The thick, double-cut chop is brined for 36 hours in a mixture of salt, sugar, bay leaf, thyme and allspice, stuffed with sauteed shallots, rosemary and prosciutto (pork in pork!), and roasted. It comes with crispy fig-flecked polenta and a tangle of garlicky spinach.

* Pork loin chop, $23. 800 N. Alameda St., downtown L.A. (213) 625-1999.