kob kun kaa to nakkara on beverly

i knew when i received an invitation from kevineats for a media dinner at nakkara on beverly that he had seen the picture of me gripping two thick sausages and had wanted to meet the woman behind that iron fist. don't lie.

but in all seriousness, an invitation to a blogger's dinner? of course! i was more than happy to flex my strong fingers to meet fellow food fanatics and eat some good thai food to boot.

nakkara on beverly is a cute, cozy little place with the hugest floral arrangement in the center of the room. the good ambience lends itself to being a good date place especially if you need to crank up the spice level with the one you are wooing.

being the good host that he is, kevin brought libations for us to wet our lips as we stuffed face. nothing like yummy alcohol to bring out the asian glow peoples. love it!

we quickly commenced on our 13 course tasting menu which began with one of my favorites items of the night, the nakkara mieng kham. think of it like a lettuce wrap stuffed with toasted coconut shavings, cashew, dried shrimp, and a small piece of lime, skin and all. you might feel a tiny urge to pick the lime out and squeeze it, or even worse, to toss it out altogether due to the skin, but DON'T. that burst of limey-ness is the best part of this tiny package. i also recommend that you take it in one bite or you will miss the complexity of this divine little starter. and why should you believe me? i know cuz i use to eat this stuff at my thai friend's house all the time and only stopped when my belly ached! in fact, i thought of them as the familiar flavors exploded in my mouth once again. however, if you're not a coconut fan, i warn you that the sweet mieng sauce is entirely muddled with it. delicious though, delicous.

the spicy filet mignon skewer was small and compact. if you don't have a gag reflex when stuffing long things down your throat..ahem..then you can possibly take this whole skewer at once. not to name names, BUT i saw one person that was able to do that. i won't reveal who, but i was sure impressed! the green curry sauce that accompanied it was rich and thick. i would have loved some rice for that yummy curry.

garlic lamb chop with deep fried crispy garlic bits. i don't eat lamb often, but this one was nicely executed and lacked the gamey smell. i also enjoyed the lamb fat, now who would have thunk...no, yes, it makes sense. i like fat PERIOD.

peking duck rolls. i LOVE duck, but this particular duck roll did not have enough duck presence...a lackluster quack if you will.

oh boy, the BIG SUPRISE! first off, i love suprises (as long as they're good of course and there's no dick hiding inside http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9HloS9Ukto). just love the name for the dish! it came undercover like alien technology....

and then suprise! little portions of steamed calamari and shredded crab meat in coconut milk and red curry paste. i really enjoyed this as well and and totally worth it for you to drop by nakkara for a taste. superb.

a duo of soups, the shrimp tom yum or the chicken tom kha. i preferred the tom yum because the tom kha was very rich and thick in coconut milk. especially at this point in the night, it behooved me to go a little lighter.

green papaya salad dressed with chili lime juice. this papaya salad definitely reminded me of the vietnamese version but without the liver jerkey that usually accompanies it. this salad had a great heat too which was spicy, lingering, but not overpowering. now THAT is my kind of spice. i never understood spicy till you sweat and cry, i really don't. go ahead, you can call me a crybaby.

the soft shell crab panaeng was lightly battered and deep fried with deep fried basil leaves and a panaeng curry paste. i thought the soft shell crab was a little too delicate for this strong curry abuse. perhaps the curry could have been served on the side as a dipping sauce.

the crying tiger was another rather delicious dish. the flame grilled rib-eye steak had a chili pepper sauce to it. i really loved the limey presence in the sauce.

911 catfish was also quite delicious. i love how a deep fried fish can still retain such moistness!

seafood pad thai which was a bit TOO MOIST for me. the seafood on top was wonderfully cooked though and snazzed up your typical pad thai dish.

another delicious dish, the surf and turf fried rice. first off, fried is just plain popular as a food item, but pair it up with some well cooked filet mignon and shrimp, then you get a winner's winner.

the fabulous dinner was rounded out with an iconic thai dessert, mango and sticky rice. i thought the flavors of the sticky rice were coconutty and sweet ,but not overpowering, a thankful departure from some super sweet ones i've had in the past. and riped mangos...you just gotta love them.

kob kun kaa (hope i spelled that right) to chef kevin sukcharoen and sous chef supannee noochoo at nakkara on beverly for a delicious dinner and OF COURSE kevin for the invite. and also thanks to all my fellow food fanatics, food je t'aime, diana takes a bite, kung food panda, and the food ledger for a night of good laughs and inside foodie info. without you guys, i would not have gained another 5 pounds. damn yous!

Nakkara on Beverly

7669 Beverly Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90036

(323) 937-3100
www.nakkaraonbeverly.com

price: $$
verdict: tasty, try it!

thai me to the moon

wat dong moon lek noodle. hi. i came to eat you because my friend read about you in the l.a. times and wanted us to go try your offerings. boy, you're a tiny space. tiny. your decor reminds me of my art projects in high school. by no means was i any good at it, but i tried and i can tell that with your home made decor that you're trying as well. cute space and i really like that personal touch you bring.

wall of stuff. menu items, collages, bruce lee?!

menu in a staples protective cover. apparently, the l.a. times article has generated an overwhelming amount of business for them. they are slammed silly on a daily basis and are ill prepared to deal with it. i warn you that your wait may be long, the food may never come, and you might have to flag down your server repeatedly. if you can deal with those little annoyances, then there are a few gems to be eaten here.

our meal started off with my iced coffee and my friend's thai ice tea. i'm always tempted to order them when i'm near any thai food so unless someone fixes that kink in my brain, i think ordering these drinks will always be a pavlovian move. these particular ones were way too sweet though. no thanks!

rambutan salad with shrimp. sweet little buggers these rambutans were. the shrimps were grossly overcooked, but this dish has the potential to be amazing. i would have liked a little bit of acid in it and a little more heat from the chilis. i would order this again.

the bite.

larb tod. limey kernels of fried chicken paste. high in salt but strangely alluring. popping a few of these in my mouth gave me a strange hankering for beer...and to watch baseball and scratch my crotch! hey wait a minute, these tods will turn you into a boy!

we shared a small bowl of pork noodles, their signature noodle dish. this bowl reminded me of a much diluted version of the boat noodles at sapp. they were still tasty though.

crispy pork belly with green beans and rice. DELICIOUS. it is an out of this world, chicharrones kind of meal since the pieces of bite sized pork belly are deep fried to a crisp. crazy bad for the heart but damn yummy for the tastebuds. i enjoyed this a lot and most definitely would order it again though i may have a heart attack mid forkful. a perfect example of a fried dish willed into creation by god.

crispy taro which was a no no for me. julienned taro wrapped up in what appears to be dry tofu skin and then deep fried. the taro itself was mushy inside and the fried outer layer did not provide enough texture to break up the mush. the sweet, probably tamarind sauce, did not add to the dish at all. i would not order this again. you shouldn't either.

greasy eats but the potential is there for some delicious happenings. i think once they perfect their dishes and can handle their sudden surge in business, i think wat dong can be a nice little hangout for this hood.

Wat Dong Moon Lek Noodle
4356 Fountain Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 666-5993
www.WatDongMoonLek.com/

price: $$
verdict: tasty, try it!

jit the eff out jitlada!

Jitlada Thai Restaurant
5233 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-3104

price: $$
verdict: not worth my time

once upon a time, there was a hungry belly named bagnatic. she went to hollywood to seek out thai food with her friends, not to seek out tricks as she was apt to do at this particular village. she suggested jitlada because it sounded legendary from other food enthusiasts and like a lemming, she took her friends in search of this little taste of bang cock in hollywood. how appropriate.

the village that jitlada is located in has horrible parking for water buffalo drawn carts. in fact, you might have to park a few lis down, but lo and behold, a space opened up for their cart and off the three travelers went to nourish their travel worn bodies.

upon entering jitlada, it was obvious that those that served this bang cock had no work ethic. although this food stop was EMPTY, the workers did not acknowledge that guests had entered their premises and actually pretended that they did not exist. even though eye contact was made, nobody made the effort to welcome the three hungry travelers. being the feisty beyatch that bagnatic was, she yelled out "hi, how are you!" hoping that it was enough of a ruckus to get noticed. it was. they were seated and food ordering commenced.

bagnatic ordered a thai iced tea. it was punishingly sweet. she regretted not bringing her own water gourd filled with plain water to swap out this overly sweetened tea.

bagnatic then ordered the steamed mussels which were indeed legendary. the mussels were frighteningly large like hormone injected meat pillows in a shell. the broth that they were stewed in was deliciously sour with a mighty fine kick to the tongue. she enjoyed this a lot. in fact, she would have bathed herself in this juice if it had been appropriate to disrobe at that time. intrigued by these mussels, bagnatic shoved them into her mouth in rapid succession with total disregard of her companions' needs. she recalled knocking their chopsticks away with ninja swiftness if she saw them hovering over the mussels.

meat pillows. bagnatic persuaded a few to jump into her mouth.

the curry chicken was acceptable but not noteworthy. in fact, it was clear that a chicken disease had swept through the village because there was an obvious chicken shortage. only a few pieces of chicken actually made it into the curry. perhaps what was left of the cluck clucks were reserved for royalty.

everything else after these two dishes were complete disasters. the chicken fried rice was completely soggy and appeared to have come straight out of the village dump. to have soggy fried rice is a cardinal sin and god will smote all soggy fried rice makers. to top this off, it was soggy AND oily. will god do a double smote? will he? please say yes prayed bagnatic. please god, say yes.

the worse dear friends was this disgusting mango sticky rice. imagine a mound of sugar masquerading itself as sticky rice and you will be eating what these three friends had that day. sickenly, punishingly sweet. a few bites was enough to convince our travelers to cease and desist consumption. NOW.

overall, jitlada was not a worthy food stop for bagnatic and her companions especially because of the wretched service they received. even the mouth watering mussels will not persuade bagnatic to return. off her belly goes for other adventures!

banana fetuses

Thai Dessert and Vegetarian Food
5185 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(213) 667-2055

price: $
verdict: it's aight

right next door to sapp coffee shop is a little thai shop that serves all kinds of thai nibblies. unfortunately for me, i wasn't familiar with many of the products there nor did the nice ladies behind the counters speak much english to help me out with some info. since i wanted dessert, i picked up what i knew from ways back when i was backpacking through thailand: battered, fried bananas with seasame seeds sprinkled on it. for $3, you get 7 pieces of fried bananas. they are pretty oily and will sit in your stomache like a rock. i ate three and boy did they sit in there. three days later, i can still squeeze my stomache and locate it, like batter fried banana fetuses. there's many other thai eatables there as well, but after salty sapp and a banana rock, i was ready to roll home. it looks like a good place to pick up some authentic thai stuff though.

all sapped out

Sapp Coffee Shop
5183 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 665-1035

price: $
verdict: it's aight

like a food lemming after watching anthony bourdain's travel show, i too went to sapp to check out their now infamous boat noodles. heck, i LOVE offal and couldn't wait for a bowl of it. did it disappoint? shucks yeah.

sapp is most definitely a hole in the wall establishment. it's located in a strip mall with really limited parking. fortunately for us, we rolled in just when another car rolled out. ahh, movie star parking! score! the restaurant itself has no frills with really basic decor for a total chill eating atmosphere. i love places like that! that means i can concentrate on the grub and not whether or not i'm using the right fork for my salad.

but when the food came out, here is where the infatuation with sapp was sapped out. the boat noodles are rice noodles served in a murky broth. that in and of itself is not a problem, but the hint of sourness in the soup was overwhelmed by the saltiness of it. with each successive slurp, the saltiness of the broth became more and more apparent. every slurp became flirtation with hypertension. the chicherones, tripe, and medium rare liver could not save the boat noodles.

the thai ice tea (now increased to $1.75 a cup) was way too sweet which again, reminded me how salty the boat noodles were because of the extreme contrast in saltiness and sweetness.

we also ordered the beef pad see ew. the beef strips were really dry and reminded me of beef jerky and the noodles were extremely oily. the ghetto fabulous dusting of the entire dish with white pepper powder did nothing for it.

either they had an off day, or the general population's palate has become saltier with time. regardless, the entire meal was way too salty and oily for me. the entire bill came out to be $26 with tip included. i really wanted to like sapp because i love hole in the wall places, but i don't think i will be saying whassapp to sapp anytime soon. i'm glad i tried it, but that's about it.

food to thai me over

Pacific Thai Cuisine
663 Lighthouse Ave
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
(831) 646-8424
http://www.pacificthaicuisine.com/

price: $$
verdict: it's aight

let's just say, thank god for hard working southeast asian peoples. my friend and i were stumbling around pacific grove looking for something to eat at 3pm. god almighty, does EVERYBODY take a siesta during this time? we first hit up hula's- CLOSED from 3-5. then we walked to crystal fish- CLOSED from 3-5. then we drove over to the red house cafe- CLOSED 3-5. come on now peoples! suprise me with something different. how about OPEN for once!

pacific thai is located directly across from the red house cafe. after this 3rd and final attempt to find a yummy place that was open, i had enough. seriously, i was one step closer to going cannabalistic and needed food immediately. i then looked across the street and spotted pacific thai. i told me friend that we should try this place, but of course, i was reminded that everything seemed closed at this time, perhaps this place is closed as well.

ahhhh...nope. OPEN. thank you jesus! i was banking on the fact that the asian man is a hardworker and works through the siestas and the weekends. we settled down for some ok tasting thai food at lunch special prices. i ended up ordering the pad thai (i know what you're thinking...BORING) and my friend ordered their curry. the pad thai was sweet and the curry had a strong coconut taste to it. overall, not the best tasting thai food by far, but for that day, i was fed. that made me happy.

2 lunch specials and two thai iced teas with tip and tax came out to be $24.50. NICE! thanks for acknowledging the hard hit economy!

sweet pad thai.

a buddhist way of life

Vegan House
2703 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 483-2105
veganhouseonsunset.com

price: $
verdict: omg, i love it!

if you had told me that going vegan can be this delicious, i may have eaten one or two less cows in my life. oh my god it's good here. no really, my inner buddha was hom nom nomming.

i ordered the green curry with "fish" which was so lip smacking good! there's something about that "fish" texture that really appeals to me. it's dense...maybe i like dense. the curry was smooth, nicely seasoned, kinda coconutty. i like! drizzle the sauce over the brown rice and you have yourself a winner. i swear, your inner buddha will sing its praises just like mine did.

in the middle of eating, i recalled a comment about their sushi rolls. although i felt pretty stuffed, I HAD TO ORDER IT. lame because the food baby in my tummy was about to explode. anyways, we ordered the "tuna" sushi and the roll was just meh. being the huge sushi freak that i am, it was hard to eat a vegan version of it and be satisfied with it.

here's a few things i got excited about:

-there's lots of parking in the front (though when we went yesterday, it was closed off).
-the most expensive dish on the menu is $10 but most dishes are under $8. whoo hoo!
-the lunch specials are for $6.95 but only for certain dishes (11am-3pm).
-delivery if you order a minimum of $15.
-they are open daily from 11am to 10:30pm.
-only brown rice served.
-you will walk away with the fuzzy feeling knowing that you spared some cow it's flank.

i am SOOOOOO going to come back...again....and again....and again.

leela makes bad thai

Leela Thai Restaurant
1737 Silver Lake Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 660-6100
http://www.leelathaila.com/

price: $
verdict: not worth my time

not the best thai food around but it gets play i think because of it's location. it's next to spaceland and the other thai restaurant in the vincinity that i can think of located in silverlake is rambutan thai which costs a bit more. i guess for silverlakers who don't want to drive, leela is an alright alternative.

anyways, the food is blah and greasy. the only thing i will still get from them is their thai ice tea especially after a warm walk around the reservoir (i really dig the ice chips they have in the drink). otherwise, i would rather make the extra effort to go somewhere else for thai...like vim's on hollywood.

suprisingly tasty mango sticky rice. the rice has a nice, subtle coconut flavor.

what a win with vim!

Vim Thai-Chinese Restaurant
5132 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 662-1017

price: $
verdict: omg, i love it!

this place is the quintessential "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant. the decor is tacky-chic (maybe i'm being too generous with that observation), the booths are lumpy, and the utensils you get are sometimes questionable...but that's why you survey your booth before you sit down and exchange your utensils if there's crust on it. done deal.

there is something seriously tasty about this place. i really can't pinpoint why it makes my taste buds dance, but it does. my usual orders would be their shrimp fried rice (THIS IS THE BEST DISH EVER), tomatoes and beef, beef and chinese broccoli, and their seafood soup. their thai tea is a bit on the sweet side, but it's tasty too. you can't go wrong with an order like that. their portions are huge and it's hella cheap...so why aren't you there already might i ask?

you definitely won't be disappointed with the food, but if the decor is too fugz for you, then order take out. they only take cash and parking is a bitch. but there's this nice man in a cowboy hat that will gladly direct you into the right parking spot.

shrimp fried rice. holy moly jump into my mouth now!

beef and tomatoes...mmmm....

chicken and gailan (chinese broccoli, oh my!)