After a lifetime of eating Thai food, “I thought I had a pretty solid gastronomic background in the genre,” said Katie Robbins in Saveur.com. But when I moved to Los Angeles recently, the city’s large Thai population introduced me to “facets of Thai cooking that I hadn’t known existed.” Forget waiting until lunchtime to start sampling Bangkok-inspired street foods, Burmese-style stews from the north, or fiery-hot dry curries from the south. “You could spend 24 hours eating nothing but exquisite Thai food in L.A.”
Sapp Coffee Shop Start the day here with Thai iced tea and boat noodles, a soup that “takes its name from the boat people who introduced the dish on the canals of Rangsit.” It is an “earthy, funky” Southeast Asian equivalent of menudo, “teeming with all manner of offal, making it a true protein power breakfast.” 5183 Hollywood Blvd., (323) 665-1035
Spicy BBQ This tiny café serves “some of the best northern Thai in the city.” Don’t miss the khao soi, an egg-noodle soup, and the nam prik oom, “a roasted green chile and eggplant dip whose heat creeps up on you.” 5101 Santa Monica Blvd., (323) 663-4211
Jitlada Come to this “culinary darling of Thai Town” at dinnertime for “stunningly igneous southern Thai specialties,” such as khua kling phat tha lung, a turmeric-laced curry of “chewy morsels of beef,” or the wild curry with catfish and sator beans. 5233 W. Sunset Blvd., (323) 663-3104
