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Ricker just didn’t know what he was up against…
But I have had a lot of beer and wine while listening to Borbetomagus + Feldman fusion in a basement in Chinatown all night, but still… these shit is the soul of late night Los Angeles baby!
bump.
That thing that looks kind of like a potato pancake is egg and salty turnip?
For the record, I also prefer my Thai go to spots in Thaitown over Pok Pok.
But similar to the backlash against anything NYC (or mainland Chinese), I actually think it’s more of a hometown pride thing. More like Packer and Viking fans than some superior culinary enlightenment.
Yes. It must have all of like 2-3 ingredients, but it’s one of my favorite things to eat ever. I think I’ve had it about 100 times haha I guess to be fair often with alcohol, but often without as well. I usually splash chili vinegar onto it. Incredible crispiness from the grill, fluffiness from the eggs, crunchiness from the turnips, salty, savory etc… mmm
I actually liked Pok Pok the two times I’ve been.
I actually think Pok Pol serves good food, but it’s not good Thai food. I don’t even pretend to know as much about Thai as many here do, but the dishes at Pok Pok did not say “Thai” to me. The khao soi lacked the aromatic punch you want (at least I want) in this dish. And while the cha ca was tasty it lacked the savory earthy interplay one expects from the spices (ginger, turmeric, fish sauce, etc) typically used to marinade the fish. The wings and buffalo jerky were great, even the cuttlefish, but they’re just good bar food.
And, yes, I know I’m supposed to use the house condiments to “cook” my own food. No dice. It made the food more flavorful (sometimes) but no closer to what I expect in a Thai dish.
On reflection I thought my reaction to Pok Pok in LA (and to some extent NYC) was the result of some bias I had because Ricker isn’t Thai. But I later went with a friend who does know her Thai but who has no clue as to what Pok Pok is - for all she cared it could’ve been Tu Pac. She had the same general impression I did, but did find some of the dishes to be rather creative (like the boar collar).
So I just think the reactions here (not all reactions, of course) are a result of being let down by the food qua a representation of Thai food. Maybe some of it is provincialism, but I don’t think that explains the entirely of it.
But what if that is similar to someone eating Cantonese or Taiwanese food and complaining that it isn’t as spicy or flavorful as “Chinese” cuisine. Maybe it doesn’t scream “Thai” because you’re looking for pad Thai, pad see ew, crab fried rice, chicken green curry, and not finding it in the menu.
I’m with you. I’m no Thai food exepert and I don’t have much experience with Northern Thai dishes so I don’t know if the flavor profiles at Pok Pok are or are not a true representation of Northern Thai cuisine. I’ve only been twice and probably won’t be going back myself (although that pork belly curry and the sausage were really good).
I just find the strong dislike for Pok Pok here pretty interesting and quite similar to the anti NYC sentiment seen in this group.
Saying it’s because the FTC group is much more culinarily aware is ironic because the reality may be that no one here really knows Northern Thai cuisine and is judging Pok Pok using central and southern Thai standards (see consistent references to Ruen Pair).
if you’ll indulge me, is “true representation” and northern and central thai “standards” more important than the tastiness of the food?
i get people want a supposedly authentic experience with “ethnic” foods. i often do myself. but shouldnt the FIRST question be about how the food tastes regardless?
for sure, it might be classified as dodgy if pok pok is saying they are serving one thing and then serving something else.
but is that really whats going on here?
no hostility intended; just asking. i have not been to pok pok.
I get your point. But Ipse himself said the food is tasty but doesn’t scream “Thai” to him. So that answers your basic question: is it tasty?
Like many other Thai restaurant in town, there are a handful of good dishes and several mediocre ones. It seems price is the biggest offender after the ethnicity of the chef and city of origin of the restaurant chain.
The judging standards become relevant when people complain it’s not spicy enough and that’s why they don’t like it. If the cuisine isn’t supposed to be spicy and you criticize it for not being spicy the problem isn’t the restaurant.
I also want to say I’m not trying to be hostile or a Pok Pok apologist. Just trying to keep an open mind with something new and out of my comfort zone.
I have been behind Ricker this whole time. I think it should be celebrated that somebody cares so much about another culture that they learn the language and the food like he does. The respect he has for Thai culture is incredible. Regarding the food, I think if it tastes good and is not perfectly authentic, it can be wonderful. That was the case with my most recent visit to Lukshon. None of those dishes are “authentic,” they are all riffs on something. And I guarantee their version of a tea leaf salad is better than most you’ll find in Burma.
I think where Ricker is getting into trouble is that in some cases he is presenting straight up inferior versions of foods that people know are ridiculously tasty when done right. If you want a really good khao so, it makes sense that you’d be disappointed when you go to Pok Pok and your khao soi is a) not as good as what you get in Thai town, b) not what khao soi typically is, and c) double the price.
I cite the price thing, but that’s also an inherent problem. We expect Thai food to be cheap. Just like we expect Mexican to be cheap. It’s partly our problem that we resent the fact that the khao soi is x amount of dollars but we don’t question the 24 dollar pastas at Bestia.
Not sure I came to any conclusion, but those are my thoughts.
Eh… it is weird, because technically OC is obviously closer to East Los Angeles than West… but I know what this guy is saying. I think anyone that has eaten in certain Westside establishments and OC establishments understands that latent conservatism of tastes there. I’m an OC native, and it’s obscene how often I literally hear people talk about (or literally exclaim, aghast, to my face) how outrageous it is to eat in such a “filthy” city like Los Angeles. There’s a certain segment of people in Santa Monica, Venice, etc… that also seem to view eating at Gjelina as “slumming it”. Personally, it just is what it is, there’s no reason to hate these people, it’s just a cultural thing. But I wouldn’t go so far as to deny that such a culture exists.
However, I was under the impression that most everyone into food was a privileged Westsider or OC’er? (Everyone into food, I mean, on these forums, in food media, etc… obviously tons of people are into food in Boyle Heights, or Koreatown, but they don’t appear in these particular forums right?). So this seems like a weird forum to bring it up in.
Words fail me.
And it’s not even because English is my third language.
I thought you were Jewish hah.
speechless as well.
(you shouldn’t assume that your personal demographic is the same as others)
Everyone whose location is known on these forums pretty much falls into that demographic.
If other people are in different ones, they should speak up more I guess.
A few days ago a thread stated that 99% of people here are Asian or Jewish, no one disagreed with that. The major Jewish populations are all Westside. Seems like a safe bet.
Meanwhile, everyone mainly gripes about the schelp anywhere East of Downtown. This would lead any observant person to conclude that the majority of posters live West of Downtown. If the majority lived in Boyle Heights say, then surely they would not complain at all about the short drive to the SGV? Instead they would probably complain about the schlep to Gjusta.
A lot of assuming of “this type of person is like this or that,” going on. I didn’t know I had such bias attitudes, whatever they might be.
I used to drive out to SGV almost every weekend to immerse our family in all that the SGV has to offer. Due to family commitments, it’s been more like once a month to two months now. What kind of F-in’ bias am I supposed to have? Someone please please describe the little box that I so narrowly fit in.
There are plenty of posters on here who live in SFV, SGV, Silverlake/Echo Park, Mid-City, downtown, OC, etc
I would agree that there are many FTCers who are Asian or Jewish, but there are many who are neither. You also seem to be overlooking a large Jewish population around Fairfax/La Brea, Pico/Robertson, WEHO, SFV and Silverlake.
The reality is that the posters on FTC are as diverse as LA—as it should be. The commonality is that we all like food—eating, discovering, sharing, talking and writing about it.
Out of curiosity, how do you know this? I’m just going based off the posters that tend to give their locations.
These are all Westside locations. Those are the population centers I have in mind lol
Admittedly, I did not realize there were many Jews in Silver Lake. I spend a lot of time in Silver Lake, there’s not even a good deli there is there? Where are they all there?