Holy Basil is a side project of the smorgasbord drinks company, The Base Co. Initially they had brief street food project called Yum on the streets of Highland park last year. They morph to holy basil as part of the Santee Passage space where they were going to have a bar/restaurant.
We know them because they sponsored drinks and cocktails for our past cooking events.
So glad you got to try it! Honestly that’s the best pad Thai I ever had and while I can’t claim to eaten even at most la Thai spots. The attention to detail in that dish and the pad gra Pow (and sourcing—they make a custom blend of beef, the small dried krill is a great touch) almost certainly would put them at or near the top. Will let them know about IG, been telling them about that as well!
moo krob - sun dried, deep fried crispy pork belly, black soy sauce and garlic chili lime sauce
The puffed up and ultra crispy pork skin reminds me a bit of Chinese roast pork(siu yuk), but the similarity ends there. The meat is on the dry side which is how it’s intended to be according to Holy Basil. As for the accompanying sauce, it’s sweet, sour, savory, and spicy with especially big notes of lime and chili.
pad see ew | pork loin, flat noodle, chinese broccoli, free range egg, white pepper, fermented soy bean, black soy sauce
Sweet, savory, and extra garlicky. The edges of the flat noodle and pork are very nicely caramelized which translates to excellent “wok breath”. But because pork loin’s inherently lean, the meat comes out a bit on the dry side.
Because the flat noodle was stirred too vigorously in the wok, they’ve broken up way too much into these very small pieces. But I was told that they’re looking for better suppliers so issues like this can be solved in the nearly future.
