luv2eat thai fried chicken -or- god, is there NOTHING else around here?

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
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Another Egyptian screening, another doomed expedition to find something walking distance from the Egyptian. I’d had it in my head to go try Jinya Ramen Express or the poke place in the mall of death and fashion, but it was WAY too cold for alfresco dining, even ramen.

If anyone has any suggestions for places that are a walkable distance from Hollywood & Highland that is NOT luv2eat, I’m all ears.

So back to luv2eat I went, not unhappily.

I got the Hat Yai fried chicken. 3 pieces of chicken (2 drums and a thigh) fried and topped w/ fried shallots and garlic, sticky rice, and the customary sweet chilli sauce.

Curiously, the rice the out still wrapped in a plastic bag. I’m not sure if this was a thing that I just don’t know about, but I shrugged, de-bagged the rice and went ahead anyway.

For the first time ever the food was… fine. Fried chicken, juicy, but it had a slight overdone edge to some of the batter that made this a bit less than it could have been.
The rice and chili sauce are pretty essential. You’re left with, basically, 3 pieces of fried chicken to debone as you see fit and then mix w/ the rice, chili, and the bits of fried shallots. And that, really, is the key. To find those few magic forkfuls that get you a hunk of chicked and a touch of rice, swiped through the sauce that has still crisp bits of shallot and garlic and random crispy bits in it, where you can get whatever your preferred magic ratio is of each of those elements.

Alas, such forkfuls are hard to construct. The rest of the time, well, it’s fine. But I think I’d actually be more interested in seeing what they do w/ pad thai or drunken noodles or some other of the more ‘generic’ dishes, rather than try this again.

The lesson: When @TonyC says don’t order the chicken, don’t order the chicken.

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If you’re willing to walk there from H&H, then Salt’s Cure is just an extra block down Highland instead of turning left to go to Luv2Eat.

Couple blocks further is Petit Trois, Trois Mec, Mozzaplex, etc…

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far be it for me to dispute tony, but…

i’m not sure i’ve ever been served sticky rice NOT in a plastic bag, usually still in the little steamer. maybe one
of the mavens can weigh in here, but i think that helps keep it sticky.
in my experience, sticky rice is kinda a utensil; you pick up a glob, sweep it through the food, and pop it into your mouth.
also in my experience, thais usually don’t eat forkfuls of stuff; they use a fork to push the food onto a spoon.

i feel like a clevenesque ass for typing this. i’m not disputing your view of your experience.

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Oh, I wasn’t complaining about the bag. As I said, I figured it was just something I hadn’t seen before. This undoubtedly is my inexperience showing rather than some mistake on their part.

But it was still a bit overdone and not nearly as satisfying as the other dishes I’ve had there. Not bad, mind you. Just short of the very high bar they’ve managed to set for themselves in my mind.

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25’ @ Roosevelt? The juicy factory right there is not a terrible option

Get an uber and there’s mama shelter / smokes poutinerie

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Yeah! We’re not that far if you Uber.

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:joy: also, as a reminder, don’t order the steam cockles unlike you like to consume ocean rubber.

is 25 Deg THAT bad? I mean, back in '08, I ate the #1 (sub aioli for 1000 island) every month.

The Eater LA team really like butchers and barber… also, one could do a LOT worse than Loteria’s guisados.

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Don’t get the $12 hot dog at 25’. The $9 dog is way better.

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I’ve found the burgers at 25 Degrees to be consistently overcooked and mealy, which is a bummer since it’s close to my house and open 24 hours. The fries, onion rings, drinks and burger accouterments are all good though.

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Shintaro on Highland and Franklin serves up some decent sushi at fair prices. You can do omakase at the bar for around 60 dollars. The selection isn’t particularly varied but the fish is good quality and the rice is handled well. Sit in front of the oldest sushi chef if you can (don’t know his name unfortunately but there’s two young guys and him so it’s easy to figure out).

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Thanks for the update. That sucks. #teambelcampo

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Petit Trois & Mozzaplex (Melrose & Highland) are around ten blocks, over a mile.

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Anything under 2 miles seems like walking distance to me shrugs

I don’t totally know what people mean by “walking distance” I guess. Should one assume it implies some degree of obesity?

Why not just drive then?

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because trying to park anywhere around Hollywood and Highland is a royal clusterfuck, and will end up adding $10-20 bucks on to the total night’s bill. If I have to be anywhere around that particular intersection, (and really, Egyptian/TCL/El Capitan are the ONLY reasons) it’s far easier (for me anyway) to take the redline in from NoHo. $3.50 round trip, free parking, and I don’t spend 30 minutes at the intersection wanting to kill EVERYONE.

QPR applies to the whole evening. If driving decreases the Q and increases the P, R suffers, no?

That extra $$ to ‘just uber it!’ is not in everyone’s budget.

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I used to work around H&H, here are some other bookmarks:

  • Rincon Oaxaqueno
  • RoRo’s chicken
  • Stella Barra Pizzeria
  • Roubo’s Place
  • the aforementioned 25’ and Juicy Factory. I think it just depends on how far you’re willing to walk.
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When I was there last week and ordered the fried chicken I got one leg and one back split in two; those were my three pieces. The crust on the chicken had a nice crunch but was pretty unremarkable in terms of taste. The fried onions gave the whole thing a bit of flavor, I guess. The dipping sauce was the saving grace, but was very spicy. With only one leg and about a teaspoon of back meat, I gobbled up the sticky rice but left hungry and couldn’t imagine all the fuss given on these pages for the fried chicken. I roll with @TonyC now, too. I still like the Zeed soups there.

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YAAAAAS, TC’s army. wait, wtf are we talking about? Can we all go eat at Jitlada?

Stella Barra, which I love, isn’ walking distance from H&H. You’re crazy @Ns1, quit trying to go all SF on us.

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I’m down. The next two weekends suck, but I can do a weeknight.

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Ok, well, idk, Salts Cure is a .7 mile walk. I consider that to be extremely walkable. Trois Mec is another .5 from there. Smoke’s Poutinerie and Birch are a mile away in the opposite direction.

I guess those places may be out of budget anyhow though other than Smoke’s.

I would like to know if there is a standardized definition of “walkable” though for future reference?

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“Walkable” is inherently vague. Could be the person has only a limited amount of time.