We ate at the anajak alley on a Tuesday and the fried chicken was very good and crispy and not dry. It was piping hot and just out the fryer so maybe it could be take out thing. The Thai tacos are pretty good—destination worthy? Probably not at least for us pasadena folk.
I will say this about Anajak—IG influencer hype or not, Justin is doing a fantastic job of reinventing his family restaurant in his style. Not dissimilar to what Kris yembamgroong did with night+market years back @JeetKuneBao .
Where vast majority of restaurants are struggling—I would argue he’s actually thriving. There was line half block down before he even opened at 5 pm on Tuesday night. His innovations, collabs with dry age fish guy, and @JLee tomorrow, to the support of other fellow chefs has not gone unnoticed by restaurant community.
Perhaps being raised in an immigrant family has something to do with this. They know adversity and how to survive. Similarly, the daughter of Ayara thai in the westchester has done similar innovations—pinto Thursday’s which we love, drive in Thai movies, and this up coming thai hot pot looks amazing
So in a way @JeetKuneBao, I do think anajak, Ayara and also holy basil are on to something—they are actually all doing thai that hasn’t been done before—whether it’s great sourcing, new concepts, or just bold flavors, it’s the 2nd gen leading the way.