Piguaut curry. Can get it as chicken or beef. Unlike any curry I’ve had. Super complex and focused flavors here. Definitely some kaffir lime and some shrimp paste in here. Everytime I think I’ve got it figured out the flavors change again and elude me. Like this way more than Jitladas jungle curry (not saying they’re the same thing). Curry is more like a broth and not thick or heavy. Outstanding.
Also great here is the green papaya salad (with dried shrimp if you don’t want raw crab), the stuffed chicken wing, the chicken yellow curry. The squid stuffed with pork sounds delicious but I haven’t had a chance to order it yet.
I know you’re live near by the Curtain, but asking people to go to Garden Grove when there’s perfectly fine Thai food all over East Hollywood is… impractical. It’s even uglier for those in NoHo/Studio City, etc.
That said, I, still with a (562) cell phone, have fond memories of Thai Nakorn; funnily, Jazz @ Jitlada endorses the red curry here and the 2 families know each other.
Still, Jitlada, when it’s on, runs circle around Nakorn. I can easily assemble a meal at Jitlada with dishes that can’t even be found at Nakorn, and it’s difficult to imagine anyone not being captivated by the food. After all, unlike @ns1’s friend, no one will be eating pad Thai.
Of note, the best Thai cooking, in South LA county is happening in Bellflower right now.
And maybe that’s what we need you to do. Put together a list of Tony C’s top 10 dishes to get at Jitlada. Because after 3 visits and picking almost exclusively off the Southern Thai menu (no pad thai in case you’re wondering), I could appreciate it on an interesting and unique level but not actually a tasty level. That jungle curry was just really spicy and salty. That fried soft shell crab was particularly nasty. Picking random 5 dishes from both menus you’re much more likely to have a good meal at Thai Nankorn in my experience. One time after dropping $65+ at Jitlada I had to go grab 2nd lunch at Sapp. And not just boat noodles but also a half bbq chicken.
Give me your top 5 fool proof items at Jitlada. No dietary restrictions and I’m willing to go back and give it another try. Terrible parking and all.
Price isn’t an issue as much as the tiny portions and lack of much protein.
We happily grossly overpaid by Thai standards for this lady’s cooking in Bangkok but it was well worth it. Crab, giant prawns, top notch ingredients, subtle flavors.
[quote=“Porthos, post:4, topic:2058”]
That jungle curry was just really spicy and salty. That fried soft shell crab was particularly nasty.
[/quote] Correct. And if you added the kua kling beef you might as well have stabbed your face with a rusty knife.
Sub the kua kling beef with kua kling lamb, ask for mild. call to make sure p’tui is in the kitchen – I’ve since lost track of their exact schedule.
I’m long past the days of blogger dinners, but Daily Gluttony’s summation from '09 lists hits rather well. Start with salads, fried snacks, hit some stir fries, go with a cleansing soup, finish up with over the top kaeng. I chase kaeng all over Thai town, and Jitlada’s kaengs just makes a total mockery of the shit Pok Pok LA is/was putting out as “kaeng”. The game hasn’t changed since '09, except for the fact I have no idea where erikm is these days.
The venerable (New) Cancoon Thai now with plentiful seating and actual a/c.
and
Thai Noodle King (ex-Hoy Ka Hollywood/MPK owner/partner) that took over the (old ) Cancoon Thai. It’s basically Pa-Ord Hollywood that sits in the same plaza as a dive bar (that opens at 8am). Also now with working a/c.
Is this the dish that also has pumpkin and curry? I used to love that dish (I haven’t been to Jitlada for a few yrs b/c the last few times I went, I found the service to be inexcusable slow and indifferent).
It was one of the curry ones but I don’t think it was with pumpkin. I remember it being heavy and greasy and it had the strong smell of being fried in oil that was used a few times too frequently.
@Porthos have you had the wild boar dish at Vientiane? It’s pretty similar, and I also love that dish, but when I ordered it at Nakorn, it was basically inedible. The boar at Narkorn was almost all fat, and not in an acceptable way, in a gristly way. Vientiane’s has an element of that too but it’s a far cry from what I got at Narkorn. Awesome dish though. I really should give Nakorn more chances.
Cancoon requires more ordering power, but if you do the sai krok issan + salad (avoid beef) + kaeng (nor mai / luong pa bang / om pla / som ) combination you really can’t go wrong.
@attran99 lmk if you want to grab lunch in the vicinities some time.
I think all the soft shell crab dishes at Jitlada are bad. I don’t like their super-thick-batter dishes (anything soft-shell crab, most things scallops).
I think the jungle curry is excellent–the best in LA. But obviously palates are going to differ on that. It’s extremely strong and spicy.
I would say the go-to dish at Jitlada is the Southern Thai curry. It’s a Southern Thai restaurant; this is a curry unique to Southern Thailand. If you don’t like that, I would say move on.
