The arc of Jitlada’s meteoric rebirth can be traced across the Internet in a few moments. The story goes like this:
June 15, 2007: Erik M. posts a lengthy description of the Hollywood restaurant to a Chicagoland message board. The first of many photographs shows the menu’s list of southern Thai specialties, untranslated from an obscure southern dialect, on which Erik has done a Champollion by cornering the restaurant’s owners. He includes a primer on southern Thai cuisine. “3a: Fresh tumeric [sic] is present in abundance…”
June 20, 2007: Erik responds to a post on the Chow Los Angeles bulletin board asking for recommendations for restaurants in Thai Town or Little Korea. “Are they really adventurous?” Erik claims this is the most exciting Thai food in North America.
June 22, 2007: Chow LA regular Chowpatty describes her visit in the forum. She is over the moon.
August 15, 2007: The LA Weekly publishes a review by the incomparable Jonathan Gold. The word is officially out.
Thai food is everywhere in the United States, as familiar and comfortable as a plate of General Tso’s Chicken, but your first bites of the real thing are like hearing a live performance of something you’ve only ever listened to on your iPod. The flavors are bright and focused, delineated with precision and conviction. The palette of flavors runs to sour and spicy, with a busy sideline in the funky and fermented. Folks who’ve spent much time in Thailand tend to get very excited when they find restaurants here where they can order their food Thai-style by asking for “rot jat,” meaning “strong taste.”
The only obvious signs of Jitlada’s recent success are the increasing numbers of farang (non-Thais) in the dining room, and the hastily printed translation that now arrives with the Southern section of the menu. Some dishes are reasonably familiar, like a whole fried fish, luscious and flaky, buried under an avalanche of fried garlic chips. The more unusual dishes may inspire fear and dizzy happiness at the same table (and maybe in the same person). There’s a green curry, not fiery but plenty assertive, with giant fish balls that encase hard-boiled eggs. There’s an incendiary stir-fry of soft-shelled crab with smelly sator beans (“like favas times ten” says Jonathan Gold). There’s a rice salad with lemongrass, kaffir lime, and intense dried shrimp. Transporting stuff even when it’s not to your taste, and a whole lot cheaper than a ticket to Songkhia.
Jitlada Thai 5233 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027 (323-663-3104)
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