LA is filled with many ethnic food enclaves. Some examples of this include Little Tokyo, Olvera Street, and the San Gabriel Valley. The Thai enclave, Thai Town, is taking greater notice thanks to Jet Tila and Anthony Bourdain. This Thai enclave is a six-block area with Hollywood Blvd to the north and between Normandie and Western Aves. I recently visited Northern Thai.
Northern Thai is located in a busy strip mall on Sunset Blvd, two blocks east of Western Ave. The space that Northern Thai occupies has visibly gone through turn-over, a banner with the restaurant’s name was placed on top of two additional signs. I felt lucky to find a spot in their parking lot.
The dining room is tiny. Customers line up in front of their steam table among the diners. Northern Thai maximizes their space by having a metal shelf mounted to the window and outfitting the space with backless bar stools. While this isn’t comfortable, this is certainly functional if you are dining solo and eating a single dish.
The menu is printed on both sides of a worn laminated single sheet of paper. The first thing you notice is that everything is priced at $7 each. The price is not only affordable but invites groups that enjoy eating family-style. I ordered everything to go and after I arrived home, I plated everything for my wife and me to enjoy.
Khao Soi is a coconut noodle soup served widely in Myanmar, Laos and Northern Thailand. It has recently gained popularity in LA. This soup is loaded with bold spices like coriander, turmeric, and curry powder and is fairly spicy. Dried noodles are placed on top for added texture and taste. I selected this soup with chicken; it is also available with beef. The coconut milk base is significantly enhanced with spices and fish sauce.
Sai Oua is a traditional Northern Thai sausage. It has a distinctly intense flavor due to the mixture of minced pork, charred makrut lime, galangal, lemongrass, chilies, and other spices. I later found out that this sausage is usually very spicy and realized I received their gringo version.
Among their vegan dishes is Tom Kha Kai or jack fruit salad. Jackfruit is a giant fruit indigenous to Southeast Asian. This dish is a blend of strong spices, a rich curry paste and has a crunchy texture. Kaffir lime leaves give this added fragrance with a citrus taste. The salad is topped with fried garlic bits.
Since I enjoy eggplant, I selected Tum Makhua. This is an eggplant salad made with grilled eggplant that is mashed with Thai chiles, shallots, mint leaves, cilantro. It is mixed with fresh lime juice, fish sauce and topped with sliced hard-boiled eggs. This dish was delicious, but it was also extremely spicy.
Customers communicate in Thai. A person eating next to the window helped me by translating to Thai for the staff. Several were extremely surprised when they learned I made the drive from Torrance. They all nodded and said, “the food here is very good”. Nuff said.
Northern Thai, 5301 Sunset Blvd #11, Los Angeles, CA 90027; 323.474.7212