Thai cuisine is front and center in the great conversation about food in Los Angeles. The cuisine has been a mainstay in L.A.
since the 1970s when Thai restaurants began popping up along Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. They quickly caught on with the film and music industry folks whose studios and offices were nearby. Devouring a plate of pad thai noodles or slurping down some tom kha gai soup when you’re busy hits all the spots.
And you can always depend on the uniformity of Thai menu items. There’s a reason for that. In the early 2000s, Thailand's government, as part of an economic development plan , attempted to standardize authentic Thai flavors to ensure the world was eating excellent Thai food wherever they were.
It was a way to promote Thai cuisine — and tourism. Since then, Thai food has continued to evolve. Now, a number of “fast-casual” Thai restaurants have started popping up around L.
A. Here are a few that have caught our eye: I’ve enjoyed Chefs Noree Pla and Fern Kaewtathip's cooking since they opened their small strip mall Thai restaurant Luv2Eat Thai Bistro on Sunset Boulevard in the mid-2000s. Their focus is on Southern Thai cuisine, specifically flavors from Phuket, where they are both from.
Now they’ve expanded to open Luv2EatThai Express I just two doors down. It’s modeled after ran khao gaeng street food stalls, where you can choose from a series of rotating daily dishes available via steam table. I tried a stir-fried spicy catfish that pack.