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We've been serious about our Thai project here at LAist: in fact, we've posted 14 entries in 20 days on the many, many restaurants located in the few blocks that comprise Thai Town in Hollywood. We've learned many things: for instance, pork is always an excellent option at a Thai restaurant, especially when infused into a broth or preserved in a rich, fatty sausage or cooked down until it crumbles into a soup.
Second, crab is also always a great choice. I had heard many good things about the crab at Hollywood Thai, a comfortably situated restaurant-bar just a few blocks up from the famed Jitlada in Thai Town. As Sloane pointed out, the Thai district in Hollywood is a great option for those looking for a quick, satisfying dinner after work when you're on the way to an awesome event at the Bowl or the Boulevard theater row. Hollywood Thai can be one of those places, and despite the leisurely dinner-hour service, two people can get in and out in about an hour.
It's difficult to choose just a few dishes when you're going Thai, because you've always got a great soup (tom kai) or curry (panang!) or fried rice specialty that is guaranteed to fill your tummy no matter where you are. Furthermore, the variety of regional dishes and the subtleties of spice and flavor are so great within the Thai cuisine (much like Italian), that it gets VERY DIFFICULT to narrow things down to essentials.
Thank your many respective gods we are here to help you navigate the coconut-scented waters of this magnificent culinary tradition. Hollywood Thai is a good place to start. It's a party kind of place -- there's a karaoke/band-stand set-up in the corner, and the walls are mirrored into infinity. The rough wooden tables can be pushed aside to the corner at a moment's notice, and the waitresses are spunky, adorable, and laid-back enough not to mind your impatient demands. Oh, and there's a full bar. They know exactly what you mean when you ask for "Thai beer" -- you mean Singha, and it quenches that Bangkok burn.
Now that the weather's finally giving us those mist-layered nights we've all been craving, hot soup is a great way to start at Hollywood Thai. Just be aware that one bowl of the House Special (or any other soup) is probably enough for an appetizer for four people: a big meal for one, and way too much as a starter for two. It's a good hearty soup, though: clear pork broth, with huge chunks of the softest tofu, pork meatballs, mushrooms (they look like cubed porcini to me), and green onion. The cuts of cabbage look like they've been beat up, though -- I don't really love huge slices of white cabbage which have been stained brown by age and use. The garlic and shallots have been rather hastily added, since there are bits of shallot peel floating in the broth.
The deep-fried crab claws, on the other hand, are compact, meaty crab lollipops that are excellent dipped in the spicy sauce served alongside. The claws are deshelled save for the pincers, then rolled in panko. It's fun to pick one up and pop it in your mouth, although it's not the lightest appetizer on the menu. The other dinner options are almost endless, there's no reason to stick with pad thai here. More exotic menu items include duck feet, pork intestine, and a Thai version of the rice porridge, congee. There are curries, soups, lots of steamed and fried fish options, different duck preparations, and, yes, all those tried-and-true Thai noodle dishes that satisfy in a pinch.
But the one BIG problem with Hollywood Thai? No table-side condiments! As somebody who carries Sriracha sauce in her backpack when traveling, I must object -- part of the joy of Thai places is the wide and pungent array of seasonings and chile sauces that come on a neat little tray at every table. I want my chile sauce, I want my minced cilantro, I want my fish sauce spiked with green onion! Is that too much to ask? But given that the place seems more like a late-night hang-out spot rather than a serious food pit stop (they're not open for the lunch crowds, unlike many of their neighboring noodle brethren).
One of the reasons I love those condiments is that you never know what level of spice you'll be getting from a place. I have an unreasonably high tolerance for spice (no, really, ask my friends), despite my peaches-and-cream complexion and decidedly unspicy demeanor. So it turns out that most places I go to for the first time don't really pile the heat on -- our panang curry, which should give you that yummy burn, is decidedly mild. We asked for "pretty spicy." I think we need to make our terms more precise. GIVE ME THE HEAT. But the flavoring was complex: dark and meaty, peppery, with a hint of sweetness. I took the leftovers home and heated them in the microwave, and they were surprisingly delicious with a liberal application of Sriracha. Hellllllloooooo drunk food! Yes.
We'd definitely go back to Hollywood Thai, but probably later in the night rather than for an early dinner -- they stay open until 4am, which is a good indicator that the party at this place doesn't get going until well after us early birds go to bed. Maybe they even kick up the spice a notch once the hours get late -- we can hope.
Hollywood Thai
5241 Hollywood Blvd.
323-467-0926
Daily, 6 p.m.-4 a.m.
All photos by Carrie Meathrell for LAist.
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Perhaps the hottest waitresses in Thai Town, too.