The Brief

Two of California’s largest courts are testing an AI tool that can draft orders and produce research memos.

Judges so far are using it primarily for civil cases, but documents obtained by CalMatters indicate the possibility of expanded applications in criminal cases, where people’s freedom and access to justice are on the line.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court began a pilot program in February to test a tool created by the company Learned Hand. Other courts may follow, according to Learned Hand founder and chief executive officer Shlomo Klapper.

Learned Hand uses a combination of language models from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google to act as an AI clerk for judges. The company says it tests for bias and accuracy, but it has not yet published results.

In Riverside County, which has a $10,000 agreement with the company to test the program, civil and probate attorneys are primarily using the tool to draft research memos that help judges reach their decisions. It’s typical for research attorneys to assist judges as they review cases.

Los Angeles County Superior Court has a roughly $314,000 contract that includes a roadmap to test the tool’s use in criminal, family and probate divisions. Officials would not describe in detail to CalMatters the criteria they’re using to evaluate whether use of the tool can safely expand to criminal and family courts, where the stakes are often much higher than in civil cases.

One judge who spoke to CalMatters on condition of anonymity due to judicial rules of conduct was alarmed when their colleagues at a recent luncheon said the technology could be used one day to evaluate appeals from people who believe their conviction or sentence was tainted by racial bias. California courts are handling a wave of those claims after lawmakers passed the Racial Justice Act in 2020.

“I think it is outrageous,” said the Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. “AI cannot and never will be able to replace human judgment in evaluating complex social dynamics. Ultimately, that will erode the public’s confidence in the competence and fairness of the judiciary.”

A majority of California's superior courts now have generative AI use policies, according to documents obtained by CalMatters via public records requests, which they were required to create by the state Judicial Council before using the technology. Roughly a dozen of the 51 courts that have responded to CalMatters’ requests said they are using AI-powered tools from LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters, and Microsoft’s Copilot.

Use of AI in courts has been controversial because of the propensity of AI models to cite falsehoods and to produce sycophantic text. Models from major companies like Google and Anthropic can reduce critical thinking and brain activity, according to a 2025 MIT study.

Language model hallucinations have already made it into the judicial system. Researcher Damien Charlotin has documented hundreds of instances of litigants, lawyers, and judges making mistakes when using AI to do their jobs including nearly 90 cases in state or federal courts based in California since August 2024.

Last fall, a Los Angeles-based lawyer received a historic $10,000 fine for citing cases that don’t exist, and earlier this month the Sacramento Bee reported that use of AI led to errors in four cases handled by prosecutors in Nevada County. Most of these cases involve lawyers or people who are representing themselves in court, but UCLA Law School professors predict that more judges will make AI-fueled mistakes in the future. In recent months, the U.S. Senate investigated federal judges in Mississippi and New Jersey for drafting decisions with generative AI that had serious factual errors.

Klapper, who previously worked as a clerk for a federal appeals court and for surveillance technology company Palantir, said the judiciary needs AI in order to reduce backlogs and increase efficiency.

“Could we hire more people?” he told CalMatters. “Maybe, but it’s not going to keep pace with the exponential increase that’s coming, nor is it going to be able to adequately solve the crisis of today. I think the only solution is to give every single judge and staff attorney their own AI clerk.”

Klapper said he’s aiming to combine the best parts of what human judges can do with the best parts of what machines bring to bear.

“I’m not saying all machines aren’t biased,” he said. “I’m not saying my machine isn’t even biased. I’m saying we can test it and people have tested it. And that is the benefit over humans.”

Generative AI use policies for the Los Angeles and Riverside County superior courts only require disclosure if a motion, decision, or other document is written entirely with generative AI.

Both courts refused to say whether plaintiffs are aware that the tool is being tested on their cases. In a statement to CalMatters, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Superior Court said testing is done on motions that have already been decided, separate from live case environments. However, the contract allows for testing on live cases.

“It is important to note that even with successful evaluation and thorough testing, the Court remains several months, if not years, away from implementing this type of tool,” said the spokesperson.

The contract allows the tool to be used for two critical motions in the criminal division: A motion to suppress, which is designed to determine what type of evidence the prosecution is allowed to present at trial, and motions for post conviction relief, which are filed by people who have already been convicted and want another shot at freedom.

That’s the “greatest concern” for Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman. When he reviewed the contract, he referred to the motions as “two incredibly important motions in the criminal justice system.”

“When you’re dealing with someone’s liberty — as opposed to in the civil setting, which is everything other than liberty — the stakes couldn’t be higher,” said Hochman. “I don’t want to take the chance, particularly in a criminal case, that AI happens to get it wrong. And now someone’s constitutional rights have been infringed. Someone has gone to prison who shouldn’t have, or on the flip side, that somehow someone gets off.”

'An extremely perilous road'

In Los Angeles, some judges first heard about the new Learned Hand contract during a March presentation by Superior Court Judges Yvette Verastegui and Olivia Rosales. They lead the criminal branch and visit courthouses throughout the county as part of an annual roadshow, where they update judges on court operations, discuss workload and field questions. During a luncheon, Verastegui and Rosales said the tool could be used to assist with Racial Justice Act petitions in the future.

California’s Racial Justice Act allows people to challenge a criminal conviction or sentence that they believe was based upon racial bias. Petitions are filed directly to the court from people in state prison. If a case is found to have merit, the process includes appointing legal counsel, filing briefs and setting evidentiary hearings before a judge would decide whether to grant the petition.

That process could look different with a tool like Learned Hand. Verastegui and Rosales explained that, following an incarcerated person’s petition, the tool could generate tentative decisions for judges to consider in denying or advancing cases to the next stages, according to one judge who attended the luncheon.

“The concern, of course, that I have is that the courts will utilize that as a reference point and then get stuck to that initial analysis,” said the judge. “It’s an extremely perilous road to go down. Putting aside the inaccuracy, which will be a significant concern, it dehumanizes the whole process. It does not treat people as individuals with lived experiences. It essentially reimposes a one-size-fits-all style of justice.”

A second Los Angeles Superior Court judge who spoke with CalMatters on the condition of anonymity remembered the presentation and said they would not trust nor use the tool to summarize a Racial Justice Act petition.

AI can replicate or intensify patterns contained in the data used to make a model, including human biases. Large language models have a history of demonstrating race and gender bias, an analysis of predictive policing tech used by LAPD found racial bias, and an analysis of the risk assessment algorithm COMPAS found that it is more likely to label Black people as at risk of committing crimes after incarceration than white people with a similar record.

Public defenders who spoke with CalMatters echoed those concerns.

Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes, a deputy public defender at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, said it would be “highly problematic and bordering on unethical” for a judge to use the tool to review Racial Justice Act petitions, which she described as “incredibly nuanced.”

“They’re like nothing else in the legal system that has ever really been done,” said Lashley-Haynes, who specializes in Racial Justice Act cases. “Words that are used in these cases that have racial undertones or racial meanings are way beyond the realm of anything that artificial intelligence could do.”

In interviews with CalMatters, Klapper and Los Angeles County Superior Court Executive Officer, David Slayton, denied that the court has any plans to use the tool for Racial Justice Act petitions. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Superior Court later confirmed in an email to CalMatters that the contract permits the tool to be used in such a way “but that possibility has not commenced in any way.”

Klapper said if they were to build out a Racial Justice Act module, the tool would need to be evaluated for bias and co-developed with the court.

“The timing very fortuitous, right?” he said. “It’s a very fraught decision, I’m not going to lie…extremely high stakes — a scenario where I understand people might be very concerned. Especially with criminal, I have even more hesitancy, even more guardrails than normal about, because there are liberty interests at stake.”

Extending beyond civil cases

In Los Angeles, six superior court judges and their research attorneys are primarily using the Learned Hand tool to conduct research, summarize motions and assist in drafting tentative rulings, according to Slayton. He says the tool won’t move beyond the civil division “until the court leadership is comfortable.”

“The court is being very deliberate and careful about how we use technology like this,” he said. “So until we evaluate it and determine that it is effective in those areas, we will not extend it to other areas.”

Los Angeles County Superior Court's Hollywood Courthouse, in Los Angeles, on March 12, 2025. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters The tool will be evaluated on a quarterly basis to determine its future application, Slayton said, but he did not specify what kind of evaluation that entails. In an email to CalMatters, a spokesperson later said that Learned Hand is evaluated “against the same substantive expectations applied to law clerks and research attorneys: accurate legal research, sound analysis, neutral and judge-ready writing, and reliable work product that supports judicial decision-making.”

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Samantha Jessner, who chairs the Judicial Technology Advisory Committee, said she was unaware of the possibility that the tool could eventually be used outside of the civil division until recently. Judges are not privy to contract negotiations due to certain ethical limitations, she said.

“I think we have a duty and obligation to explore whether or not there is a place for artificial intelligence in what we do as a judicial branch and that’s exactly what this pilot is intended to afford us the opportunity to do,” said Jessner.

Riverside County Superior Court signed an agreement with Learned Hand in February. In emails obtained by CalMatters, Klapper proposed to two Riverside County Superior Court executives, Jason Galkin and Sarah Hodgson, that the court use the tool for a common civil court motion and “then expand quickly once we earn our stripes.” He suggested that Hodgson assemble a list of motions and workflows “that generate the most pain,” citing examples that included the Racial Justice Act.

Roughly two weeks later, Hodgson described the most laborious motions “that want to drive us into retirement,” including discovery motions and attorney fee motions. For criminal cases, the court suggested that Klapper focus on “things with the largest paper records,” citing death penalty habeas petitions and parole revocation.

Since the pilot started, seven civil and probate attorneys have been granted access to the tool. Galkin, the chief executive officer of the Riverside County Superior Court, said they are “kicking the tires on the product” to see what tasks it can do. The tool is not being used to draft tentative rulings, he said.

“We don’t even know if expansion is likely so there is no set criteria for what expansion might look like or thresholds for that because right now, the core question is: Does this help staff and does it advance what they’re trying to do in their roles?” said Galkin.

As testing is underway, attorneys like Hochman say that use of AI is inevitable, but would be better suited for low-level, repetitive and routine tasks.

“It’s the analysis of the case itself, coupled with the conclusions that will be reached, that I’m very hesitant to trust AI at this point — in large part, because I don’t know all of the inputs that AI is using to make its decision. The only thing I’m 100% sure of is that AI didn’t go to law school,” said Hochman.

Cayla Mihalovich is a California Local News fellow.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Rest easy, Southern California, there’s an end in sight to this week’s record-breaking heatwave.

Downtown Los Angeles broke its daily record Monday at 98 degrees, and tied it two other times in the last week.

Woodland Hills hit 111 degrees on Wednesday, breaking its daily record of 109 degrees. Lancaster hit 107 degrees, breaking its record of 106.

Humidity was also unprecedented. The dewpoint, essentially a baseline of how much moisture can be held in the air, reached nearly 73 degrees in downtown L.A. on Thursday. Dewpoints over 70 degrees typically feel uncomfortably humid.

Parts of Southern California farther inland, near the Salton Sea, had some of the highest dewpoints in the country.

Extreme heat warnings from the National Weather Service were scheduled to remain in place for most of the region through Friday evening.

Officials say the conditions pose a high risk of heat-related illness for most people. Sensitive groups are especially susceptible, including people over 65, young children, people without access to air conditioning or those who work outdoors.

Fire danger is also elevated. Red flag warnings are in effect until Friday at 3 p.m. for the inland mountains and foothills of L.A., Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, although there is fire risk across the region.

The good news is forecasters predict a cooldown Saturday.

“We'll drop our high temperatures fairly noticeably each day through the weekend and early next week,” said NWS meteorologist  Rose Schoenfeld. “Early next week we'll end up closer to normal, maybe even a little bit below normal.”

Humidity vs. fire danger

Abnormally high humidity in the region continues to make this week’s heatwave feel even more uncomfortable.

The moisture also brought cloud cover, and in places, even a chance of light showers and thunderstorms.

But there isn’t enough moisture in the air to put a damper on fire conditions. Without significant rain, thunderstorms can create dry lighting, which can spark wildfires.

“Fire and thunderstorms can be linked together, but mostly it's because it's very hot and the atmosphere is primed for plume-dominated fire development,” Schoenfeld said.

More concerning to forecasters is the combination of high temperatures and gusty winds, especially inland and at higher elevations. If a fire does start under those conditions, it can spread quickly.

A 'confluence' of factors

The temperature of the ocean has a lot to do with the heat and humidity.

Normally, the Pacific Ocean acts as air conditioning for Southern California by cooling the air that moves inland.

But waters off the coast of California and Mexico have been experiencing a long-term marine heatwave for more than a year, and warm surface temperatures have reduced the natural cooling effect.

Ocean temperatures are also driving up the humidity. Seawater evaporates faster when it’s warmer, adding moisture to the air.

At the same time, farther away in the Pacific, warming waters closer to the equator are leading to tropical storms and cyclones. As the storms dissipate, they send moisture all the way here.

Scientists say warming in the equatorial Pacific is one of the early impacts of this year’s El Niño.

"It's the confluence of this somewhat unusual weather pattern with these very unusual temperatures off the coast of Baja and Southern California, layered onto a warmer world,” said Alex Hall, a professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UCLA. “That's what's making this such an extreme event.”

Hall said climate change is making heat waves worse by elevating baseline temperatures, which drives longer stretches of uncomfortably or even dangerously hot days, and warmer nights that provide less relief from the heat.

Clownfish clamber around a watery enclosure, a couple of brownbanded bamboo sharks weave between rocks and lines of coral sit in tanks basking under artificial grow lights — all creatures seized from illegal wildlife trafficking and placed at the Aquarium of the Pacific for care and a home.

The Long Beach aquarium took in nearly 1,000 trafficked marine animals over the course of two operations this summer, in which wildlife officials each time intercepted a box truck carrying thousands of confiscated creatures.

Nate Jaros, vice president of animal care at the aquarium, said this is one of the largest hauls the aquarium has handled in years.

The first operation, in June, led authorities to a box truck carrying some 2,000 animals, a mix of reptiles, fish and invertebrates that were being smuggled for sale on the black market.

Aquarium officials received some 500 marine animals from that operation on June 19, taking in an array of fish, sharks, clams, shrimp, prawns and tiny snails. The facility being understaffed that day, employees worked through the night to move the creatures into specialized quarantine areas where they tested their shipping water for pH, dissolved oxy

gen and ammonia levels — the byproducts of the animals’ waste — before slowly acclimating them to their new tanks.

About a quarter of the animals died either upon arrival or within days after, Jaros said.

“It’s just a very careful acclimation process,” Jaros said, adding it can take hours to get the chemistry just right. “We were working till about 1 a.m. There were four of us here, and we could have easily used three more people just kind of streamlining. … It’s a very stressful process.”

Another operation near the end of July brought another 300 marine animals to the aquarium after a brief stay at a federal wildlife center in Torrance.

The seizure was coordinated through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Wildlife Confiscations Network, of which the Aquarium of the Pacific is a founding member. Since joining, the aquarium has taken in more than 3,300 trafficked animals, including axolotls, corals, reptiles and fish. Earlier this year, it received grant funding to expand and upgrade its holding systems in anticipation of future confiscations.

The network, launched in 2023 as a partnership between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, has sought to streamline the placement of animals seized in illegal trafficking so they can be sent to accredited facilities to rehabilitate and rehome the critters.

Southern California, considered an epicenter for trafficked wildlife, sees much of it moving through the region’s ports of entry from Asian countries. Monkeys, tigers, exotic birds destined for the pet trade or as trophies, reptiles and sea cucumbers prized for food and medicine all pass through the region’s airports and border crossings, according to officials with the network.

Without food or a change of water, animals often arrive in a weakened state, ripped from reefs in places like Indonesia, Fiji, Tonga, Australia or the Caribbean — before being packed by the hundreds into small bags of seawater for shipping, they often carry heavy parasite loads that worsen under the stress of captivity.

“These animals are likely from the reef, and that means that all animals that live in nature have some level of parasites,” Jaros said. “And when you bring them into a stressful environment, those parasite loads can start to increase. So they’re kind of vulnerable in that regard. A lot of times, those fish are going to need medical treatment as well, to ensure that we can rid them of parasites that are also compromising their health.”

Among the species rescued were brownbanded bamboo sharks, listed as near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature; Banggai cardinalfish, which are endangered; and ocellaris clownfish, one of the most heavily traded species in the pet industry.

Coral made up a significant share of the intake, and identifying it can be painstaking. “There’s thousands of species. They’re difficult to identify. Some of the cases need a microscope to identify them,” Jaros said, noting the aquarium takes in hundreds of confiscated corals every year arriving via air freight through Los Angeles International Airport.

Given the nature of how these federal anti-trafficking operations are conducted, aquarium officials say they know very little about how these animals got here or where they were headed.

Past a large gate and down a path lined by corrugated metal pipes, many of the fish explore their new home inside two 2,500-gallon tanks covered with a tied-down tarp. More than 40 species swim about in the water. There were yellow longnose butterflyfish, domino damselfish, lemonpeel angelfish, clownfish and powder blue tang.

Between a school of banghai cardinalfish, a single juvenile emperor angelfish cut through — its deep blue scales segmented by white, vein-looking striations. Jaros said this one is still young, and that by the time it’s an adult it’ll be an entirely different-looking fish, yellow and blue striped. That adulthood, unfortunately, must be spent inside a tank like this one.

Experts say these animals cannot return to the wild. Introducing a fish foreign to the region could bring diseases into the water. The fish, having been medicated by this point, would have weakened immune systems unable to protect them against parasites.

Most are instead forced to live inside aquariums or rehabilitation centers for the rest of their lives. Some must also be housed and cared for as evidence — either until charges against a defendant are dismissed or the animals are permanently seized by the government.

Jaros said the aquarium has already found homes for a large share of the animals and expects to send them to other accredited facilities within about two weeks; others will be acclimated into Long Beach’s own exhibits. Which animals stay and which go depends on each species’ size and lifespan, and whether they can coexist with — or might prey on — other fish in the exhibits.

There are at least six Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited aquariums in California that can take part in that placement network.

“Wildlife trafficking disrupts national and global ecosystems and puts animals on the path to extinction,” said Jeff Flocken, the aquarium’s president and chief executive. “We are proud to answer the call to help trafficked wildlife.”

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Two months after the Lineage warehouse fire, Nataly Degante was finally able to control the fly infestation plaguing her East Los Angeles home.

A mix of mosquito zappers, sprays, a fly swatter and net that she purchased helped her combat the throngs of flies flocking into neighborhoods after the fire left 85 million pounds of rotting food inside the warehouse. 

At one point, there were so many flies that she couldn’t even cook. “They would get into the food,” said Negante, who lives about a mile and a half away from Lineage.

“It’s overwhelming because I have two children that I need to feed. It was very, very frustrating coming home and having to deal with, ‘How do I kill all these moscas?’” Degante said. 

She’s not alone.

Residents at recent public meetings have said they continue to cope with flies in their neighborhoods. One resident at a Tuesday gathering at Resurrection Church said she has seen an influx of flies in recent days.  

A fly trap is hung from a pole across the street from the Lineage warehouse where workers continue to clear it out.

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Steve Saldivar

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The LA Local

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County inspection reports show that flies are still breeding at the Lineage warehouse amid unsanitary conditions created by organic waste, sludge and food. An Aug. 26 inspection report— conducted by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health — details how Lineage has failed to eliminate fly breeding sources and take necessary measures to prevent flies originating from the property from migrating to neighboring areas. 

The health department said it has conducted daily inspections since July 15 to verify whether Lineage has corrected those violations. The company hasn’t, and since then, more than 30 citations totaling about $60,000 have been issued, according to inspection reports and citations on the department’s website. 

The latest inspection report on Aug. 26 notes that hundreds of live flies were seen in several locations, including on organic waste and walls throughout the loading dock adjacent to Freezer 1, as well as on the ground floor within the freezer. 

Live flies were also spotted “on the exterior premises of the facility,” as well as dead flies along Union Pacific Avenue.

An environmental health specialist with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health observed more than 75 live flies on a shovel handle and over 50 dead flies on the ground floor in the Freezer 1 loading dock on Aug. 18 at Lineage.

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Courtesy of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

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A Lineage spokesperson said the company has expanded pest-control efforts with support from Orkin, a company that provides pest and rodent control services, to help reduce fly and rodent activity around the site. This includes daily fly-control treatments and inspections of the property perimeter, as well as rodent-control devices that have been installed around Lineage. 

Lineage highlighted the installation of up to 248 exterior fly-control devices, including bait stations and fly traps to help reduce fly populations. 

The Lineage spokesperson said the company continues to distribute fly traps to residents, adding that a total of 1,989 fly traps have been provided since the fire. 

But they’re not available to everyone, only to those in areas designated by Lineage (see areas below). 

Degante finds it appalling that she and her neighbors have to foot the bill for these kinds of expenses. She estimates spending nearly $100 on products to combat the fly problem in her house. 

“I’m a single parent, and my community, they’re working-class people. We don’t have additional income to spend on a mistake from [Lineage]. We’re being overlooked,” she said. 

How to access fly traps

Residents can request fly traps through Lineage’s online community contact form on its website. 

The form notes that Lineage support is only available for households located between Los Palos Street and South Herbert Avenue and between the I-5 and Union Pacific Avenue. 

Lineage Logistics can be reached by emailing boyleheights@onelineage.com or by calling (866) 317-1115.

Fly traps are also available to residents at the Boyle Heights City Hall Community Resource Center that is open from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 2130 1st St.

In Los Angeles, Thai food is something many of us take for granted — as central to how Angelenos eat as tacos or sushi. But in 1969, when one of the first Thai restaurants, Chao Krung, opened its doors, the cuisine was so unfamiliar that its owners had to offer Chinese dishes to put customers at ease.

"My mom had a chalkboard — barbecue chicken, wonton soup, chow mein," recalled Amanda Maneesilasan of her mother, Supa Kuntee. "She'd start seeing people coming in, and then slowly introduce them to something Thai."

The restaurant mostly served L.A.'s scattered Thai community — years before Thai Town existed.

Boon and Supa Kuntee, along with Supa's sister, Nillaung, opened Chao Krung’s first location, a small storefront on Western Avenue, not long after the couple arrived in California in pursuit of a better education and a better life.

The family later closed that location for a second spot on Hollywood Boulevard, a narrow, single storefront where the same struggle to explain Thai food to Angelenos continued — and the same Chinese menu holdovers stuck around to keep customers coming in.

It wasn't until the family opened its third and current location on Fairfax Avenue in 1972 that Chao Krung began to take the shape it's known as today.

As Thai food became more popular and moved into the mainstream in the '70s and '80s, its clientele grew, boosted by staffers at nearby CBS Television City. You can see family photos in the space spanning the past few decades, in between statues of the Thai Buddha and colorful tapestries, showcasing Los Angeles' restaurant history.

Sisters Amanda Maneesilasan (left) and Katy Noochlaor (right), second-generation owners of Chao Krung, behind the bar.

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Courtesy Chao Krung Thai

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Second generation

As children, Maneesilasan and her sister, Katy Noochlaor, grew up in the restaurant — doing homework between tables, playing behind the building — wherever the family was, they were there, too.

Which is why it made sense in 2017 for them to step into their parents’ shoes. "We knew we would take over the restaurant," Noochlaor said. "We live and breathe that restaurant."

The menu still had vestiges of the original compromise their parents had to make to survive. The sisters, however, were determined to restore it to its true Thai roots.

For Maneesilasan, learning to make green curry from her grandmother was a turning point, almost a lightbulb moment, in her understanding of the cuisine.

Weekly curry nights

As part of the reclamation effort, the sisters have unveiled a new weekly Kanom Jeen Curry Night, Wednesdays only, which features a trio of curries and grilled skewers.

When I visited, small ceramic vats of curry crowded the table, alongside plates of rice noodles — steam still rising, their funky aroma enough to make a famished stomach growl.

The curries consist of Gang Kieaow Waan Gai, the green curry recipe they learned from their grandmother, made with chicken, a coconut curry base, fresh herbs, Thai eggplant and Thai chili.

Mae's Nam Ya Trout is made with tender bits of trout in a Southern Thai coconut curry, built on house-ground red curry paste, and is the most labor-intensive of the three, taking about five hours to complete. The Nam Prik is a roasted chili curry with smoky herbs and nutty undertones from peanuts. The layered flavors are savory, but when mixed with rice noodles, fresh vegetables, and dried chilies, they take on a new dimension — silky smooth at first, then leaving your lips burning the next.

A selection of Ping Ping skewers at Chao Krung, including roasted eggplant, lemongrass chicken, beef satay, and shrimp, alongside Isaan-style pork sausage.

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Sydney Yorkshire

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Courtesy Chao Krung

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"Curry is so important in Thai culture, it's part of our tradition," Maneesilasan said. On the trout curry specifically: "I can guarantee you can't find this anywhere else."

The skewers range from house-made Isaan-style sausage to a surprisingly spicy eggplant, glazed with roasted chili, garlic, and makrut lime leaf — a welcome kick from a vegetable so often relegated to the sidelines.

In addition to taking over the family restaurant, the sisters have also built their own ventures over the years — Tuk Tuk Thai, a street-food-driven spot now on Sawtelle, and Ban Ban Burger, a Thai-inflected smashburger concept located next door.

This fall, a second Ban Ban Burger location opens next door to Chao Krung on Fairfax, with the wall between the two restaurants coming down to make way for an archway connecting them. It's a literal and symbolic union of the family's two generational concepts under one roof.