Food

3 exciting Thai restaurants in LA to try when you’re in a rush

Published Oct 4, 2024 5:00 AM

A black plastic to-go tray with three different compartments, each filled with varying types of food. On the left is a bed of cooked white rice containing chunks of an orange squash-like vegetable in a yellow sauce towards the bottom of the tray. On top of the rice are two hard-boiled eggs with a light reddish-brown sauce. The right side has two smaller sections. The top section is filled with large chunks of sliced fish in a dark red sauce, while the bottom section contains large chunks of brown cooked meat and small quail eggs in a light brown liquid sauce.

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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.

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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:

Luv2Eat Thai Express

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.

A small white storefront with a large rectangular sign that says "Thai Street Food" above the entrance, where a group of people is gathered.

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 packed a punch made with funky chili paste, a recipe Chef Noree inherited from her parents. She also recommended that I sample the braised mackerel cooked with palm and sugar cane that contained the earthy sweetness often found in Thai flavors, which I can never seem to get enough of.

Location: 6660 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
Hours: Open daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

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Amphai Northern Thai Food Club

Four separate round bowls are on a wooden brown table surface. In the upper right is pale pink meat made oblong in shape and garnished with different types of herbs and spices. To the upper left is a white plate with large slices of brown-orange sausage. On the bottom left is a bowl filled with a yellow-brown curry sauce containing large chunks of meat. On the bottom right is a square-shaped white bowl with a large portion of white sticky rice.

Heading toward the center of Thai Town in Hollywood is another choose-what-you-want steam table restaurant, Amphai Northern Thai Food Club. As the name suggests, they specialize in Northern Thai cooking, which differs from Southern Thai cuisine because it takes more influence from surrounding countries, such as Laos. It focuses on bolder flavors and tends to be heavier with spice.

Northern Thai Food Club is an excellent opportunity to dive head first into the wide variety of Northern Thai dishes. In the tiny 12-seat restaurant, there’s little room to hide. Sure, you could order pad thai or pad kee mao. But I’d urge you to try the gaeng hung lay, especially if you love heavy, curried flavors. Large chunks of pork are cooked in a sauce made from lemongrass, galangal (a cousin of ginger, but more spicy), garlic, shallots, shrimp paste (kapi), and dried chilies, pounded together via mortar and pestle.

A small beige corner building inside a shopping plaza. It has a small concrete ramp leading up from the sidewalk with a black pole railing. Pictures of various dishes and other miscellaneous poster advertisements are in the building window. Above the windowed entrance is signage containing the word in the Thai language in blue lettering. Next to it, in red lettering, reads "Amphai Northern Thai Food Club."

Other standout dishes included a spicy stir-fried fish cake with green pepper cooked with green onion and other aromatics and herbs. It blew my mind and kept my nose running from all the spice. Also, I can’t forget the sai oua, the herbaceous sausage that rounded out my meal.

Location: 5301 Sunset Blvd. #11, Los Angeles
Hours: Open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Ban Ban Burger

Two cheeseburgers sit next to each other in a white paper container with a red and white checkered to-go container on top. The burger in the foreground contains a large white fried egg with a cooked burger patty with yellow melted cheese with a few strings of grilled onions peaking out underneath between light brown buns. In the back sits another similar looking burger with melted cheese with small amount of green substance both on top and bottom of the cooked burger patty, featuring the same type of hamburger bun as the other.

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What do you get when you combine a smashburger with Thai flavors? The answer is Ban Ban Burger, located on Sawtelle Boulevard just around the corner from the Nuart Theater. The term ban ban translates to ‘flat flat’ and refers to the smashed patties of their burgers.

A small restaurant has a dining room with a long black tabletop and light yellow-brown wood finish. Short wooden stools with metal legs surround the table, painted bright red. On the tabletop, there are three metal napkin dispensers spread out. The room is painted with light pink on top and dark red on the bottom. Above the table is a red neon sign that reads "Ban Ban Burger" with a burger icon in the middle. To the table's left is a small window with two pink menu signs showing a kitchen filled with different appliances.

Grapow Smash comes out the gate with a juicy patty made with grapow seasoning, which contains holy basil that's known for its peppery, almost clove-like taste. From there it's piled with grilled onions, pickles, American cheese, garlic aioli, and topped with an over-easy fried egg and enveloped in a potato bun. Another option is the Wagyu Laab Smash, seasoned with laab seasoning, with notes of lime, fish sauce, dried chili flakes, and rice powder.

Both burgers are deliciously messy and can fall apart quickly if you aren’t careful, so take advantage of the small packets of wet wipes they provide with each burger. Trust me, you’re going to need them.

Location: 1644 Sawtelle Blvd. #3149, Los Angeles
Hours: Open daily, noon to 10 p.m.

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