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Had your fill of Thai Elvis? Live entertainment lives at Kruang Tedd, of a somewhat different sort.
This is a modest but elegantly designed little spot, located in a strip mall next to an establishment known as Jumbo’s Clown Room. I’ve never been inside Jumbo's, though I believe their traditional British pub food is popular with the ladies, as I’m often told, “All the girls have pasties there.” Dancing is advertised as well, but in case you don’t like the music selection, there is an alternative one door to the right.
The band is a bit hard to describe in words, although this might help.
Imagine Patsy Cline's Crazy, There’s A Kind of Hush (All Over The World) and Can’t Buy Me Love into the set, and you’ve about got it.
It might not be completely fair to judge the band, as we experienced them during a long, punishing rehearsal when we arrived for dinner at 5:30 on a Sunday. Songs would start and stop, they’d argue in Thai about how the parts are supposed to go, and try it again. It was kind of endearing, for about as long as it took for our menu to arrive. By the time we were waiting on entrees, I was ready to drive them off the bandstand, Keith Moon style.
In these kind of conditions the food had better be worth the scenery. We decided to try a couple of traditional faves, Tom Kha Kai, and Pad Kra Pow with shrimp (aka chili-mint leaf), and a spicy catfish dish. My impression of all three dishes was about the same: nice, clean, well-balanced flavors within a miniscule portion of poorly cooked food. While the soup tasted very nice, the chicken was tough and chewy. The catfish turned out to be mostly skin and bone with a few tiny flecks of dehydrated meat to be found every now and then. A huge disappointment as the curry sauce that coated it was quite good. I counted six wilted shrimp in a dinner entrée, which wasn’t even filled out with many vegetables. We left hungry and, despite a few moments of inspired spicing, I can’t really recommend a place that leaves two people starving after a $40 meal.
Next time, I’m going for the pasties at Jumbo's next door.
Kruang Tedd
5151 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-9988
(Photos by Elise Thompson for LAist)
