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Of all the restaurants in Thai Town, Thai Patio had to fill the biggest shoes. After Palms Thai took their Elvis and moved west down Hollywood Blvd. last year, Thai Patio redecorated and moved in. You can still hear music every night as you eat, and there's still an ever-changing policy with the parking, currently you have to pay a few bucks.
The food is good, the menu is large, and the mood is mellow. They were smart to keep the basic set up of the old Palms Thai and the wide selection. Likewise they were were wise to slow the pace down and not subtlety act like you're just one of a ton of people who are going to walk through the doors.
After the jump, Tom Kha soup, short ribs, and frog legs...
Although Elvis is gone there's still live music every night, which is nice if you don't like talking to the people that you're with.
We started our meal with the crab fried rice. If there's one thing that we love it's fried rice. Thai Patio's fried rice was moist and fluffy, the crab was fragrant and easy-going. The rice was slightly oily, but some of us like that. Especially when it means that you realize you've eaten half the rice and you haven't added one drop of soy sauce.
The Tom Kha Kai soup was delicious. They made sure to ask if we wanted it spicy, we responded with yes, spicy please, and we actually got a spicy soup. We could have gone for a smidge more zing but this soup was spicy.
Thank you, Thai Patio!
The short ribs were thinly cut and savory. Garnished with broccoli, carrots and cabbage, the sauce was delicious, and the meat was slightly rare, and a tad fatty, but some of us like that too.
Elise had the shrimp (above) and the frog (below) and says, "The frog was like cross between hot wings and orange chicken. Spicy, good flavor, and not too many bones. Well fried. The shrimp were huge and amazing."
Thai Patio is a worthy replacement for the Thai Town legend.
Their lunch menu hours extend out until a generous 5pm, which is good because their dinner prices can get pretty expensive.
Thai Patio
5273 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) 466-3894
Top three photos by Sonny I. LaVista, bottom three photos by Elise Thompson
