One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Spice Up Your Life With The First Annual Thai Food Festival
Photo by VeganLazySmurf on Flickr
L.A. is known for having the largest population of immigrants outside their mother land for many nationalities, and it's no surprise that our rich culinary diversity reflects this awesome influx of international flavor.
Thai Town in Hollywood is one of these examples. It's estimated that 80,000 Thai expats live here in L.A., making it the largest Thai community outside Thailand. In fact, the Thai government actually considers Los Angeles the 77th province of Thailand. And they plan on celebrating that next weekend with the first official Thai Food Festival.
Organized by the Thai Trade Center in Los Angeles and its presenting partners, the festival will take place at the historic Paramount Pictures Studios from 3:30 - 6 p.m. The goal of the festival is to expose eager eaters to lesser known Thai dishes, so don't come into this expecting tons of phad thai and green curry. There'll also be some unique fusion-y twists, like shrimp donuts with a sweet sauce from Lucky Elephant in San Dimas.
Chefs that'll be in attendance include Thai Culinary Ambassador Jet Tila, Evan Kleiman of KCRW’s “Good Food," Susan Feniger of Street, David LeFevre from Fishing With Dynamite, Kris Yenbamroong of Night + Market, and most notably (at least for Pok Pok obsessives like us) Andy Ricker.
Running in tandem with the event is the first ever Thai restaurant week, where 55 local restaurants will be doing a DineLA-style discount on certain dishes. (You can peep their Facebook page for more details.)
General admission ($50) for the Thai Food Festival includes access to culinary discussion panels and demonstrations with celebrity guest chefs, food and drink tastings, and live entertainment. VIP tickets ($75) provide preview admittance to the festivities at 3 p.m. alongside preferred parking. You can find out more info and purchase tickets here.
Related:
Sponsored message
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
