Flame War

Is everything great at Jitlada? Of course not, not even on the southern menu. The giant prawns baked in a clay pot tend to be mushy, and the fried pork ribs with garlic are on the leathery side. Non-Thais are apt to be puzzled by the funkiness and the gumbolike consistency of the dried-mudfish curry with kangkong.

But suave housemade fish balls, formed around salted duck-egg yolks, bob in a fresh green curry that may be the gentlest dish on the southern menu. Jazz claims that every few weeks somebody from a well-known Bay Area restaurant picks up a few dozen orders of the kaeng phûung plaa kûng sàp, a pungent, thin curry of various fish organs, minced shrimp and vegetables. The mango salad, a severely spicy take on a traditional papaya salad flavored with coconut water, is wonderful. There iseven special iced coffee whipped to a froth by Jazz and lightened with a secret Thai ingredient that I suspect might be something like Coffee-mate, and the house version of the classic Thai dessert of ripe mango and coconut-scented sticky rice is superb. Jitlada, clearly, is the most exciting new Thai restaurant of the year.

Green heat: Jitlada’s mussels in spicy lemongrass broth (Photos by Anne Fishbein)

Family ties — chef Tui Sungkamee, seated, surrounded, from left, by Sariya and Jazz Singsanong and Aun and Sugar Sungkamee.

Location Info

Map

Jitlada Thai Restaurant

5233-1/2 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Category: Restaurant > Asian

Region: Silver Lake

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More About

• Bangkok
• Chiang Mai
• Main Dish Recipes
• Thai Food and Cooking

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Jitlada Thai Restaurant, 5233½ Sunset Blvd., Hlywd., (323) 667-9809. Open daily, 11 a.m.–10:30 p.m. AE, MC, V. Beer and wine. Difficult lot parking. Takeout. Dinner for two, food only, $22–$36. Recommended dishes: green curry with fish balls; Phat Lung–style beef curry; steamed mussels; kaeng phûung plaa kûng sàp; mango salad; Songkhia-style rice salad.