This was a highly unusual trip to Los Angeles for us in the sense that we did not eat at Jitlada. However, we did eat a number of Thai meals, three to be exact: at Pailin Thai, Sapp Coffee Shop and Pa Ord 3. As with almost all of the better Thai restaurants in Los Angeles these are just a few blocks away from each other on Hollywood Blvd. in Thai Town. We’d enjoyed our meal at Pailin Thai so much last year that we knew we were going to go back and try more of their Northern Thai specialties. Sapp Coffee Shop and Pa Ord 3 we picked mostly in order to diversify our Thai Town holdings.

Let’s take the meals in chronological order.

Pailin Thai (5621 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles).

They were far busier for lunch on the Friday we were there than they were at our meal last year. We were first seated at one of their tables for two but after we placed our order we were moved to a larger table so that the food could fit on it. This is what we got:

Northern Sausage. We loved these last year and there was no way we were not getting them again. Just as good as we remembered.

Fried Pork Rib. Perfectly fried; tangy and hot. Great stuff.

Larb Tod. Think deep-fried balls of larb and you won’t be far off. Very nice but slight overkill of fried meats after the sausage and ribs.

Kang Leang. A soup that we were told to eat with rice. Fish, pumpkin (kabocha, I think), mushrooms, some sort of gourd—all in a pretty hot broth. Very nice indeed.

Kao Soy. We loved their Kao Soy last year. We’ve since eaten two subpar versions in the Twin Cities (at Krungthep Thai and Supatra) and things needed to be set right. And they were. Just excellent. Perfectly balanced and the coconut milk was not cloying at all (as it so often is at places that use crappy canned product).

Toppings for the Kao Soy. Pickled mustard greens, red and green onions, lime.

Our next Thai Town outing was a few days later, and we were joined for this meal by Michael Kravitz. After the requisite drug-dealer-style whisky geek exchange of boxes/bags of samples and muled bottles we had a great time talking about all kinds of things, whisky and non-whisky; and we also ate. I will only review the meal here.

Sapp Coffee Shop (5183 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles)

Not quite as hole in the wall’ish as Yai but also cash-only, Sapp Coffee Shop is known for their boat noodles, but of course that’s not all we got. They’ve been in Thai Town forever but have relatively recently become a destination for non-Thai people, showing up on Jonathan Gold’s annual lists of essential L.A. restaurants (#80 in the 2014 edition). I have my doubts as to whether there’s any good reason why they should be on the list and not Pailin Thai or Yai or others (except that these kinds of lists have to have enough churn each year to remain interesting; see also The Whisky Bible). Anyway, it was a good meal (even though they dialed the heat down despite our asking for it not to be):

Nam Sod. We got it with pork and it provided everything you might be looking for in a Thai meat salad. It had a decent kick.

Jade noodles with BBO pork, duck and crab meat. This I think was one of everyone’s favourites. There’s not much to say: you mix it all up, squeeze lime over and enjoy.

Boat Noodles. We got it with everything in it (there’s an option to get it with just beef, I think). Just excellent. A little lighter hand with the blood than at Yai.

Jungle Curry. This was one of the few things translated into English on the hand-written Thai menu near the kitchen. We got it with pork. It was quite good, and the only thing on the table that was pretty hot.

Chinese Broccoli with Salted Fish. I ordered this as I’d just gone two days without eating anything green but it was excellent in its own right.

Not the best meal we’ve ever had in Thai Town but a bit better than our best Twin Cities options. Once again, we struggled to clear $50 on the check.

Pa Ord 3 (5269 Hollywood Blvd)

Pa Ord 3 occupies the erstwhile location of Ganda in the strip that also features Red Corner Asia, Ruen Pair, Crispy Pork Gang & Grill and Thai Patio. As the name indicates, this is the third branch of Pa Ord, a relatively recent and quite celebrated arrival in the Thai Town food scene (and Pa Ord 3 only opened a few months ago). We set out going to the mothership but as this was a bit closer and we were very hungry we just went here. (And no, I have no idea if there are any significant differences between Pa Ord 3, 2 and I but I’m going to keep referring specifically to Pa Ord 3 in this write-up). This visit was towards the end of our trip and we needed to finish the leftovers that had already piled up in my mother-in-law’s fridge, and so we were rather restrained with the ordering.

Boat Noodles. They are also known for their boat noodles and we could not resist getting another bowl before heading back to Minnesota. This was excellent, better than the one at Sapp, we thought, and like it, not as cloying as the one at Yai.

Papaya Salad with Raw Blue Crab. We got this to make up for missing the similar crab salad at Jitlada but, alas, Pa Ord 3’s version only made us miss that one all the more. Not bad, but not great either.

Panang Curry with Pork. I guess we lose foodie points for ordering Panang curry but whatever: this was excellent. Perfectly balanced—the heat was not dialed down on anything at this meal.

Three very good meals then in Thai Town, with Pailin Thai clearly the best and Pa Ord 3 slightly ahead of Sapp. Next year we’ll probably return to Jitlada and also to Ruen Pair (it’s been ages since I last ate there and I’m curious to see how they’re doing); and if the boys allow we might try to make it to Night + Market for dinner as well.