Gold Dig #22

Jitlada is perhaps the most well-known of the Thai places on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. It was featured in City of Gold, the documentary following Jonathan Gold as he explored LA’s culinary culture. Not only is the food awesome, but chef-owner Jazz is a super cool lady. We were lucky enough to meet her at a screening of City of Gold, and she couldn’t have been more warm and funny (check out my post about the City of Gold event).

The Dish

Jitlada does southern Thai food, and is known for the level of heat it brings. There’s an item on the menu called the Dynamite Spicy Challenge that comes with the warning “If you do not eat spicy food, do not order this! This is Real Chili, Real Spicy!” But the food is not just spicy – it’s full of great flavor. And in addition to making great food, Jazz and her brother Tui are funny fun-loving people. Exhibit one: there’s a section on the Jitlada menu called “Adventurous Bizarre Foods”.

Jazz Burger

I’d been to Jitlada before and loved the Crying Tiger Pork and the Crispy Catfish Salad (which I wish I’d taken a picture of, because it’s like catfish and cotton candy made a savory fairy floss baby). But when I saw this video of Jonathan Gold talking with Jazz about the secret off-menu Jazz Burger, I had to go back.  She throws giant handfuls of whole chilis into the meat. She says there’s no bun because some people don’t want to be fat. She invented it for her kids who wanted “American food”. Awesome. It’s spicy, it’s sweet, it’s way better than the burgers her kids’ classmates are eating.

Khua Kling Phat Lung

Jonathan Gold has gone on for multiple paragraphs just talking about the Khua Kling (beef  in turmeric flavored dry curry) and how spicy it is. Heeding his warning and the fears of my dinner-mate who isn’t a big fan of spicy, we asked for the Khua Kling not too hot. I wish we hadn’t been so cautious. I like spicy, and found this didn’t have enough heat. It was tasty and I liked the turmeric flavor, but all sources say it’s better spicier, because it balances the flavors and is built to be eaten that way.

Khao Yam

The Khao Yam is a rice salad, which I would have passed by as completely uninteresting sounding, but it’s another of Jitlada’s most popular dishes. Along with rice, it has dried shrimp, lemongrass, mango, bean sprouts, and other shredded fresh veggies in a sweet herbal fish sauce. I loved the crunchiness and sweet funk of this dish, but my dinner-mate thought the dried shrimp was too fishy.

Jazz Iced Coffee

I also got a Jazz Iced Coffee, because I believe any menu item named after the restaurant chef has a high likelihood of being good. It was. Jazz won’t reveal what the secret ingredients are. Jitlada has all kinds of stuff stuck under the glass tabletops. Note the Matt Groening drawing – Jitlada is an LA institution that draws its fair share of celebrities. It also has an massive menu that is crazily organized – not to worry though… that other piece of paper titled “Amazing Jitlada” lists their 10 most popular dishes. All of the ones I’ve tried were worth going for.