It's not rare that the adventurous eater in Los Angeles will run into a scintillating meal without a moment's notice to prepare. That was the case on Sunday when our plans to visit the newly opened 8oz Burger Bar (formerly Table 8) only to find it closed. Apparently we didn't get that memo.
We didn't worry - instead we hop-skipped over from Melrose to Thai Town where my two companions, noted food bloggers FoodGPS and FoodMarathon descended on what could be the best Northern Thai restaurant in the area. Publications such as the LA Times and LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold have raved of this tiny strip-mall joint so we found it a fitting replacement for the burger place.
I had no idea what to order but my companions were well versed with the menu. We ordered fried ground pork patties topped with deep fried mint leaves, a seafood concoction whose name I forget but resembled a lemongrassy bouillabaisse with shrimp, vermicelli noodles, and the like, and finally some panfried pork sausage.
I guess pork was going to run the show these evening, as our host brought out a special dish of spicy ground pork with chillies and garnished with fresh chervil to be topped on our portions of fresh sticky rice came out as a first course. The somewhat greasy dish resembled a Thai version of sloppy joe as Mr. FoodMarathon remarked, but I'd multiply the flavor profile times ten, or a hundred. The gelatinous sticky rice consumed the red saucy pork with aggression and made for a good start. The ground pork patties was similar to a Korean banchan I eat but with a much better, seared crust and the occasional diced chili to spice it up. The deep-fried mint was a fantastic complement to the meaty patty. The sausages gave us another excuse to consume hogmeat on this Sunday afternoon. I'd take that trio (er...quad) of dishes about any given Sunday. Especially with a couple of other food-lovin' folk (whose respective photos will no doubt echo my own).
That storefront is about as nondescript as you can get - too bad the food is the complete opposite!
Spicy BBQ
5101 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90029
(323) 663-4211
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