Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Jitlada

One year ago today, we indulged in one of the best (and spiciest) Thai meals we have ever had. One of the places we marked as "must go" in LA was Jitlada, upon reading tons of recommendations for their Southern Thai specialties. Since it's located in the Hollywood area, we headed over for lunch on the day we were going to do some sightseeing in Hollywood. I think we spent longer at lunch than we did sightseeing (by choice).


We started with the khao yam, the rice salad, which we both listed on our top 10 food memories of 2010 lists. It was such a delicious revelation. We could go for some more right now but unfortunately don't know anywhere in NYC that serves it!


We also ordered "minced chicken in lettuce cups" which I thought might be like lettuce wrap, but actually turned out to be little cups of larb gai. As fans of larb gai, we were not disappointed.


The khao yam, while delicious, was actually quite spicy so we ordered some Thai iced teas (unfortunately, did not order them before eating it). We ordered quite a few iced teas before the meal was over...


A ordered the catfish with Thai eggplant. The sauce was so good but it was like fire on our already spice-saturated tongues. We forgot it's not a standard Americanized Thai restaurant and that we probably should order everything mild and not spicy. Oops. But the flavor was so good especially in the basil which soaked up all the spice. Cue more iced teas...


I got fish curry with green beans and carrots. This wasn't as spicy as A's dish but after all the other spicy dishes, it still felt like fire. But also had excellent flavor.


Our Thai feast had our bellies stuffed full of good spicy food, especially when combined with all the iced teas we drank to try to calm our tongues. She felt so bad that we were unprepared for the spiciness that she brought extra ice and also a plate of cucumbers. Despite the (self-inflicted) pain, we really loved this meal and can't wait until we have a chance to go back to try more. Next time we probably won't order the dishes so spicy!

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