Yai Fine Thai

Von Scrumptious, was startled one night, by the fact that on some food rating website, probably yelp.com, there happened to be a cheap Thai restaurant in the top ten of Los Angeles Thai Joints. Better than that, it is located on Vermont, which in my book, is considered East of Vermont (EOV). You bet your bottom dollar we went there that very night.

Yai Fine Thai
A newly renovated restaurant, that is nestled behind Fatburger, in between Rite Aid and Jons Supermarket on Vermont. This is the new local Thai powerhouse for my food group. But plastic diners beware, cash only.

We started off with some Seafood Cakes, a mixture of Crab and other seafoods.
They were pretty good, especially the sweet and slightly spicy dipping sauce. Von Scrumptious ordered Ginger Chicken (the top dish above), which wasn't my favorite but I would definitely eat it. (I am partial to Curries and Pad Thai or See Ew)

I ordered yellow curry I believe (above), which was a little on the warm side. Joe, a Green curry, which at Medium was HOT!!!!, too much for my tongue to handle. It was great reheated, with a little of John David's Pad See Ew (Tofu).
I of course had a Thai Iced Tea, which was great. Since all of the photos were taken on Joe's Iphone, I think he got tired of sending them to me, so no photos of the 4 Iced Teas that were ordered.

I have since returned and tried the Pad Thai, and more Iced Tea, real consistent, and from what I know, authentic Thai cuisine. Hit it up if you are ever EOV in Los Angeles, just beware the heat, they don't play around, I would suggest starting at Mild.

Enjoy!


Yai Thai
1627 N Vermont Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Eat'n High Thai Food

Yay! It's time for another Thai post. I think Thai food might be my favorite food type. Definitely in the top three.
The day went like this. It started out as a lazy Sunday afternoon. My housemate Joe wanted to go test drive a car, so we go way over to the West side (not only WoVermont, but Wothe405), where you can smell salt, I don't usually travel that far WOV. On the way back, after three hours of driving, traffic, test driving in traffic, and starting to drive back, we decide on a great deli in Santa Monica.
So great, that it is closed on Sundays. As are the next 5 places we try to visit.
Then I remembered that both Liz over at Yo Soy! and Kirby at Von Scrumptious have recommended the whole in the wall that is Eat'n High Thai. With a name like that, I suspect the owners are poets, and probably don't even know that they are.

I ordered a Gang Panang Curry, and a Thai Iced Tea. I was a little dissapointed that White Meat Chicken, or Shrimp costs an extra $1.00
$6.99 for the beef curry fit my budget, and we were on our way ToGo back to the house. It was a good curry, great tea, and not bad on price. Not the best Thai food, but good enough atmosphere for a sit down meal, and I would go back to again.

Joe got some sort of dinner special, or pad thai, or noodle dish, or soup, or curry. Ok, so I don't exactly remember what he got. He liked it though. Give it a try if you are EOV someday.
Eat'n High Thai
4501 Fountain Ave.
Los Angeles, CA
323.669.9682

PiMai It's Thai

Most of my group had plans to see a show at the UCB theater for a 10:00pm show. So, after gathering everybody we left around 8:30pm for a thai place down on Hollywood and the 101. Realizing how slow we all were, we decided to change up the restaurant to PiMai It's Thai, which is about 2 blocks East of the UCB theater. Boy am I glad we did.






I started things off as I usually do at a Thai restaurant, with Thai Iced Tea. The tea comes with a heavy cream on top, here are before and after shots of the tea/cream. Incredibly flavorful with a hint of sweetness, and oh so chilly. Delicious in my book.

As we were in a hurry, everybody quickly decided on their selections and ordered. I went with my go-to favorite in Beef Pad Thai.


Luckily for me, I have been here before and have tried both the Islander Curry (w/pineapple), the Yellow Curry and the Pad Thai. Both curries were excellent, although the yellow curry only had potatoes and carrots. I could use a bit more vegetables or variety with that flavorful curry. I imagine this is remedied in the Vegetable Yellow Curry dish. The Islander seemed to have canned pineapple in it, and wasn't as appealing as I had hoped for when I read it contained pineapple. However, the curry sauce more than made up for it. But I am here to talk about the pad thai.

I was pleased with the Pad Thai. Not the best I have had in the world, but well above average. I like how it came with a lime and crushed peanuts on the side, rather than already on it. I of course love both, but I also enjoy that the option is there. The plate was large and filling and the green onions were fresh. The dish as a whole tasted like it was prepared only after I had ordered it, which is what I like to taste in a Thai dish. My friend on my left ordered a Cashew Chicken dish, which less desirable in flavor and presentation. Although, there was clearly effort put into the dish. I won't ever order that from PiMai when they are still making a delicious Pad Thai and these fantastic curries.

Total price, with tax, tip, drink, and dish for me was around $15, so very affordable. For a great curry or Pad Thai, head on over to PiMai. They also have cheaper lunch options. Then afterwards check out the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.


PiMai It's Thai
323.461.7841
www.pimaiitisthai.com
5833 Franklin Ave. Hollywood, CA 90028

Dry Thai Noodle Soup

This started out as a bag of Bean Sprouts in the fridge. My then house mate Felicia decided to sautee them up with green beans, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and maple syrup. They were not bad at all, yet felt like they were missing something. I had always wanted to cook with Pad Thai noodles or Rice Noodles, so I decided to combine them into a soup.

Ingredients:
Bean/Bean Sprout Mixture
Sauteed Onions (3x)
Handful of Sliced Mushrooms - Sauteed
Garlic (Handful of cloves)
Ginger -fresh is better, although in this I had a combination of Fresh and powder, to taste
Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper, Soy Sauce to taste. I had no need for salt.
Soy-Ginger Broth from Trader Joe's
Small Package of Firm Tofu
10-12 leaves of fresh basil

Yields: 1 big ol' pot full

I cooked the Rice noodles, added the bean/sprout mixture, basil and the soup broth, then all of the other ingredients were sauteed together and added. I let it sit covered for about 4 hours. When I came back to it, all of the moisture had been absorbed by the vegetables and rice noodles, yielding a delicious dry soup. There is still something missing that I am sure an authentic Thai chef would be able to add, both in flavor and presentation. But for a Thursday night dinner not bad at all.




***About half the photos in this blog were taken by expert photographer Joe Saunders. Including this one. As I proceed I hope to attribute the proper photographer to the photos.