Jitladastrange

Lil' Strangers, I know you will think this is like TOTALLY weird, but up until Tuesday, I had never been to Jitlada, that amazing Thai place in...Thai Town (http://www.yelp.com/biz/jitlada-thai-los-angeles). Everyone always talks about it and it's one of those little holes in the wall that will always be hip and I just HAVEN'T MADE IT (also because the Thai Town mini mall is right next door and I always go to Red Corner with Emily and so I just FORGET about Jitlada). It is so unlike me not to go to a famous restaurant that is right by me that serves things like frogs' legs slathered in face-melting curry sauce. So I finally went. Funnily enough, I brought Daniel, who will get mad when I type this, but he is a really picky, fairly non-adventurous eater. In fact, I suggested earlier that we check out Black Hogg (http://www.yelp.com/biz/black-hogg-los-angeles) and he texted me back, "Fine. But you can't yell at me when I don't want to eat weird things." He knows me so well! Then I found out they don't have a liquor license yet and scratched that idea (but you are so close to me, Black Hogg, and I will go if you bring the BYOB policy back!). Anyway, Daniel is still adventurous enough to like Asian cuisine (he took me to Mongolian BBQ, after all), and so we went to Jitlada.

Honestly, I didn't even make a CRACK in the giant menu, but I gave it a solid effort. The menu is split into two parts: regular dishes and the chef's wild specialties (like the aforementioned frog). From the crazy menu I ordered deep fried soft shell crab with curry sauce, which blew my lil' strange BRAIN. Basically, hunks of delicious crab were hidden inside something that tasted like a hush puppy then slathered in a thick, paste-like curry. I also ordered the famous New Zealand green mussels (they were so GREEN!) bathed in lemongrass broth. They were HUGE and fleshy and incredible, look:

I also got freshy rolls because, well WHATEVER I love a piece of tofu in a rich peanut sauce (fresh rolls are not exciting, but they're good and I got them so shhh). I washed all of this spiciness down with a giant Singha, which I LOVE, however, Daniel got some beer called a Chang and it was so light and smooth, I think I might have to do that next time. Also to Daniel's credit, he ordered this ridiculously tasty fried papaya salad that I took many bites of:

There were shrimps in it! Then he got totally un-creative chicken Pad See Eiw, which was obviously BOMB even though you can order that shizz anywhere. I am still full from this glorious meal. Go strangers, go NOW!