It’s not sui generis any more.
what do you mean? just that it’s a new head cook?
It’s not the only place making those dishes, nor the only place not dumbing things down for non-Thai customers. Compare those two articles.
Warrior: For over ten years, I’ve been in the camp of people who believe that Jitlada is the best Thai restaurant in LA, and I continue to believe that. I also rank it higher than Lotus of Siam. Jitlada was as good as ever today. It blows other Thai restaurants away with its intense flavors. The fish kidney curry is incredibly spicy, pungent, and delicious if you can tolerate the heat. It was too spicy for our dining guests from Sichuan and Wuhan (not to mention Peony)! The coconut-milk-based Southern curry with tea leaves and catfish is a step down in spiciness, but the earthy flavors are very satisfying. The garlic crab was our table’s favorite dish. Crispy duck rolls and crispy morning glory salad were also hits. The only miss for me was the pad thai with giant prawns. I think this dish on the Southern Thai menu is probably different from their regular pad thai. I found it too sweet, bland, and mushy.
Peony: I am really impressed by the extensive range of flavors that Jitlada has to offer. We ordered 6 dishes with almost 6 different flavors. As the least able to tolerate spicy food among our dinner party, I enjoyed almost all the food except the super-spicy fish kidney curry. The vegetables and duck and seafood all tasted very fresh and flavorful. I agreed with Warrior that the pad thai was the least impressive dish, although the prawns were very tasty. Overall a wonderful experience!
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Have you tried Luv2Eat (for comparison)?
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Warrior: We tried Luv2Eat several years ago. I thought it was good, but for whatever reason we weren’t enticed to return. I remember liking the dish of rice noodles with curry and ground fish, which i haven’t tried at Jitlada (a similar dish is on their menu). We’ve also gotten delivery a few times, but it’s not fair to judge a restaurant by delivery unless you are judging it for its delivery. (Interesting tidbit: Jazz told us today that Jitlada puts more water and vegetables in the fish kidney curry for delivery because most people can’t eat the authentic version.). It’s fair to say I haven’t tried Luv2Eat enough to conclude definitively that I prefer Jitlada.
Peony: I don’t remember.
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