Discover my favorite Thai restaurants in the USA from New York City to Los Angeles and points in between!
In his 2017 book Flavors of Empire: Food and the Making of Thai America, Dr. Mark Padoongpatt, an associate professor and director of Asian and Asian-American Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, examines Thai food’s formative influence in shaping the Thai American experience. His scholarly work provides much food for thought, starting with Thai cuisine’s unique journey to America.
Unlike most culinary diasporas, it was not Thai immigrants, but Americans, who introduced Thai cuisine to the United States. The story begins in the “special relationship” era between the two nations during the Cold War, when American soldiers, peacekeepers, scholars, and other parties traveled to Thailand in support of the alliance. They brought the tastes of Thailand home, with Los Angeles becoming the cradle of this “exotic” new cuisine as waves of Thai immigrants, mainly students, settled in California and other states in the ensuing decades. Many started their own restaurants, perpetuating the culinary traditions of their regional homelands from coast-to-coast.
Encompassing distinct styles from the southern, central, northern, and northeastern regions of the country, Thai cuisine denotes a complex, layered, juggle of ingredients and cross-cultural influences brought to order by balancing salty, sweet, sour, and spicy tastes. Discovering the wide-ranging variations on this fundamental harmonizing principle is a quest that keeps me coming back for more at these aroy mak mak (very delicious) Thai landmarks that blissfully hit the spot, or fin mak.
Katy Noochlaor and Amanda Maneesilasan of Chao Krung Thai (Photo by Chao Krung Thai)
CHAO KRUNG THAI (Los Angeles)
The Los Angeles region is home to the world’s largest Thai population outside of Thailand. Communities include Thai Town, just east of Hollywood, where this 1969 pioneer, one of the first Thai restaurants in town, set the stage for the neighborhood’s evolution.
Out of necessity, founders Boon and Supa Kuntee prepared Americanized versions of their homeland dishes to attract customers. In 1976, they relocated the restaurant to Mid-City across from CBS Television City. Their menu caught on with locals and celebs, and Chao Krung became an enduring staple of the scene.
Green Currry at Chao Krung Thai (Photo by Chao Kung Thai_)
Taking over in 2017 as restaurateur and chef, respectively, their Bangkok-born daughters Katy Noochlaor and Amanda Maneesilasan reconnected with traditional cuisine and the legacy of their grandmother, who had cooked for the royal family of Thai- land. After learning about family recipes from relatives back home, the sisters introduced an authentic and expansive new menu.
Start with appetizers such as pla muk yang, whole BBQ squid with spicy garlic lime dipping sauce. Grilled gems include kor moo yang, charcoaled pig’s cheek marinated with Chao Krung’s signature sauce. The Central Thai style-green curry is a spicy sensation of green chilies, kaffir lime, coconut milk, eggplant, jalapeños and sweet basil. The culinary compass points north with khao soi, or Chiang Mai curry noodles simmered in coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce and palm sugar, and laab ped, a spicy northern Thai salad of chopped duck breast with crispy duck skin, lemongrass, and other fresh ingredients.
The sisters have two neighboring concepts in West L.A.’s historic Sawtelle Japanese neighborhood, Thai street food-inspired Tuk Tuk Thai (tuktukthailosangeles.com) and Ban Ban Burger for Thai smashburgers, fries, milkshakes, and other goodies. 111 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles. Tel. 323-939- 8361. chaokrungthai.com
OTUS THAI KITCHEN & COFFEE (Los Angeles)
June Kasama’s smile lights up the day. The same goes for her sweet eatery on the edge of West Hollywood, which the L.A. Times counted among the best Thai breakfast spots in town “for any time of day” in 2024. After coming to Los Angeles from Northern Thailand to pursue her master’s degree in economics, Kasama changed direction. Led by her passion for cooking instilled by her mother, she took over a traditional Thai restaurant where she had been working. Naming the bright space for the exceptional Otus camera brand, she celebrates her 10th anniversary in 2025 of putting all-day breakfast in the frame.
It’s A Joke” at Otus Thai Kitchen (Photo by Will Blunt)
Signature dishes with a cherished place in my travel album include “It’s a Joke,” her cheeky take on Asian rice porridge (congee, or jok in Thai) with shiitake mushrooms, ginger, scallion, poached egg, and crispy noodles. Fun, too, is her kai-kata, a colorful homeland snapshot featuring a Thai-style egg parked on ground chicken, decorated with Chinese sweet sausage and green onions, and served with a baguette.
She also mixes it up with brioche French toast topped with vanilla cream and maple syrup. Infused with fresh orange and vanilla, the Vietnamese coffee puts a lively step in your day. Kasama also delivers sharply focused lunch and supper offerings, with a diverse portfolio of zesty starters and both traditional and innovative soup, salads, curries, fried rice, and noodles. 1253 N. La Brea Ave., West Hollywood. Tel. 323-969-8611. otusthaikitchen.com
NIGHT+MARKET (Los Angeles)
If gastronomy, at heart, is about indulgent pleasures, then Kris Yenbamroong has hit the winning formula with his “food to facilitate drinking and fun-having amongst friends” approach at his award-winning “L.A. Thai” trio of restaurants. Translated, that means endorphin-firing street food-inspired grilled meats, larb salads, curries, and other fare that he intentionally seasons and spices up to fuel your consumption of his globe-spanning menu of thirst-quenching wines.
Night + Market Chef-Owner Kris Yenbamroong (Photo by Laure Joliet)
I got downright Dionysian feasting on fried chicken thighs, crispy five-spice pork belly, and other “snacks” at the Night + Market Song location on Sunset Boulevard in historic LGBTQ center Silver Lake.
Forget about utensils. Yenbamroong encourages eating the papaya, crispy rice, spiced- up minced chicken, and other salads with your hands. In a classic pairing, the pastrami in his spicy pad kee mao comes from L.A.’s legendary Langer’s Deli.
Making the James Beard Foundation semifinalist round for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2012 and 2013, Best Chef: West in 2016 and 2019, and Outstanding Wine List in 2019 and 2020, Yenbamroong comes by his talents naturally. He grew up working in Talesai (talesaistudiocity.com), his family’s celeb-magnet restaurant in Studio City, where his grandmother was the chef. 3322 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. Tel.: 323.665.5899. nightmarketsong.com
LOTUS OF SIAM (Las Vegas)
After immigrating from the city of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand to Los Angeles in 1987, Saipin Chutima relocated to Las Vegas in 1999. Drawn by its year-round tourism pull, she and her husband and business partner Suchay (Bill) purchased Lotus of Siam restaurant at Commercial Center on East Sahara Avenue.
They transformed the hole-in-wall space into a national benchmark for Northern Thai cuisine in the U.S., earning Chutima James Beard Best Chef: Southwest honors in 2011 along with enduring love from locals, tourists, and food critics alike.
Committed to showcasing the culinary traditions of her mountainous home region and century-old recipes handed down by her grandmother, Chutima gives spices, herbs, and intense flavors marquee billing on her still-celebrated menu. Under Bill’s guidance, the wine program has won the Wine Spectator Restaurant Award for nearly two decades. Unless you have eaten in Thailand, forget what you think you know about Thai food and start over with “Mom’s Dishes” like nam prik hed, featuring three different roasted mushrooms with green chili, garlic, onion and tomatoes pounded in a mortar and served with fresh and steamed vegetables and pork rinds. Like legendary late L.A. Times food critic Jonathan Gold, you’ll go back for more. 620 E Flamingo Road, Las Vegas. Tel. 702-735-3033. lotusofsiamlv.com
SOMTUM DER (New York City)
Historic Elmhurst in the borough of Queens has long been the hotbed of Thai cuisine in NYC. “Little Thailand” pioneers include SriPraPhai (sripraphai.com), which was among the first restaurants to introduce Isaan (also spelt Isan) cuisine to the city. Describing a region of northeastern Thailand between Laos and Cambodia bordered by the Mekong River, spicy-leaning Isaan influences caught fire and became the byword for Siamese dining in NYC.
Named for som tum, the region’s classic shredded green-papaya salad, Somtum Der, founded in Bangkok’s bustling Sala Daeng district, rose above the crowd when it opened in 2013 for serving actual authentic Isaan dishes. Winning a Michelin star in 2016, this intimate East Village outpost remains a hot choice for complex, well-balanced bites like the signature sa poak kai tod der, a sinful fried chicken thigh jazzed with sweet and spicy nam jim jaew or Thai chili dipping sauce.
Other callbacks from the extensive menu include moo ping kati sod, skewers of grilled pork marinated in coconut milk; tom saab kradook on, spicy pork cartilage soup in an intoxicating bath of ingredients including mushrooms, basil, and lemongrass, and any of the spicy larb salads. 85 Avenue A, New York, NY. Tel. 212-260- 8570. somtumdernewyork.com
SAITONG (New York City)
The family behind Spicy Shallot (spicyshallotny.com), a popular Thai-Japanese restaurant in Elmhurst, take diners on a culinary journey to southern Thailand at their new seafood-focused concept by the Theater District in Midtown Manhattan.
Pad Thai Chaiya at Saitong (Photo by Atiwat Mondee)
“New Yorkers have shown a great appetite for Thailand’s regional cooking,” said Brian Lam, whose parents James and Inthira own Spicy Shallot, when I visited recently during busy lunchtime service. “We want to expand and challenge their notion of Thai cooking.”
“Sai” denotes both the Banyan tree, a sacred symbol in ancient Thai culture, and a trap for fish linked with mystical beliefs. Joined with “Tong” (gold) to make the restaurant’s name, SaiTong (Golden Tree) informs the groovy interiors and modern interpretations of classic dishes.
Originally from Southern Thailand, Executive Chef Kittibhumi Kanarat channels his grandmother’s home cooking in regional specialties such as the Songkhla Lagoon Salad. Rare among New York’s Thai restaurants, the mix of steamed rice noodles with pickled squid, crispy curry shrimp, crispy rice noodles and various greens bursts with flavor and freshness.
I’ll take pad thai any way any day, including Kanart’s Pad Thai Chaiya, topped with a spiny lobster tail and sauced with shrimp paste soaked with spices that imparts that classic Thai taste balance. The “Hat Yai” chicken wings, spicy lemongrass Tom Yum soup, and papaya salad all confidently hit their marks.
Creative cocktails from Union Square Hospitality alumnus Brian “Jun” Juntarashai include the Thai-spiced Old Fashioned and spicy Phi Phi margarita with roasted bell pepper-infused tequila and coconut foam. 244 West 48th Street. Tel. 646-998-4089. saitongthai.com
TAKOI (Detroit)
Motor City’s electrifying resurgence is bringing national attention to its long-established culinary scene, including this colorful and energetic Thai restaurant in historic Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood. Originated a decade ago as a food truck before opening in a converted garage in 2016, the restaurant comes with its own renaissance story. In February 2017, right after reaching the James Beard semi-finalist round for Best New Restaurant, the interior went up in flames from a suspected arson attack. That August, Takoi reopened and got back in the groove with inventive Northern Thai-influenced dishes.
Chef and co-owner Brad Greenhill’s knowledge of Thai cuisine from his immersive travels to Thailand is evident in every bite. My eye went right to the grilled maitake mushrooms, marinated in sweet soy and Burmese curry powder and accompanied by a Thai staple, pineapple. The Farmer’s Fry is a medley of tempura-battered vegetables with three-flavor sauce. Order from the extensive drinks menu before hitting the spicy som tum Thai salad of green papaya pounded with a parade of flavors including garlic, Thai chili, palm sugar, and fish sauce. Glazed in fish sauce caramel, the smoked pork ribs are lip-smacking revelations.
From the blue- and purple-lit interiors, the party extends to the outdoor patio and summertime cause-driven “Passion Fruit” fundraising events featuring food, cocktails, and DJs. 2520 Michigan Avenue, Detroit. Tel. 313-855-2864. takoidetroit.com.
