Imagine northeastern Thai street food, Issan style, combined with the quality ingredients and overall standards of fine dining. Right now it’s the best place in DC by a long ways and the best place this area has had in a long time. The tastes are sharp, hot, sour, pungent, musty, and occasionally sweet. The level of heat can be high. You cannot choose your food. Every course was a knockout, only $45 for a seven-course menu, no substitutions. There’s nowhere else like it. It is right next to Komi, and brought to you by the same people. Remarkably, the cook is Greek-American and not Thai. Could it be the best Thai place on the East coast?
Their website and menu is here. Here is a Sietsema review. Don Rockwell says it may be the best new restaurant in the U.S. this year; there is more from Don here. A must. No reservations, so you must show up before opening at 5:30 or wait two hours to get in.
Could it be the best Thai place on the east coast? It could be. It could also not be, which is more likely, even assuming that there is such a thing.
Come on Tyler. Recommending restaurants is fine, and certainly there are bad, good, great ,etc., but all this,”best xxx in the yyy” nonsense is just pretentious BS.
Just how would one determine “the best Thai place on the east coast,” anyway. I mean as opposed to, “a place I like better than any other east coast Thai place I’ve eaten, bearing in mind the limited number of places andf meals involved?
What’s the best place for us broke-ass DCers who can’t fork over $45 in a single night?
Bangkok Golden in Falls Church is nice; I went there based on Tyler’s review when I was last in the D.C. area and was satisfied.
Stopppp
Issan style does not compare to other Thai regions in quality. At all. Just ask a Thai.
Tyler–are you trolling your readers by just automatically preferring low-brow cuisines, just b/c they are low-brow?
Strange, I just asked my girlfriend who’s from Thaliand, and she likes Isaan food. Ask a Thai and they’ll tell you that Isaan is poor, though Tyler did just that as well. That doesn’t speak ill about the food either– I take it you, “SouthCarolinian,” don’t like barbecue or other Southern foods (chicken gizzards, livers, etc.) because of our historical poverty and low quality? Go back to the North, you Yankee.
Besides, go to any Thai restaurant in the US (and plenty in Thailand as well) and they’ll have larb, papaya salad, the lime chili beef salad, and other Isaan dishes.
Poorer people and regions sometimes develop excellent cuisines. Having to make do with foods that are less desirable to begin with, they develop techniques to improve them that wealthier regions don’t need.
Barbecue is a good example.
most of my favorite food is poor people food. people rarely believe you might actually prefer (e.g.) the perfect street taco to high-end french fare, but it’s true for many.
What are you talking about? Issan food is pretty widely eaten in Thailand. Gai Yang and Papaya Salad is great and Bangkok has tonnes of Issan places. You just love to bash other cuisines – this is just like your Chinese bashing from another post a while back.
I like Pad Thai, does that make me a philistine?
I don’t know….for all the hype about Pad Thai I dont’ think it’s anywhere near the best Thai dish.
I don’t have anything interesting to add but since the comments are all negative I want to note that I enjoy Tyler’s food posts.
Also, reading this blog and complaining about Tyler’s dialect is like going to a concert and whining the music is too loud. Oof.
Agreed.
I’m sure it has everything just like street food except that Thai street food would cost 30-50 baht per plate.
+100
Have you ever been to Arun in Chicago? Sounds pretty similar.
I’m not much of a foodie, but I have to say that, for what the place appears to be, the website is excellent.
Could it be the best website on the East coast?
If there’s that much waiting they should raise their prices, right?
show up before opening at 5:30 or wait two hours to get in
Evidently, there is no shortage of pretentious pricks in DC.
Where do they get ingredients like duck liver and cured boar from?
Could Tyler Cowen be the most pretentious blogger on the internet?
A$45 Thai restaurant is pretentious? I for one will go here. Thanks for the recommendation Tyler.
You know what Thai food costs in Bangkok?
Actually I had to add in the Tyler Bashing as a matter of principle, I like his food posts.
I realize they are across cuisines, but how does the level of heat and quality compare with that at the various Peter Chang Chinese restaurants? I was just at his Charlottesville one for the first time in awhile and still excellent. I highly recommend the dried tofu skins with chili peppers.