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Archive for Jitlada

Thai Tour – Jitlada

Jun23

Restaurant: Jitlada [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104

Date: May 23, 2019

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Gut burning great

_

Our final stop on the April/May 2019 Thai Tour is Hedonist regular joint, Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong.

You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce. The menu can be found here.

7U1A1984-Pano
After a few minutes of table juggling we managed to squeeze ourselves in — this isn’t the kind of place that normally deals with 10 person tables that well.
7U1A1904
This is my cryptic ordering plan. I carefully laid out a phased dish progression and then owner Jazz put it all in the computer and it all came super fast and in random order — plus we had just enough people that one dish was hard to split. Ideal number at Jitlada is probably 6.
7U1A1907
Pepper pork belly. Really tasty chewy pork belly bits with super yummy spicy sauce.
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Crispy Morning Glory Salad. This salad of shrimp and fried morning glory is just plain glorious. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Basically tempura flowers and it’s really the tangy, slightly sweet sauce/dressing that really makes it. Very similar to many of the salads I had in Vietnam.
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Pomelo salad. Shrimp, pomelo, onions, peanuts, garlic. This salty, spicy, sweet, savory salad was fabulous. Really Thai mix of tones.
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Garlic lamb chops. Incredible crunchy garlic on these chops. It was to die for. I kept eating the piles of it left over.
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Chicken Larb. Ground chicken with spices, fish sauce, etc. Pretty hot too and salty/vinegary. Not my absolute favorite Jitlada dish.
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Soft-shell crab noodles. Fried soft-shell crab (in season) with pan fried sweet noodles. Unusual combo, but massively delicious.
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Red Duck Curry. Not spicy but incredibly delicious.
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Spicy duck salad or maybe this was Celebrity Chicken. Never had this before but it was great!
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Basil frogs legs. Delicious and full of basil and garlic flavor. Bones weren’t offensive either.

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Flambe Prawns. Grilled giant prawns topped with our house curry sauce. These are amazing. The sweet curry sauce is just full of curry flavor goodness.

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Papaya prawns. Like the curry prawns but drowned in papaya.
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Garlic and/or Coconut king crab. Hard to get the meat out, and a touch expensive, but really delicious sauce.
7U1A1967
Coco lotus soup. This was a mild red coconut curry soup with chicken. It was amazing! Really fabulous curry flavor. Tons of tamarind giving it a really balanced sour tone.
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Jungle curry with lamb. Exotic thai curry with god knows what in it besides the lamb. This stuff was HOT and pretty fabulous. The heat was insane. Slow burn, such that you started in on it and thought it would be fine, but then building to a head-sweating mind-altering gut-burning sear. Took me hours to recover!
7U1A1980
Jazz burger. A big beef patty covered in onions, peppers, and dressing. The flavors were fabulous. We were VERY full at this point and the burger is spicy too.
7U1A1983
Nocciola Espresso Caramello Gelato — A classic nocciola base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste and then layered with a house-made Espresso Caramel Ganache then topped with fresh roasted hazelnuts — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #hazelnut #ganache #dulcy #ChocolateTruffle #nocciola #caramel #caramello

Sicilian Tiramisu Gelato –attempting to reinvent Tiramisu with Sicilian flavors: Pure DOGC “Bronte” pistachio paste gelato base with lady fingers soaked in house-made orange syrup and layered with house-made “cannoli filling” (sweetened fresh ricotta with cinnamon and mini dark chocolate chips) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — this one will be a test of concept: too much? –#SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #pistachio #sicily #ricotta #chocolate #orange #ladyfingers #tiramisu
7U1A1996
Mango with sticky rice. So full but this is so delicious!
7U1A1975
Yarom with Jazz.

I love Jitlada, and it’s hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. Tonight’s meal was one of the best we had, despite the absence of the original chef in the kitchen 🙁  We had 8-9 people which is just about 2 more than the dish size is best with. Once we had way too many people and and some late comers that botched the whole progression. The food was really on point tonight, and just two days after Night + Market Song showcased the delicious complexity of Jitlada’s flavors. Jitlada is a food restaurant though, and not a service restaurant. I mean, they are SUPER friendly and we love them, but the dishes just pop out in random order and speed.

Tonight we ordered very well. Every dish was very good, most great. We had a pretty nice variety. Sure, there are favorites we missed, the menu is vast, but it was a great meal. Jazz hung out with us for a chunk of it and helped us order. The kitchen was really on point too with some dishes that have a little variability all coming down on the awesome side tonight.

Not super spicy either, only the jungle curry busting the 5 or 6 line (it was a 9, even on the weighted Jitlada scale of blistering heat — although I painfully have had it hotter before).

All in all, if you like Thai food and live (or visit) in LA you must try Jitlada.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more crazy Hedonist meals.

Great wines tonight too:7U1A1897
7U1A1901
7U1A1900
7U1A1899
7U1A1902
7U1A1903
7U1A1906
7U1A1898
7U1A1905

Related posts:

  1. Thai Tour – Pailin Thai
  2. Thai Tour – Sri Siam
  3. Thai Tour – Night+Market Song
  4. Thai Tour – Spicy BBQ
  5. Jitlada – Fire in the Hole
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, Jazz Singsanong, Jitlada, Thai cuisine, Thai Tour, Wine

Jazz Jitlada

Dec15

Restaurant: Jitlada [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104

Date: November 9, 2017

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Gut burning great

_

Tonight’s outing is a Hedonist return to Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong, and just last month her brother, partner, and chef tragically passed away. We came to pay our respects (and enjoy some excellent Thai cooking).

You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce. The menu can be found here.

2010 Domaine Louis Michel Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. BH 93. Here the components of the nose are similar to those of the Fourchaume yet here it is notably more floral. There is impressive complexity to the dense, rich and concentrated flavors that offer plenty of oyster shell and iodine hints on the balanced and stunningly persistent bone dry finish. This is really lovely juice and well worth your attention.

Papaya salad. Solid, but not as yummy as the fried one below.

2013 Domaine Michelot Meursault Sous La Velle. VM 90. Ripe yellow peach aroma shows an almost syrupy aspect. Suave and silky in texture, with fruit-driven flavors of peach and orange. The crop level here was “almost normal” in 2013, noted Mestre. This is very good. (Incidentally, the Bourgogne here, which is entirely from vines in Meursault, is dry, savory and classic, even if it’s more Chardonnay than Meursault.)

Crispy Morning Glory Salad. This salad of shrimp and fried morning glory is just plain glorious. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Basically tempura flowers and it’s really the tangy, slightly sweet sauce/dressing that really makes it. Very similar to many of the salads I had in Vietnam.

2006 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Felsentürmchen Spätlese. JG 94. To my knowledge the first time that Helmut Dönnhoff bottled this section of the Felsenberg on its own was in 2001, when this upper section of the vineyard supplied the auction Spätlese from the vintage. The 2006 will again be a magical bottle, as the wine offers up very primary nose of lavender, a huge base of stony soil tones, white cherries, oranges, petrol, iris blooms and an exotic spice note redolent of turmeric. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, pure, minerally and very racy, with more solid than liquid at the core, great cut and structure, and a blazingly long, palate-staining finish. A brilliant Spätlese! (Drink between 2012-2035)

Pepper pork belly. Really tasty chewy pork belly bits with super yummy spicy sauce.

2007 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese. VM 93+. Tantalizing aromas of papaya, sweet herbs and incense. Discreet but intense black cherry fruit rises from the mid-palate, accompanied by brilliant acidity. Animated and finely spiced, with a deep, long finish. I may be underrating this.

Coco lotus soup. This was a mild red coconut curry soup with chicken. It was amazing! Really fabulous curry flavor. Tons of tamarind giving it a really balanced sour tone.

2006 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. JG 93. To my palate the auction Auslese from the Sonnenuhr was a significant step up from the Spätlese, and this was indeed a delightful wine in the making. The classy nose demonstrated a sophisticated glazing of botrytis, as it jumped from the glass in a blend of apple, pear, bee pollen, slate, incipient notes of petrol and spring flowers. On the palate the wine is medium-full, complex and beautifully glazed with botrytis, with a lovely, glossy attack, a fine core of fruit, and a very long, crisp and ethereal finish.

Flambe Prawns. Grilled giant prawns topped with our house curry sauce. These are amazing. The sweet curry sauce is just full of curry flavor goodness.

2011 Ovid Syrah.

2015 Robert Mondavi Winery Pinot Noir Pommard Clone. Yuck! Didn’t taste like pinot.

Jazz burger. A big beef patty covered in onions, peppers, and dressing. The flavors were fabulous.

White rice in the tin of mysterious lightness.

Red Duck Curry. Not spicy but incredibly delicious.

2004 Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. 92 points. Selbach is such an elegant house, consistently producing kabinetten and spatlesen that are light, airy and elegant. This spatlese showed some of the reserve of the 2004 vintage, with less expressive fruit. The wine was nonetheless balanced, with a significant honey/honeydew/orange zest and general citrus overlay. While the wine has some development left, I did not find enough expression of more complex flavors at this stage to rate it higher.

Yellow pork curry. Saffron or turmeric taste. Again mild and delicious.

From my cellar: 2008 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Heimbourg Sélection de Grains Nobles. VM 98. Medium gold. Utterly captivating nose melds bitter orange peel, apricot, wildflower honey and minerals. Thick, tactile and extremely young, with powerful acidity giving it a slightly disjointed character initially. For all its huge density, there’s great cut to the flavors of apricot, honey and flowers, with the wine’s powerful sweetness leavened by a savory element. Finishes with palate-staining fruit, outstanding energy and uncanny persistence. This came together brilliantly with aeration, maintaining great refinement and a sensation of weightlessness. Will go on for decades.

Jungle curry with lamb. Exotic thai curry with god knows what in it. This stuff was HOT and pretty fabulous. The heat was insane. Slow burn, such that you started in on it and thought it would be fine, but then building to a head-sweating mind-altering gut-burning sear. Took me 6-8 hours to recover from a relatively small portion!

1988 Marcel Deiss Gewurztraminer Altenberg de Bergheim Sélection de Grains Nobles. 92 points. Popped and poured, with cork crumbling and the wine poured in to a decanter. I think the air this ended up getting was most helpful. Beautiful sweet (but not overly so) stone fruits and spice on the nose. And an initial sweetness in the mouth that morphs in to a somewhat surprisingly much drier mid-palate. Complex with a good, but not as lingering finish as the very best Deiss SGNs can show.

Larb. Ground pork with spices, fish sauce, etc. Pretty hot too and salty/vinegary. Not my absolute favorite Jitlada dish.

Turmeric fried rice with chicken wings. Interesting!

Pad See Yew with chicken. Rich noodles, sweet and mild. I could barely taste anything after the jungle curry.

I love Jitlada, and it’s hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. Tonight’s meal was one of the best we had, despite the absence of the chef in the kitchen 🙁  We had only 7-8 people, which is about the max you can have here. Once we had way too many people and and some late comers that botched the whole progression.

Tonight we ordered very well. Every dish was very good, most great. We had a pretty nice progression. Sure, there are favorites we missed, the menu is vast, but it was a great meal. Jazz hung out with us for a chunk of it and helped us order. The kitchen was really on point too with some dishes that have a little variability all coming down on the awesome side tonight.

Not super spicy either, only the jungle curry busting the 5 or 6 line (it was an 11, even on the weighted Jitlada scale of blistering heat).

All in all, if you like Thai food and live (or visit) in LA you must try Jitlada.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more crazy Hedonist meals.

Related posts:

  1. Jitlada – Fire in the Hole
  2. Jitlada Overkill
  3. Jitlada – 9 is Nice
  4. Hedonists at Jitlada
  5. Renu Nakorn
By: agavin
Comments (1)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: curry, hedonists, Jitlada, spicy, Thai cuisine, Wine

Jitlada – 9 is Nice

Sep09

Restaurant: Jitlada [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104

Date: September 6, 2016

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Gut burning great

_

Tonight’s outing is a Hedonist return to Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong with Chef Tui in the kitchen. The menu can be found here.

You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce.

NV Herbert Beaufort Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Marcellin Extra-Brut. 88 points. Lemony nose and citrusy palate. Small bubbles, but loses it’s fizziness quickly. Tasty.

Larb. Ground pork with spices, fish sauce, etc. Pretty hot too and very salty, but tasty.

Honey duck. This was pretty awesome, and we should have ordered more. The skin was crispy and sweet, the meat succulent.

Bone in!

2011 Dönnhoff Niederhäuser Hermannshöhle Riesling Spätlese. VM 92. Delicately refined aromas of pineapple, quince and herbs. The refreshing palate offers a subtle interplay of ripe citrus fruits and salty minerality. A pure and expressive finish provides stature. I may be underrating this, but it’s certainly one of the great spatleses of the vintage.

Pumpkin frog legs. A pumpkin curry basically with frog’s legs. Poor kermit.

2011 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese. 92 points. This wine has come together in a beautiful manner. Its sweet but with bright acidity and good minerality.

Papaya salad. Solid, but not as yummy as the fried one.

From my cellar: 2002 Dr. Loosen Ürziger Würzgarten Riesling Spätlese Goldkapsel Auction. 96 points. Balanced in all ways. Medium old. Medium sweetness. Medium yellow gold color. A really fine Spätlese.

Coco lotus soup. This was a mild red coconut curry soup with chicken. It was amazing! Really fabulous curry flavor. Tons of tamarind giving it a really balanced sour tone.

2012 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Windsbuhl. VM 93. Pale straw-gold color. Deep aromas of white peach, white truffle and pear nectar. Wonderfully juicy and light on its feet, conveying a distinctly perfumed quality to its very pure citrus zest and floral flavors. The finish offers very good juicy grip, with lingering notes of orange and sweet spices. Delicious.

Jungle curry with lamb chops. Exotic thai curry with god knows what in it. This stuff was HOT and pretty fabulous. This is a brown curry. I actually like their super hot green curry better, but this is good too.

Garlic frog’s legs. Deep fried turmeric marinated frog legs with garlic.

Flambe Prawns. Grilled giant prawns topped with our house curry sauce. These are amazing. The sweet curry sauce is just full of curry flavor goodness.

1997 René Renou Bonnezeaux Cuvée Zenith. 97 Parker. Tasted four times over the last six months, the show-stopping 1997 Bonnezeaux Cuvee Zenith has gone from being massive, disjointed and difficult to assess, to being harmonious, intense, and sublime. Aromatically revealing spicy yellow fruits of exquisite ripeness, this is a medium-to-full-bodied, powerful, and explosive wine. Copious quantities of spicy bergamots, flowers, almonds, perfume, caramelized minerals, and tropical fruits can be found in its layered, velvety texture. Renou was somehow able to marry 1997’s awesome density and depth of fruit with virtually perfect levels of acidity, creating a blockbuster-sized wine of great equilibrium and freshness. Bravo! Projected maturity: now-2050+.

agavin: Our bottle was a tiny bit corked. Sad, because you could tell it was a great sweet wine under there.

Crispy Morning Glory Salad. This salad of shrimp and fried morning glory is just plain glorious. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Basically tempura flowers and it’s really the tangy, slightly sweet sauce/dressing that really makes it. Very similar to many of the salads I had in Vietnam.

Adrian Fog Pinot Noir Alexander Valley. Wines that don’t put their vintage on the front don’t get reviews.

Red Snapper Salad. deep fried snapper filets topped with cucumber and tomatoes in a spicy lime sauce. Super fried and super tasty. One of the yummiest fries ever. We ate all the crispy stuff at the bottom of the plate.

2003 Turley Petite Syrah Rattlesnake Ridge. VM 89. Potent, biting, but very good. Definitely mellowed by the second day. What I would expect from a PS but maybe not one 13 years old!

agavin: our bottle was badly corked.

Jazz burger. A big beef patty covered in onions, peppers, and dressing. The flavors were fabulous.

Mango sticky rice with coconut ice cream. Awesome dessert, even though I was so full, I shoved three helpings down the gullet. This was as good a sticky rice as I’ve had. The rice is warm and the mango cool.

I love Jitlada, and it’s hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. Tonight’s meal redeemed the disaster we had last time (where we had way too many people and and some late comers that botched the whole progression).

Tonight we ordered very well. Every dish was very good, most great. We had a pretty nice progression. Sure, there are favorites we missed, and some types I would have liked more of (like a good green curry or something like the “sweet” lamb curry) but it was a great meal. Jazz hung out with us for a chunk of it and helped us order. The kitchen was really on point too with some dishes that have a little variability all coming down on the awesome side tonight.

Not super spicy either, only the jungle curry busting the 5 or 6 line (on the weighted Jitlada scale of blistering heat). Part of me would have liked some of the killer heat (like that amazing green curry) but this morning, writing this up with only very mild gut pain I’m thinking we made a sane choice.

All in all, if you like Thai food and live (or visit) in LA you must try Jitlada.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more crazy Hedonist meals.

T

Related posts:

  1. Jitlada – Fire in the Hole
  2. Jitlada Overkill
  3. Hedonists at Jitlada
  4. Renu Nakorn
  5. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: hedonists, Jitlada, Thai cuisine

Jitlada Overkill

Sep02

Restaurant: Jitlada [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104

Date: August 26, 2015

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Gut burning great

_

Tonight’s outing is a Hedonist return to Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong with Chef Tui in the kitchen. The menu can be found here.

You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce.

One of Yarom’s ancient wines. Undrinkable.

Crispy papaya Salad. Delicious — fry is always tasty. The “dressing” was sweet and tangy.

Another even more ancient, and even more undrinkable wine. Could barely stomach a second tiny sip.

Papaya salad. Solid, but not as yummy as the fried one.

2008 Weingut Reinhold Haart Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Riesling Spätlese. VM 90. Delicate aromas of green apple, lemon oils and clover. The kiwi flavor is light and lively but at the same time velvety on the palate. Rose petal and saline minerality mingle on a crisp, well-balanced finish. Very appealing.

Crispy Morning Glory Salad. This salad of shrimp and fried morning glory is just plain glorious. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Basically tempura flowers and it’s really the tangy, slightly sweet sauce/dressing that really makes it. Very similar to many of the salads I had in Vietnam.

2005 Dönnhoff Schloßböckelheimer Felsenberg Riesling Spätlese. VM 91. Pale golden yellow.Subtle bouquet of pineapple, nut oil and lemon zest.The luscious yet crisp papaya fruit is brightened by a refreshing mineral character.Deceptively light and wonderfully drinkable.A charming riesling with a sweet/salty finish.

Crying Tiger Pork. A Chinese influenced dish of spicy pork with a blend of coriander, pepper, salt, and garlic. Really flavorful, tender and just plain fabulous.

2007 Dönnhoff Kreuznacher Krötenpfuhl Riesling Spätlese. JG 92. pears and peach.. not very sweet nice acidity. will wait to drink again.

Chicken satay. A bit boring, but certainly a nice satay.

2003 Joh. Jos. Christoffel Erben Erdener Treppchen Riesling Auslese. 91 points. I really love these wines and they have a certain, unpretentious, gulpability that few other wines have. The sugar also allows then to got with a huge variety of food. This bottle has a fair amount of sweetness with honeyed peach and lychee aromas leading into a medium bodied, low acid wine. Beautifully balanced, soft and down right gulpable, this is killer stuff.

Coco lotus soup. This was a mild red coconut curry soup with chicken. It was amazing! Really fabulous curry flavor.

2005 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese.

Pig ear. Strips of leather. I’ll leave these for the Labradors.

1993 Georg Breuer Rüdesheimer Berg Schloßberg Riesling. 93 points. Petrol, citrus and apple fruit, minerals and a striking acidity. Complex and engaging, very nice, has a future still.

Lamb fried rice. Much better than the pineapple fried rice.

From my cellar: 2000 Trimbach Pinot Gris Sélection de Grains Nobles. VM 93. Bright medium gold. Superripe aromas of apricot jam, exotic spices, honey and tobacco; just misses the clarity of the best SGN bottlings from this producer. Very dense but not hugely unctuous thanks to firm, perfectly integrated acidity. Sappy, vibrant and very long on the aftertaste.

Tamarind shrimp. The same shrimp as we had last time with the red curry, but with a slightly tangy, definitely sweet sauce. Not nearly as good. I didn’t love the sauce.

2010 Château Franc le Maine St. Émilion Grand Cru Cabernet Franc/Merlot. 91 points. Very rich, and not sweet or jammy at all. Still young but very drinkable if allowed to breathe for 2+ hours. Needs food. Quite delicious.

Thai hot wings. Tender and quiet spicy.

2007 Cantina Numa Rosso Piceno Tolenus.

Lamb Curry. Tender lamb in a hot curry with green beans. Really yummy. Really yummy. Should have ordered the “curry” version where it’s in a bowl with more sauce. There is also a sweeter version that is really good.

1978 Joseph Phelps Syrah. Drinking very well considering.

Glass noodles with crispy pork belly. Nice enough. I liked the texture of the noodles with the peanuts.


2006 Linne Calodo Outsider. VM 93. Bright ruby. Deep aromas of black raspberry, cherry liqueur, dried flowers and minerals. Powerful dark berry flavors are surprisingly light on their feet, with a jolt of smoky minerals adding urgency. Finishes vibrant and sweet, with excellent clarity and cut. An intriguing spice note gained power with air, adding to this wine’s vivacity.

Dungeness Crab in Curry Sauce. Crab meat, shrimp & peas sauteed in a red curry paste. This wasn’t AS hot. It was a little hard to get at the succulent grab meat, but the curry was explosively good too. Compare to the Singaporean classic. The problem is that the crab isn’t cracked and was hard to get into.

2004 Turley Petite Syrah Hayne Vineyard. VM 94+. Bright ruby to the rim. Aromas of black plum, minerals, iron and fresh blood; this wine calls for a rare steak. At once thick and sappy, boasting extraordinary density to its sweet dark fruit and iron flavors. The very long, slowly building finishes features outstanding sweetness and salinity and extremely suave tannins. This very powerful wine is developing at a snail’s pace.

Duck curry. Very similar curry to the soup, but with a few bits of duck and pineapple. Also a very nice curry, but fairly mild.



2008 Saxum Heart Stone Vineyard. RR 97. Color of dark red. Scents of black and blue berries, bold. Tastes were consistent with scents, with big, bold taste, but not jammy. This blend has a very interesting taste. Enjoyed this.

Jazz burger. A big beef patty covered in onions, peppers, and dressing. I was so full I was about to burst, but the flavors were fabulous.


Some super organic chocolate, all raw, no real sugar. The chocolate flavor was nice and fruity, but these were WAY too unsweetened for my palette. Tasted like health food. I’m a hedonist.

I love Jitlada, and it’s hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. All the flavors are great, the meats succulent, and boy is it hot. That being said, this was one of my weakest meals here — although it wasn’t the kitchen’s fault — we just didn’t order well at all. There were some great dishes, like the coco lotus soup, but we had too many people and ordered at first too few, then too many of each dish. There were far too many reorders. We must’ve ordered 3 rounds of the soup (with 2 bowls in one round). And then a couple of late comers arrived (DON’T COME LATE TO HEDONIST DINNERS!) and there was a flurry of reorders of the same dishes.

The net net was that we were full too early in the progression, and we never got to the spicy curries, dynamites, challenges, whole fish, and other “main dishes.” We were so full from our reorders of the same dishes that we couldn’t even handle the mango sticky rice. One of my lessons here to to really watch the rice consumption.

Still, the kitchen is great, we just had too many people, too much chaos, and didn’t didn’t balance our sequence right. I think 12 is the max here (we had 15-16).

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more crazy Hedonist meals.

Related posts:

  1. Jitlada – Fire in the Hole
  2. Hedonists at Jitlada
  3. Quick Eats: Chan Dara
  4. Ruen Pair Rules
  5. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
By: agavin
Comments (2)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: curry, hedonists, Jitlada, Thai cuisine

Jitlada – Fire in the Hole

Mar18

Restaurant: Jitlada [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104

Date: March 12, 2015

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Gut burning great

_

Tonight’s outing is a hastily organized trip to Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong with Chef Tui in the kitchen. The menu can be found here.

You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce.


2009 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Kabinett. 90 points. Yellow honeysuckle, wet stone, lemon zest nose, with medium light body delivering pleasing soft lemon sorbet, nectarine, tangerine and wet stones.


Crispy Morning Glory Salad. This salad of shrimp and fried morning glory is just plain glorious. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Basically tempura flowers and it’s really the tangy, slightly sweet sauce/dressing that really makes it. Very similar to many of the salads I had in Vietnam.


Crying Tiger Pork. A Chinese influenced dish of spicy pork with a blend of coriander, pepper, salt, and garlic. Really flavorful, tender and just plain fabulous.


Honey Duck. You can’t believe how tender this duck is. Crispy skin and just melt in your mouth meat. The hoisin was good too.


2007 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese. Vinous 93. Subtle aromas of lichee, lemon oil and smoked pine nuts. Rich tropical fruits with a hint of smoke and an intriguing piquancy on the palate. A subtle acidity gives the sweet, spicy finish a rather feminine aspect. Very nicely balanced.


Giant prawns in red curry. This dish is an 11. The prawns are succulent and filled with roe and kani miso (crab guts). Then the sauce is a luxurious panang-style red curry with coconut milk and maybe some peanuts. It all meld together, particularly with the crab guts into a scrumptious savory blend.


Large whole fish with ginger. Ateamed whole seabass with ginger and mushrooms. A delicate simple, but delicious fish.


Dungeness crab with curry. It’s a little hard to get into the meat, but the sauce was an amazing (and not so spicy) blend with a ton of turmeric. Brace yourself, this is where the weak hearted get left behind, as this is the last “easy” dish.


From my cellar: 1990 Zind-Humbrecht Tokay Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Vendange Tardive. 94 points. Rich, powerful nose of apricots and lots of baking spices, paraffin and wax. Really plush, but not a bit cloying or heavy. Again, not heavy on the palate – lots of apricot – very rich. Just great. The ZH TPGs are delicious wines, but tend to be heavy. This wine has all the good, with none of the bad – light on its feet, but wonderfully rich and perfumed. A real treat. Nose – 6/6, Palate – 6/6, Finish – 5/6, Je Ne Sais Quoi – 2/2 = 19/20.

agavin: It’s a rare savory meal where a wine of this sticky magnitude works, but this is the case here. The massive and effortless apricot sweetness of this wine is great both on its own and with the tastebud obliterating assault to come.


Spicy Crispy Pork Noodles spicy stir fried glass noodles with crispy pork and vegetables. We ended up with two spicy crispy pork dishes. This one had some heat, but it wasn’t yet full inferno. Nice noodles too.


Kua Kling Crispy Pork. Dry curry stir fried with asparagus and crispy pork. This curry was about a 9 or 10 on the heat scale. Oh boy. It had great flavor too, but was getting seriously hot. Sneaky too, as it didn’t seem too bad for a minute or two, and then really notched up.


Coco Curry Beef. Tender beef in a spicy southern curry and thai eggplant. This was hot too, with a delicious complex flavor and plenty of turmeric. Maybe an 8 hot.


Rack of lamb in southern curry. A spicy native curry from Jazz’s family recipe with bell peppers, turmeric, jicama, and you can’t find this anywhere else. Turn it up to 11. The flavor on this dish was insane, with a super complex layered flavor that went on and one — and the heat. I basically finished 2/3 of this bowl myself (all but 1 other couldn’t handle it) and my head was drenched in sweat. But it was worth it.


Mango sticky rice with coconut ice cream. Awesome dessert. Jazz went out to her car or apartment and got us the “special mangos” that were perfectly ripe. Just incredible. Best mango sticky rice I’ve ever had. I shoved three helpings down the gullet.

Jitlada was hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. All the flavors are great, the meats succulent, and boy is it hot. You could order sweet, or you could order hot, or both. I’ve had hotter food (I’m thinking of a certain Szechuan restaurant in China), but you certainly don’t WANT it hotter than this. And I’m a guy that puts Haberneos in my guacamole.

One of our number summed up the evening as “eating like Pharaohs,” which is about right. Just way way too much food, and no small dose of other good stuff. The kitchen was incredibly on point tonight too.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more crazy Hedonist meals.

Dr. Dave and Jazz

 

Related posts:

  1. Hedonists at Jitlada
  2. Hedonists Noodle over Hoy-Ka
  3. Ruen Pair Rules
  4. Dragon in the Hole
  5. The Call – Down the Rabbit Hole
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: hedonists, Jazz Singsanong, Jitlada, spicy, Thai cuisine

Hedonists at Jitlada

Dec07

Restaurant: Jitlada [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 5233 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027. (323) 663-3104

Date: December 4, 2012

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Gut burning great

_

After a three week break, it’s time for the Hedonists to ride again. Actually, they rode several times without me, but who’s counting?

This time we venture out to Jitlada, an outrageously authentic Southern Thai place deep in Thai-town. The joint gets 27 in Zagat! It’s run by Jazz Singsanong with Chef Tui in the kitchen. The menu can be found here.

You know it’s real because they don’t skimp on either the chilies OR the fish sauce.


Parker 94, “The 2002 Chardonnay Martinelli Road Vineyard has a striking minerality with notes of gravel and hot rocks, a steely backbone, huge body, leesy flavors with good acidity, tremendous ripeness, and a singular terroir character. If California were making a Meursault-Perrieres, this might be an example of that style of site-specific wine.”

By most people’s taste this wine was over-the-hill. I personally, didn’t mind it, but I’m used to drinking old white Burgundy’s. It had mellowed into a caramel-coconut kind of vibe.


Much younger and full of crisp acidity. Parker 94+ “Cool, inward and impeccably layered from start to finish, the 2010 Chablis Montee de Tonnerre impresses for its fabulous sense of balance and poise. Slate, crushed rocks, lime and white flowers are woven together in a fabric of unusual class and elegance. All the elements fuse together impeccably here. This is a gorgeous Chablis, but it will require patience. Today the 2010 is quite reticent, but the pedigree is evident.”

Coco Mango Salad. Green mangoes with fresh shrimp, and dry shredded coconut topped with cashews. Yummy, a bit of sweetness, and a coconut flavor that went very well with the older Chardonnay.

A very nice Kabinett with citrus notes and a good bit of richness and complexity.

As we begin a flight of three Rieslings it’s worth mentioning the red/write debate. About half our compatriots aren’t really white wine fans, and prefer to move on to reds. I myself like a harmonious wine/food pairing and find that reds, particularly big reds, clash badly with Asian food. Spicy Thai is even more extreme, as sweeter Riesling is a tremendous pairing to counter the bracing heat. I’ve noticed that those of us who prefer the soft mouth feel grapes (Pinot, Nebbiolo) over the much brazen grapes (Cabernet, Merlot) fall on my side of the divide.


Crispy Papaya Salad. Deep fried peppers, served with tomatoes, green beans, ground peanuts, and our house spicy lime juice sauce with added fresh shrimp. Also very sweet – and delicious.


The aromatically expressive 2000 Riesling bursts with spicy pears. This oily-textured, medium-bodied wine is feminine, refined, and has outstanding balance. It is armed with great depth. This apricot and apple-flavored wine has a long, pure finish.


Mussel soup. Very tasty broth (and mussels). An initial lack of bowls put a slight crimp in the experience :-).


Parker 90-92, “The Burgundian 2003 Pinot Noir Kistler Vineyard shows a low pH style with high acidity, crisp, red currant, cranberry notes with a hint of rose petal and strawberry. It is Burgundian, medium-bodied, pure, and impressive.”

This pinot went as well with the Thai as any red does, at least until the heavy spice kicked in. I enjoyed it, as it could have passed for a half-decent premier cru Burg, which is rare of new world Pinots. They just don’t do it for me, usually being pale shadows of their Burgundian fellows.


Honey duck. This was pretty awesome, and we should have ordered more. The skin was crispy and sweet, the meat succulent.


Parker 2009, “The 2009 Pinot Noir Pastorale Vineyard is all about focus and length. The Pastorale doesn’t quite have the richness of the Quarter Moon, nor the suppleness of the straight Pinot, but it nevertheless impresses for its fabulous overall balance. Bright acidity provides a lively counter to the wine’s highly expressive dark cherries, plums, licorice, mint, tar and sweet herbs.”


Three Flavored Fish. Whole fried seabass flavored with spicy, sweet and lime sauce. This was darn yummy, sweet and spicy both (you can see all those Thai chilies resting on top).


Just so you can get a look at the size. We killed two of these babies!


From my cellar: Parker 96, “The 2000 Riesling Rangen de Thann Clos St.-Urbain reveals awesome aromatic depth to its botrytis, apricot, mineral, and quince-scented nose. This medium to full-bodied wine is hugely concentrated, densely packed with smoke-infused white fruits, and has exceptional balance. A profound effort, it is complex and displays an awe-inspiring finish.”

Now this is a Riesling (and perfect with the spicy dishes). It would have been nice to have an ice bucket!


Jungle curry. Exotic thai curry with god knows what in it. This stuff was HOT and pretty fabulous.


Parker 90, “This outstanding Syrah is realistically priced given its impeccably high quality and character. The opaque ruby/purple-colored 2001 Syrah Napa exhibits a big, full-bodied, smoky bouquet of roasted meats, licorice, black currants, and pepper. Supple-textured and layered, with well-integrated toasty oak in addition to a rich, spicy, concentrated finish, this powerful (15.1% alcohol) red is both voluptuous and silky.”


Spicy chicken. Turmeric-seasoned chicken. Wow was this hot. It had a really great flavor too, but made one reach for the rice, and more rice, and sweet wine, and start wiping the sweat off the top of one’s head!


Parker 95, “An explosion of blueberry liqueur, black raspberries, and exotic floral scents soars from the glass of the spectacular inky/purple-colored 2002 Syrah Alder Springs Vineyard, a vineyard that is proving to be a tremendous source for many different varietals. Although this cuvee possesses 14.9% alcohol, it is well-concealed by the wine’s full body, awesome richness, great purity, and tremendous sense of fruit as well as place. There is a remarkable vigor and intensity, yet it does not taste over the top or heavy.”


Dungeness Crab in Curry Sauce. Crab meat, shrimp & peas sauteed in a red curry paste. This wasn’t AS hot. It was a little hard to get at the succulent grab meat, but the curry was explosively good too. Compare to the Singaporean classic.


Parker 95+, “The 2004 Syrah Piggott Range (from 40-year-old vines) requires 3-4 years of cellaring. This is a powerful, intense Syrah meant for true connoisseurs who have cold cellars as well as enough patience to wait it out. A perfume of crushed rocks, acacia flowers, blackberries, roasted coffee, pepper, spice, bacon fat, and a subtle touch of eucalyptus is followed by a deep, rich, full-bodied wine.”

These are great Syrah’s but the heat of the food swamps them out.


Lamb Curry. Tender lamb in a mild curry with potatoes and carrots. Really yummy. Really yummy.


Dynamite beef. Oh boy, too bad I was “wafer thin mint” full when this came out. In serious physical pain from all the chillies and the amount of food I’d had. This stuff was like pure red pepper beef. Look at all those pepper seeds!


Cool crabs!


Wash down the dynamite with a big swig of sweet wine!


This 2001 Tokaji Aszu (Hungarian dessert wine made in the style of Sauternes) was a great finish. This wine was really drinking nicely.


Papaya fried rice. The owner whipped this up to try and cool us off. It was a sweet carby mixture.


Mango sticky rice with coconut ice cream. Awesome dessert, even though I was so full, I shoved three helpings down the gullet. This was as good a sticky rice as I’ve had.

Jitlada was hands down the best Thai I’ve had in LA. The menu is enormous and full of goodies. All the flavors are great, the meats succulent, and boy is it hot. You could order sweet, or you could order hot, or both. I’ve had hotter food (I’m thinking of a certain Szechuan restaurant in China), but you certainly don’t WANT it hotter than this. And I’m a guy that puts Haberneos in my guacamole.

One of our number summed up the evening as “eating like Pharaohs,” which is about right. Just way way too much food, and no small dose of other good stuff.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Or for more crazy Foodie Club meals.

Penny from Lotus of Siam on the left, Yarom in the center, and Jazz (Jitlada’s owner) on the right

Related posts:

  1. Hedonists Boil Up Some Crab
  2. Hedonists at Dahab
  3. Hedonists at La Paella
  4. Hedonists at STK
  5. Totoraku – Hedonists Beef Up
By: agavin
Comments (4)
Posted in: Food
Tagged as: curry, hedonists, Jitlada, Pinot noir, Riesling, Thai, Wine
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