Restaurant: Hoy-Ka Thai Noodle

Location: 5401 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90027

Date: April 8, 2013

Cuisine: Thai

Rating: Really tasty!

This Hollywood Thai is in a sketchy neighborhood, but the reasonable price and excellent food more than make up for it. Plus, they have no liquor license and let us bring our own wine with no corkage. Always a plus!

Hedonist regular Penny, who is Thai, did the ordering, which didn’t hurt either.

2009 Jacques Bavard Bourgogne-Aligoté. Chardonnay gets the bulk of the white Burgundy attention. Aligote is a pleasant diversion, a simple wine that nevertheless has multiple layers to savor. The nose is flinty and faintly fruity, with a slight citrus note accented with a bit of peppery spiciness. Noticeably acidic up front, but that sharpness is quickly balanced out with a bit of honeysuckle and just a little bit of creaminess in the finish. Pleasant enough to drink on its own, but this really is at its best as a table wine to complement food. There is a good amount of sapidity (salty flavors).

The Western Sausage served with fresh vegetables: garlic, peanuts, ginger, and cabbage. Very tasty sausage and the garlic was intensely strong.

2011 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett. Aromas of passion fruit and nut oil. The creamy tropical fruits flavors are light, well-balanced and elegant. Certainly fun to drink. IWC 88.

Fried fish balls served with spicy sweet sauce. Interesting chewy texture too.

2011 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese. Elegant aromas of Bing cherry, apple blossom and roasted pine nuts. Sweet and delicate but nonetheless creamy on the palate, with sweet herbs and a touch of vanilla. Lemon curd and slate animate a compelling finish. IWC 90.

Very very nice.

Pork jerky. Deep fried sun dried, marinated pork, served with spicy house sauce.

Chicken larb. Ground chicken with lime juice, onion, ground chili & rice powder.

2002 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir Central Coast. Sweet herb and forest floor scents jump from the glass of the dark plum/ruby-tinged 2002 Pinot Noir Coastline Vineyard. Broodingly backward, rich, dense, and promising, its masculine, tannic, stacked and packed personality suggests 2-3 years of bottle age will be beneficial. Parker 91.

Not bad for a new world pinot. Still some oak — too much.

Yum Woosen. Silver noodle with ground pork, shrimp and vegetables seasoned with spicy lemon dressing.

A bit sweet and very very tasty.

Papaya salad. Shredded green papaya, green beans, tomatoes, and dried shrimps, crispy pork, seasoned with lime juice and chili.

A great papaya salad.

2008 Terredora di Paolo Aglianico Campania IGT. The estate’s 2008 Aglianico is a gem of a wine. Wild cherries, dark raspberries, spices, leather and licorice come together beautifully in this medium-bodied red. Floral notes waft out from the glass on the finish. There is nothing fussy here, just a flat out delicious bottle of unoaked Aglianico readers are sure to enjoy. Even better, this is a terrific value. Parker 90.

While not a bad Aglianico, the flavor profile was really off for Thai.

Hoy Ka Noodle. A noodle with ground pork, BBQ pork, pork meatballs, pork loaf and liver.

This soup was superb, one of the best I’ve ever had. Just really good and addictive, with a good bit of heat.

Hoy Ka Noodle. A noodle with ground chicken, sliced chicken, and fish balls.

Noodles with pork in a liver and pigs blood broth! Also super tasty, and much heartier, than the above soups. I liked the first a bit more, but you’d never know this was pig’s blood!

Red curry in coconut milk, sweet basil, bamboo shoots and fresh chili. A great version of the classic.

This Pozzan Merlot was a decent wine, but the big bold flavor profile was stunningly wrong for the food.

Pad See Eiw. Stir fried noodle with Chinese broccoli, egg, black soy sauce, and beef. Yum!

2005 Saxum Booker Vineyard. A blend of 92% Syrah and 8% Grenache, the 2005 Booker Vineyard is the debut vintage of this 400-case cuvee produced from a hillside vineyard situated on the west side of Highway 101. It exhibits plenty of crushed rock, sweet black fruit, and underbrush/forest floor characteristics along with sweet tannin and a structured, muscular personality similar to a northern Rhone. Big and powerful yet precise and well-delineated, it should drink nicely for 10-15 years. The bottled 2005s are all performing well. Parker 94.

This wine was SO BIG that it smashed right through the spice and actually worked!

Crispy Pork Ka Prao. Stir friend crispy pork with chili, basil, green beans, and house special sauce. Like bacon Ka Prao!

Ka Prao pork. Stir fried ground pork with basil, chili, and green beans. Also very tasty with some real heat.

Fried rice with pineapple, shrimp, chicken, and curry. The dominant flavor is yellow curry. Nice finishing dish.

Overall, this place has a great kitchen, and almost every dish was really well executed. The first pork soup in particular was amazing and it’s too bad they’re so far (about 45 minutes) from my house, or it would make an awesome lunch by itself.

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