Where Joel Kim Booster Eats (& Parties) In LA - Los Angeles - The Infatuation

"We have some of the best Thai food in the country here. It's just an embarrassment of riches. But Jitlada is like, 'Okay, you want like authentic southern Thai cuisine? Let's go to Jitlada. Oh, you don't know what that is? Wait for her to come out. She will explain it to you.' It's just the mainstay. It can be hard to get into, but not super difficult. It's very not pretentious. I always have so much fun there because I'm always eating something that I have never heard of. I don't always necessarily want to try it all again, but boy, have I eaten silkworms? Yeah, I have eaten the silkworms at Jitlada. And of course, if you're... basic, you can go and get your pad thai and it's amazing and dope there too. But I think it would be a mistake to go to Jitlada and get the pad thai because there's just such a wealth [of options]. It's like a Cheesecake Factory level menu in terms of size, with all of these different options of all of these things that they do so beautifully. It's a really great way to really expand your horizons as a Thai food eater and really get a sense of someone's culture. They know that we just want the pad thai and the crab rangoons. But this place is like, 'No, we're going to give you some authentic food that may seem a little weird to you. But guess what? This is what we eat and this is our culture and you're gonna love it.'" - brennan carley