Wat Thai of Los Angeles

"Much like jury duty or reading Animal Farm in school, experiencing the Thai street food market at Wat Thai should be a citywide mandate. Every weekend, this Buddhist temple hosts nearly a dozen food vendors in its parking lot, and locals show up by 9am to beat the lines. On the menu is everything from mango sticky rice and BBQ beef skewers to spicy som tum and duck noodle soup, and the most popular stalls tend to sell out by noon. If you get excited about dining at picnic tables covered in street food, Wat Thai will give you goosebumps. Just remember that it’s cash only and you’ll need to exchange your money for $1-$2 tokens that you’ll use to order food." - brant cox, sylvio martins, nikko duren, garrett snyder

"If you wanted to plan a bus tour of LA's best Thai spots (sign us up), the food court at Wat Thai food court would be a mandatory stop. Every weekend, the Thai Buddhist temple right on the border of Sun Valley and North Hollywood hosts a street food market in its parking lot. Each vendor opens around 8am, and popular dishes can sell out as early as noon. A one-stop destination serving a wide range of excellent Thai specialties, Wat Thai serves juicy BBQ pork skewers, beefy boat noodles, creamy mango sticky rice, and spicy papaya salad that you can grab in one walk-through. Just remember that it’s cash-only and you’ll need to exchange your money for tokens that you’ll trade for your food later. " - nikko duren, brant cox, sylvio martins

"Eating at Wat Thai’s weekend food court feels like strolling through a busy street fair, except instead of kettle corn and churros you’re here for a wide range of fantastic Thai dishes. Every weekend, the Buddhist temple hosts foods vendors in its parking lot right on the border of Sun Valley and North Hollywood. On the menu is everything from mango sticky rice and BBQ beef skewers to spicy som tum and duck noodle soup, and the most popular stalls tend to  sell out by noon. If you get excited about dining at picnic tables covered in street food, Wat Thai will give you goosebumps. Just remember that it’s cash only and you’ll need to exchange your money for $1-$2 tokens that you’ll use to order food. " - brant cox, arden shore, garrett snyder, nikko duren, sylvio martins

"There’s a place where throngs of foodies jostle around rows of street-food stalls selling pad Thai, mango and sticky rice, and papaya salad in the shadow of a Buddhist temple, the air thick with the smell of sweet, grilling meat, noodles frying in curry paste and fish sauce, and coconut balls crisping in griddles. It’s not Bangkok; it’s a parking lot in Los Angeles. Since the 1980s, this weekend-only food market has sold some of the best Thai food outside of Thailand. What began as a handful of Thai grandmothers getting together to share their family recipes and renditions of homeland classics evolved into a weekly transformation of the Wat Thai Temple’s parking lot into a bustling Thai street scene, with a portion of the profits going to the temple itself. By the mid-2000s, however, the market had outgrown itself, with parking and garbage issues drawing heavy complaints from neighbors. In 2007, the city shut down the temple’s weekly food-fair, to the chagrin of the devout following the temple had accrued over the years. In 2015, the market returned, once again selling everyone’s Thai favorites—meaty larb, sweet coconut fritters, fried bananas, and sour Isaan sausage—as well as some off-the-beaten-path dishes that never quite attained pad Thai–level fame, such as mussel pancakes with sweet-and-sour sauce, fried potato balls, and kanom krok, a pan-fried ball of rice flour and coconut milk. Nothing comes closer to true Thai street food outside Thailand than this market. For elephants, waterfalls, and scuba diving, you’ll still have to go to the actual country." - ATLAS_OBSCURA

"There’s a place where throngs of foodies jostle around rows of street-food stalls selling pad Thai, mango and sticky rice, and papaya salad in the shadow of a Buddhist temple, the air thick with the smell of sweet, grilling meat, noodles frying in curry paste and fish sauce, and coconut balls crisping in griddles. It’s not Bangkok; it’s a parking lot in Los Angeles. Since the 1980s, this weekend-only food market has sold some of the best Thai food outside of Thailand. What began as a handful of Thai grandmothers getting together to share their family recipes and renditions of homeland classics evolved into a weekly transformation of the Wat Thai Temple’s parking lot into a bustling Thai street scene, with a portion of the profits going to the temple itself. By the mid-2000s, however, the market had outgrown itself, with parking and garbage issues drawing heavy complaints from neighbors. In 2007, the city shut down the temple’s weekly food-fair, to the chagrin of the devout following the temple had accrued over the years. In 2015, the market returned, once again selling everyone’s Thai favorites—meaty larb, sweet coconut fritters, fried bananas, and sour Isaan sausage—as well as some off-the-beaten-path dishes that never quite attained pad Thai–level fame, such as mussel pancakes with sweet-and-sour sauce, fried potato balls, and kanom krok, a pan-fried ball of rice flour and coconut milk. Nothing comes closer to true Thai street food outside Thailand than this market. For elephants, waterfalls, and scuba diving, you’ll still have to go to the actual country. Know Before You Go The vendors do not carry cash: Visitors can exchange their money into plastic tokens in the middle of the market that are equal to $1 or $2." - bryana e769777c, lukefater