Feast Your Eyes: Jitlada's Off-Menu Burger

Jitlada's Off-Menu Burger

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The Fabulous Off-Menu Thai Burger and More at Jitlada

Last May, I read about the off-menu Thai burger from Jitlada in an article by Jonathan Gold. As soon as I finished, I knew that I had to have that burger. It took a couple of months for it to happen, but wow, was it worth it and thanks so much to Jazz, owner of Jitlada, for making my burger wish come true. As mentioned, this burger is not only off-menu, but also involves a lot of preparation on Jazz's part.

First, don't come into Jitlada, ask for this burger and expect to get it that same night. Jazz uses ingredients that may not be available to whip up an impromptu burger. Second, if you really want to try this burger, you'll have to ask for it ahead of time and even then, because of the work involved, Jazz may say Yes or No to your request, depending on her availability. Again, because of the work involved, she may be more inclined to say "Yes" to a regular customer. These are just a few things to keep in mind. Now let's get to the good stuff, the Thai Burger itself.

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This burger usually comes with two patties, like the double-double at In-N-Out, but so much better. Since I had plans for our group to order other items from Jitlada's menu, Jazz kindly dressed up one burger for each person. That one burger was on crunchy lettuce leaves with a slice of tomato, red onions, Thai basil and topped with a sweet sauce. I wrapped the whole thing up in my lettuce, took a bite and was in burger heaven. That burger was definitely spicy, but the sauce helped lessen the impact a bit. The tomato's acidity and the green herbiness of the Thai basil also added wonderful nuances of flavor. I also enjoyed the slight crunch of the burger, which Jonathan Gold referred to in his article.

Overall, I can see why this burger got such kudos. It's definitely worth having over and over again. I almost wish we went all out and enjoyed a full burger, instead of this half portion. All I know is that I hope there will be a chance in the near future that Jazz will agree to a repeat performance and if so, I'll be there, ready for some eating action.

While still glowing in the afterglow of that amazing burger, the rest of our dishes started to arrive, one by one. First, there was the Crispy Morning Glory Salad, made up of deep-fried Chinese watercress with shrimp and a house dressing. If you've never had this dish, make sure you order it at your next visit. I absolutely love the light crispiness of the watercress and it's definitely a different way to enjoy this slightly peppery green.

Our next dish was an Off-Menu Rice Salad. Now there is a rice salad on the menu, but the particular rice salad at our meal was Jazz's variation of the one on the menu. I had the original rice menu earlier in the year and based on my memory, I think this newer rice salad had more of a curry taste to it? I could be wrong, but nevertheless, it was delicious, so no complaints.

As we all know, Jitlada is known for their spicy foods, but now, they also have a spicy smoothie on the menu, too. This smoothie is made up of mango, pineapple and other unknown ingredients that give this drink its heat. Our table actually shared 4 of these smoothies between 8 of us and some couldn't even finish their portion after a couple of sips. Others were drinking water or taking bites of food to cool down their palate. When I drank it, I could taste chilies and then some.

Up next was the Pork Crying Tiger, which was featured on The Best Thing I Ever Ate Show (the Hot and Spicy Edition) on Food Network. The pork itself isn't spicy, but the chili-lime sauce this dish comes in will give you the hit of heat you're looking for. I like how the meat has such a caramelization to its surface that some of the spots have a slightly blackened crust to them. Thsi dish actually reminds me of Filipino BBQ.

Turmeric chicken drumsticks soon arrived and with it came sticky rice and a papaya salad. The chicken didn't have any batter and was fried within the inch of its life, which is how I like it personally. However, for some, the jerky-life texture of the chicken meat may not be as appealing. The only thing I would have liked is to taste more of the turmeric and the pepper. Those spices were just a little MIA for me.

What came next was the spiciest dish of our entire meal, which was the Pumpkin Lamb. The lamb was cooked in a dried curry and with more of a squash than a pumpkin and oh my, it was a dish that lit up my mouth. I mistakenly took a sip of my spicy smoothie, which made things slightly worse. Thank goodness for the iced vegetables that soon hit our table. They helped put out the fire. I still went back for seconds, but this time ate it with bites of rice so that I could better enjoy this dish.

Our last two dishes were seafood items. What arrived first was the Krabee, deep fried catfish (bone-in) with dry chili sauce and fried sweet basil. Even with the chili oil and chili flakes, the fish wasn't very spicy, but fried fish and I always enjoy each other's company so it was still a good dish for me and I absolutely loved the fried sweet basil.

Last, but not least, was the Kaeng Leuang Cha-Om Khai, an acacia leaf omelette and shrimp in a hot and sour curry. When I first saw this dish, I was a little confused. When I think of an omelette, I was thinking something more traditional. Instead, what we got was egg battered acacia leaves and shrimp in a bowl of hot and sour curry soup. After taking a few bites, I actually found myself really liking it. The acacia leaves had a slight bitterness to it that was offset by the egg and the sweetness of the shrimp while I really liked tang of the soup itself. It reminded me of a sour Filipino soup known as Sinigang.

We were contemplating dessert, but decided to opt out. Then we were surprised by an Off-Menu Shaved Ice dessert made by Jazz's sister. I've had my share of shaved ice dessert, but this one was different. This is the first time I tasted rose. I'm not sure whether some kind of rose flavoring was added to the milk or if it was some kind of rose milk, but this dessert was both sweet and floral. Along with palm seeds and jackfruit, there were also water chestnuts encased in some kind of pink tapioca flour. It's a dessert that I'd love to have again.

Overall, this was a delicious meal that started off with the best burger, actually, the best thing I've eaten so far this year and ended with a dessert that took shaved ice desserts to another level. Simply, Jitlada is one of my favorite restaurants and with meals like this, it's easy to see why.

Jitlada
5233 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 667-9809


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Jitlada Thai Cuisine

For the past couple of months, the buzz around all the foodie blogs and message boards has been about the spicy Southern Thai dishes at Jitlada. So one night, a friend and I decided to have dinner at Jitlada. Like everyone else, I brought a printout of the write-up that Eric, a Chicago blogger, did about this restaurant which included his recommendations and translations of all the dishes. See link below:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=13933

Thankfully, with the newfound boom in clientele, we saw that since Eric's visit, the owners had that section of the menu translated. Yay us.

So on to our meal! Between my friend and me, we chose 6 dishes from the Southern Thai menu. We started off with their rice salad, Khâo Yam "Songkhla", which was a mound of steamed rice topped with either finely crushed dried shrimp or shrimp crackers and fried coconut and surrounded by a veggie assortment. Along with the dish came a tamarind sauce. This was a nice starter with lots of great flavors and textures. How can you go wrong with fresh, crisp veggies, the salty-sweetness of the two toppings plus the sweet heat of the sauce? You really can't.

Following the rice salad was an entrée that definitely left a fiery impression, more so than any of the other items we ate that night. On the menu, you'll see this dish as Khanõm Jiin “Meuang Khon” 5 Náam 3 Dâng. The ingredients of rice vermicelli and fish balls seem innocent enough, but it was the very hot curry sauce that made my taste buds sit up, sing and take notice. Wow! I can almost feel my mouth burning again, just thinking about it.

Accompanying this noodle dish were both fresh and pickled vegetables. The addition of the veggies to the noodles actually helped cut down on the heat. On their own, the noodles and the sauce may be too much of an overload for the non-spicy eater, so the vegetables may actually be your lifesaver if you still want to take a chance on this dish.

From the fiery depths, we "cooled" down a bit with the arrival of our Néua Tàet Dìaw / Néua Sũwan or dried/fried beef jerky. The meat was definitely chewy as beef jerky should be; yet, it still retained some tenderness as well. Try taking a bite of the meat topped with both the red onion and the cilantro that comes with this dish. The beef jerky already has great flavor, but the onion and cilantro just makes it that much better.

Spicy comes back to town with the appearance of the two wet curries we ordered. The first one up was Kaeng Kûng Wùa Thùa, a spicy, turmeric-seasoned curry with shrimp and jicama. I was surprised to see jicama as an ingredient since I tend to associate that ingredient with Latin cuisine or fusion cooking, but it added a little juicy crunch to the dish, which I liked. Between the shrimp and red bell peppers, this curry dish was more on the sweet side, but still packed a delicious punch.

The second curry dish we tried was Kaeng Tay Poh Plaa Châwn Hâeng or a Southern Thai-style curry with dried mudfish and water spinach. What I found the most unappealing about this dish was the dried mudfish, which had a weirdly gummy texture to it. I would have preferred if the fish was just fried. Of everything we tried, this was my least favorite dish. That's not to say that it was bad. While the sauce had the heat, the flavor wasn't there for me, especially in comparison to the previous dishes we already tried.

After what was already a 5 entrée marathon, our Plaa Thâwt Râat Phrík, which is a deep-fried fish “smothered” in sweet chile sauce arrived. You have your choice of fish and we opted for the sea bass. The little bit I sampled before we just had it wrapped up to go was amazingly tasty and although the sauce described itself as being chile sauce, I didn't find it to be spicy at all, just packed with lots of flavor. If I wasn't so full, I would have poured the sauce over my rice and went to town.

In fact, I enjoyed the food so much that I went back a couple of days later and tried a couple other menu items, although not on the Southern Thai menu. I had their Coco Mango Salad which is sliced mango, shrimp, lime juice, onion and chili with also a bit of coconut water. Wow, what a great salad. You get tart, sweet, and a little bit heat all in one bite. Since I was too full for dessert the first time I visited, this time I didn't pass it up and had their mango with sticky rice. Double Wow! This was the best mango and sticky rice I've ever had. I don't even have words. Just try it! You won't regret it.

Overall, our meal that night was fantastic and I can see why this new Southern Thai menu of Jitlada's is getting all the raves. If you haven't already, don't pass up a meal from this unique menu. You will definitely be a faithful convert.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157601644786108/

Jitlada Thai Cuisine
5233 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-3104