https://www.anajakthai.com
What kind of crazy, f*cked up world do we live in where the best Thai restaurant in Los Angeles is in the San Fernando Valley?
You've got to know, the Valley used to be the pits. Maybe you could be from there, but you certainly didn't want to live there in the seventies, eighties, even right up to this century.
The Valley is America. Endless boulevards, littered with strip malls.
And it's also cheaper than the real estate over the hill.
But it ain't so cheap anymore, except maybe over Pacoima way. Then again, I just Googled and found out the median price for a house in Pacoima is now $700,000, which might buy you a mansion in many communities.
But as the years went by, baby boomers in Los Angeles discovered that unless you struck it rich, had a big entertainment job or the like, you couldn't afford to live on the Westside, the most desirable neighborhoods, from Santa Monica to Beverly Hills. (And the gentrification of Silver Lake and Highland Park were still decades off). So, if they wanted to own real estate and raise children, they had to move to the Valley.
But concomitant with this traffic got worse and worse to the point where the Valley became its own, almost walled-off garden. You no longer crossed the hill on a whim, in either direction.
Now ultimately some of those with more than average bank accounts moved to Calabasas, because it featured its own school system, it was not part of LA., but still...it was the Valley.
You could get your car serviced, you could buy anything you wanted, manufacturing was rampant in the Valley, they even made Camaros in Van Nuys, but you didn't want to tell anybody you lived there.
But a funny thing happened as the years went by. The San Fernando Valley became the epicenter of sushi culture. Up and down Ventura Boulevard, in seemingly every strip mall, there was a sushi bar, some rated as good as anything on the other side of the hill, in the city.
Now Thai cuisine started to burgeon in the late seventies. Mostly on Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards, east of the 101. Which if you don't know L.A., is east of Hollywood and not a great neighborhood. The first standout was Jitlada. This was before Thai spread nationwide, it was still an L.A. thing, like sushi, in fact. But I ultimately favored a different outlet, if for no other reason than it stayed open until 4 AM, back when it was a badge of honor how late you stayed up as opposed to how early you awoke.
Now as the years passed, Thai spread across the city. And there was even an upscale place on Sunset, Talesai, which now only exists, ironically, as an outpost on Ventura Boulevard in the Valley, but Thai food was always seen as inexpensive.
Now you've got to know, Thai in L.A. became what Chinese is in the east. The Chinese restaurants were historically bad in Los Angeles. Cantonese and bland at best. But Thai? It was edgy, spicy, it delivered. And as I told Harry last night, if I could only eat one cuisine for the rest of my life it would be Thai? NOT ITALIAN? I pondered the question for a few seconds, I've been saying Thai for decades, but after thinking about it my preference still rules.
Now every time I drive by Anajak there's a crowd of people out front, waiting to get in. So when Harry said he could get a reservation on Saturday night at 7...
What I didn't know was he had pull. He'd had Anajak cater this private event for his client Niall Horan in Calabasas earlier in the week. Funny how the business changes. Niall has only had one hit in America, but he can sell out arenas. So, they decided to honor the superfans, with a sit-down dinner and acoustic performance at the Bunetta compound.
Which engendered a conversation about the modern music business. You don't play to the press, you play to those who are dedicated, who come to every show, who spread the word, who keep you alive.
Anyway, being familiar with the menu, I told Harry he could order.
Now we were sitting outside, which was a shock to me, having just spent a couple of months in Colorado. I mean it was warm in Vail, so warm that you didn't need a jacket the past couple of weeks, so warm that all the snow melted and they're closing the mountain early, but you could not go out in shirtsleeves at night. Yet in the San Fernando Valley? You didn't even need a jacket.
Now everything we ate was good, and we ate plenty, but I want to single out one specific dish, the Kampachi crudo.
Have you eaten tiradito at Matsuhisa? It's their signature dish, along with the black cod. I'm just gonna quote from Google:
"Tiradito at Matsuhisa is a signature Nobu dish blending Peruvian ceviche with Japanese sashimi techniques. It features thinly sliced raw fish (often halibut or whitefish) arranged in a Japanese style, topped with citrus sauce, yuzu, chili, and cilantro, famously omitting onions for a clean, spicy, and acidic flavor profile."
The fish is sliced thin, the serving plate is covered in slices, there's a tiny dot of hot sauce on top of each piece, but what makes it so good is the tang...not subtle, but not overwhelming. It's a must-eat.
But I found it was superseded by Anajak's Kampachi crudo.
Oh, they're not exactly the same thing. And I don't want to say anything negative about Matsuhisa/Nobu, whose dishes are unique and always deliver, but when it comes down to raw fish in sauce with zing, I'd rather have Anajak's Kampachi crudo.
Now if you go to Anajak's Instagram page, they've got a picture of the dish:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C40_JxSPgBY/
To be honest, I don't remember the sauce being that yellow, not at all. I remember it being clear, but with all that chozzerai pictured included.
So, you pick up a piece of fish and...
(No chopsticks, just regular silverware...)
You put it in your mouth and it is soft and only slightly chewy and ultimately delectable, but what puts it over the top is the sauce...which was so good when the fish was gone I ended up spooning it into my mouth again and again and again, I just couldn't stop.
I live for that zing. But unlike with the Tiradito, it's not just one flavor, it's a composite...I could make a whole meal of Kampachi crudo.
Of course we ate more, and everything was great, a lot of stuff 10 on a 10 scale. But I just can't get the Kampachi crudo out of my mind. It's sticking there, like the after-effect of a great concert, you wake up the next morning still thinking about it, still feeling it, in this case, still tasting it...in your brain anyway.
So I did some research when I got home. Is Anajak really the best Thai restaurant in Los Angeles?
Well, there's a debate, but many people think so. And I've eaten a lot of Thai, and this was definitely one step above.
As far as getting a reservation... I don't know, go on OpenTable, it ain't easy, but it's not impossible, you don't have to know someone.
As for the mass of people out front, maybe I've been driving by on Tuesday, because that's Taco Tuesday, when they feature a special menu of tacos and the restaurant doesn't take reservations.
Scroll down on this page to see Tuesday's offerings. If they don't immediately appeal to you, ignore everything I've said above.
https://www.anajakthai.com/menu/
As for the elements of the Kampachi crudo...
You can see them here:
https://www.starchefs.com/recipes/dry-aged-kampachi-crudo
Give it a shot if you want to, but we could never recreate the Carlos 'n Charlie's tuna fish dip...
But that was the seventies.
This is worth a special trip. Not for a special occasion, but to tickle your taste buds.
Anajak is not glamorous, but it's not East Hollywood down and dirty either.
It's worth a trip to the Valley!
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