Los Angeles Isaan Can Coon

Hello all! It's been a long time since I visited the site. It has grown, which I suppose is predictable given the incredible chow integrity of the group.

I am now in Los angeles and I definately miss the Chigago community. My family's restaurant diet as now become roughly 90-95 % Japanese as the japanese food here is plentiful and the best we have seen outside of Japan. If you guys ever fiind yourself in LA I can unload a wealth of information on sushi, yakitori, okonomiyaki, curry (j-style), korean and Japanese style korean bbq, soba, udon, shabu shabu or tempura restaurants.

The reason I write this is that I had a meal in Bellflower the other day (at the recommendation of a Thai nurse at the Compton hospital I'm rotating through this month) that really reminded me of prior chicago thai dialogues. I should also mention that I rushed to this restaurant because Chumprasee (the nurse) had shared some incredible spicy mint chicken mixed with fried egg, and an astonishing lemongrassy Hor Mok Talay with me at lunch one day which was from a different Thai dive in Lakewood.

Anyway this place is called Can Coon Thai and is on on Alondra boulevard in Bellflower. It is an Isaan restaurant and was, I think, the best thai meal that I've had.

We had:

1. Pad thai. The prerequisite offering for my son. No news to tell.

2. Chicken Larp. The chicken wasn't ground an much as loosely macerated. ( I suspect that they have an ancient big threaded meat grinder in the kitchen that reservedly gnaws on thighs and wings and necks.) the meat was intensly flavorful as it was thoroughly coated with the limey, minty, garlocky sauce, but it felt more substantial in the mouth as if each segment were a bite off of a well flavored thigh. It was served mildly warm, and The little rice bits were resilient without being overly resistant to the bite. Perfect. The final element was the spice. A moderate heat from the thai bird peppers and a tingly peppery element simlar to the spice in spicy japanese sembe. The best larp that I've had.

3. Yum Nua: This beef salad was nice and smokey. They clearly use a charcoal grill to sear the meat. The sauce was well spiced, more garlicky and a bit sweeter than the larb. I would have preferred the meat to have been a bit rarer, but other than that it was very well executed.

4. Isaan sausage. Bigger, thicker, more wrinkly, more garlicky, slightly less fermented, and more boudin like than the version at spoon. Unique but accessible. Big flavours without being too overpowering. Phenomenal.

5. Isaan Sour Seafood Curry. the broth was clear red, astonishingly hot, pleasantly sweet and salty, and tamarind sour. It served as a vehicle for mussels squid, shrimp, catfish, napa cabbage, broccolie and radish. My only criticism is that there were also a few sticks of fake crab in the broth. But this dish was beyond flavorful and really unlike any dish I've had. (The closest comparison I can think of is a souped up version of that sour shrimp curry dish that they serve at Gwiv's favorite thai restaurant on milwaukee.)


6. Sticky rice.

7. Complimentary dessert of little sticky rice balls (like Japanese shiratama dango) floating an a cold sweet condensed coconut cream soup. Delicious.

I hope you guys will try this on your next visit to LA LA.

Bon Apetit!

ponzu.

ponzu wrote:If you guys ever fiind yourself in LA I can unload a wealth of information on sushi, yakitori, okonomiyaki, curry (j-style), korean and Japanese style korean bbq, soba, udon, shabu shabu or tempura restaurants

Ponzu,

As often as you feel inspired, we would love for you to report on your LA finds here on the Beyond Chicagoland board. We had a poster who spent a year in NYC who wrote over 110 posts on his restaurant meals there. There is no reason why you couldn't do the same here.

All the best,

This sounds great, Ponzu. Thanks so much for the tip.