“It’s Thai” restaurant opens tonight

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

It looks like Rambutan Thai will be getting a little competition this winter. It’s Thai has replaced vegan restaurant Tantawan in Echo Park and will open tonight. The restaurant (or as the owners like to call it ‘hometaurant’ after their home-style Thai cooking) will serve straight-ahead Thai fare such as gai yang (grilled chicken), nur yang (sliced grilled beef) and larb (minced chicken salad with mint, chiles, lime juice and onions). But the small restaurant, located in a strip mall adjacent to a Burger King, also has Chinese- and Vietnamese-influenced dishes for pan-Asian fans.

Nothing here is more than $15, with most entrees in the $8 to $11 range. Owned in part by chef Danny Suptong, formerly of Pimai restaurant on Franklin Avenue, It’s Thai may well end up peeling off at last a few Pho and Rambutan eaters in 2009. After all, eating Asian food in a Silver Lake strip mall is now some kind of mandated hipster law, judging from the cool crowds at both Pho and Rambutan the last few years. But the ‘scene’ at It’s Thai will likely be fans of Thai food on the cheap (check their dinner specials from $8).

-- Charlie Amter