3 exciting Thai restaurants in LA to try when you’re in a rush

Thai cuisine is front and center in the great conversation about food in Los Angeles.

The cuisine has been a mainstay in L.A. since the 1970s when Thai restaurants began popping up along Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. They quickly caught on with the film and music industry folks whose studios and offices were nearby.

Devouring a plate of pad thai noodles or slurping down some tom kha gai soup when you’re busy hits all the spots.

And you can always depend on the uniformity of Thai menu items. There’s a reason for that. In the early 2000s, Thailand's government, as part of an economic development plan , attempted to standardize authentic Thai flavors to ensure the world was eating excellent Thai food wherever they were. It was a way to promote Thai cuisine — and tourism.

Since then, Thai food has continued to evolve. Now, a number of “fast-casual” Thai restaurants have started popping up around L.A. Here are a few that have caught our eye:

Luv2Eat Thai Express

I’ve enjoyed Chefs Noree Pla and Fern Kaewtathip's cooking since they opened their small strip mall Thai restaurant Luv2Eat Thai Bistro on Sunset Boulevard in the mid-2000s. Their focus is on Southern Thai cuisine, specifically flavors from Phuket, where they are both from.

Now they’ve expanded to open Luv2EatThai Express I just two doors down. It’s modeled after ran khao gaeng street food stalls, where you can choose from a series of rotating daily dishes available via steam table.

I tried a stir-fried spicy catfish that packed a punch made with funky chili paste, a recipe Chef Noree inherited from her parents. She also recommended that I sample the braised mackerel cooked with palm and sugar cane that contained the earthy sweetness often found in Thai flavors, which I can never seem to get enough of.

• Location: 6660 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
• Hours: Open daily, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Amphai Northern Thai Food Club

Heading toward the center of Thai Town in Hollywood is another choose-what-you-want steam table restaurant, Amphai Northern Thai Food Club . As the name suggests, they specialize in Northern Thai cooking, which differs from Southern Thai cuisine because it takes more influence from surrounding countries, such as Laos. It focuses on bolder flavors and tends to be heavier with spice.

Northern Thai Food Club is an excellent opportunity to dive head first into the wide variety of Northern Thai dishes. In the tiny 12-seat restaurant, there’s little room to hide. Sure, you could order pad thai or pad kee mao. But I’d urge you to try the gaeng hung lay , especially if you love heavy, curried flavors. Large chunks of pork are cooked in a sauce made from lemongrass, galangal (a cousin of ginger, but more spicy), garlic, shallots, shrimp paste (kapi), and dried chilies, pounded together via mortar and pestle.

Other standout dishes included a spicy stir-fried fish cake with green pepper cooked with green onion and other aromatics and herbs. It blew my mind and kept my nose running from all the spice. Also, I can’t forget the sai oua, the herbaceous sausage that rounded out my meal.

• Location: 5301 Sunset Blvd. #11, Los Angeles
• Hours: Open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Ban Ban Burger

What do you get when you combine a smashburger with Thai flavors? The answer is Ban Ban Burger , located on Sawtelle Boulevard just around the corner from the Nuart Theater . The term ban ban translates to ‘flat flat’ and refers to the smashed patties of their burgers.

Grapow Smash comes out the gate with a juicy patty made with grapow seasoning, which contains holy basil that's known for its peppery, almost clove-like taste. From there it's piled with grilled onions, pickles, American cheese, garlic aioli, and topped with an over-easy fried egg and enveloped in a potato bun. Another option is the Wagyu Laab Smash, seasoned with laab seasoning, with notes of lime, fish sauce, dried chili flakes, and rice powder.

Both burgers are deliciously messy and can fall apart quickly if you aren’t careful, so take advantage of the small packets of wet wipes they provide with each burger. Trust me, you’re going to need them.

• Location: 1644 Sawtelle Blvd. #3149, Los Angeles
• Hours: Open daily, noon to 10 p.m.