late nite salad fusion: papaya meets wedge...

the jazz panther and i recently found ourselves at an undisclosed thai bar with a late nite menu. given little in choice in the vegetarian department, we decided to give their papaya salad a try.

apparently, they've chosen to model their version after the wedge salad, replacing the traditional chunk of iceburg lettuce with a mountainous, full 1/3 of a head of green cabbage, which towered over a kind of gradient marsh of shredded papaya and carrot. 

it wasn't that bad...plus we were asking for it...i found that drinking helped.


the best part of the experience was an extra smooth lounge set by a young woman with a keyboard, which eventually transformed into an equally soothing karaoke performance by two young men.


i felt that the flash from my camera could've been easily misinterpreted as an ill-spirited move, so i opted for illustrating the dish.

Good Larb!

Oh Larb...where to begin. The delicious Thai tofu salad with the unattractive name

Every place that offers the dish has their own recipe. My favorite larb comes from Bloomington Indiana's Esan Thai Restaurant, and few have lived up to their version...especially in Los Angeles. Recently though, the Jazzpanther found a terrific version of the dish at a little spot right on Sunset Blvd called Mae Ploy. 

Really, really great flavor and texture. The shallots aren't as prominently pronounced, but as a whole, it's fairly light and compares in most every respect to the Esan Thai style that we have been deeply missing. 

The other menu items i've tasted are also rad, so it seems like a good deal across the board...except soup. I've heard the soup isn't...good.

but...

Larb!

bulan's papaya salad with chili lime dressing...

when confronted with plenty of options for vegan thai fusion cuisine in this city, i decided early on that Bulan is my top restaurant pick in the genre. at least the one in silverlake, i haven't tried the one on melrose. the three words: vegan, thai, and fusion seem to make for a frequent combination. i guess thai cuisine rather lends itself to vegan translation...and i can see many vegans tend to connect with the "earthiness" of what they perceive to be thai culture...

anyway, Bulan won me over with their mushroom tom kah, which has me whipped, as i cannot seem to replicate one of the flavor therein. but a more recent rope that has been pulling me back is their papaya salad. generally a hard item to fuck up, but i have seen it done, though not here. 

with shredded papaya, green beans, carrots, tomato, crushed peanuts, it's one of the best i've had. but the main attraction here is a chili-lime dressing that is unbeatable! 

the sugar sweetness is offset by what we thought might have been a bit of tamarind, but wasn't...it's just proportioned well with soy sauce and flavored up with fresh thai chilis and lime, but not too much lime. you can taste the lime on the first go, but it eventually evolves into a sweet citrus tone, which, once again, avoids the cheap sugary taste.

i ventured there today with ms. j. shelley harrison to enjoy the dish. consistency is good, and they are. half way through, ms. harrison posed the question as to whether or not i felt the chili-lime dressing would work outside of the papaya platform...and i believe it would. it has such a distinct tanginess, kinda like a life-force that would be hard to defeat, and would prove effective in other (esp. lighter, brighter) salads. if possible i think i might add fresh mushroom, but who cares.

the website tells that..."Bulan is owned and operated by three
friendly Thai women with extensive restaurant experience who
guarantee top-notch quality and service."...

sounds good to me, but who knows. i can say that the aesthetic is good, the staff is nice, and there is always great jazz pouring out into the space. 

shalom.