Pa-Ord Pad Thai

Thai Food Los Angeles

Last June, it was a seemingly innocuous order of takeout pad see iew from Pa-Ord that captured my attention. Nearly a year later, it was the equally rote pad Thai that exceeded expectations at Lawan Bhanduram’s increasingly impressive Thai Town restaurant. I’ve now tried this version three times, and each time, it’s confirmed my initial suspicions: this is my favorite pad Thai, ever, even when compared to versions in Bangkok. Especially when showered with spicy chile flakes, a squeeze of tart lime juice and the tangy green chile-infused vinegar. With those condiments, the dish is a tour de force, but even on its own, the plate more than delivers.

The rice noodle thickness falls just short of spaghetti and clings to the less-sweet-than-usual-sauce like a koala to a eucalyptus. Long cuts of scallion, firm rectangles of tofu, a pile of crushed peanuts, pungent, miniature dried shrimp, and if you must, crunchy bean sprouts, my no-count nemesis. This pad Thai is supposed to come with bean sprouts, but those crunchy A choice of meat completes the dish. Of course the meat of choice is pork, which is why this pad Thai qualifies for Dose of Vitamin P. The lean, thin-cut slices work well with the varied, vibrant flavors. It probably seems strange to hear so much praise for a dish that appears on just about every Thai menu on the planet, but this was a damn good version.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

Blog Comments

Oops. Wish I could delete that last comment and redo it. Didn’t realize that my old info was saved on this computer 🙂

Nick/TreasureLA, apparently after I approve a comment, you’re approved for future comments as well.

Thanks for the recommendations. It’s been way too long since I’ve had a pad Thai that I was actually impressed by, so I stopped ordering them. Glad to try one again. Have a favorite spicy noodle soup? My g/f likes noodle soups, and I like my thai food spicy, so sounds like that would work nicely.

I guess I’ve heard you mention Pa-Ord enough that I need to go check it out.

Treasure LA,

Pa-Ord’s definitely grown on me, and I liked it initially. The roast duck with rice, crispy pork with spicy drunken noodles and pad Thai are all must order dishes, and that’s just the dry selections. They also have good spicy noodle soups.

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