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LA must have great Thai Food because I remember walking by some packed Thai restaurant in the Hollywood/E. Hollywood area and it had a "C" health rating. I've never seen a place with a "C" so packed, it's pretty rare to see any places with a "C" in my experience at all.
Funny you say that - the aforementioned Thai Tom in Seattle (which is also packed most of the time) also faced really serious charges of health code violations in 2009 and there was speculation it may close. It stayed open and remained just as popular as ever. Thai Tom facing possible closure due to health violations | The Daily
I guess people don't care about cockroaches or foods container left on the restroom floor if it tastes good.
Orzo - totally agree with you that the port, proximity and produce stuff are not really factors here. But I think you're underestimating just how important LA having such a large and diverse Thai community is. This factor really does give LA an advantage over anywhere else.
Orzo - totally agree with you that the port, proximity and produce stuff are not really factors here. But I think you're underestimating just how important LA having such a large and diverse Thai community is. This factor really does give LA an advantage over anywhere else.
Yes, it does... and again, that community combined with port access is again one of the major reasons that the LA area is the primary distribution center for most Thai goods and Asian goods in general to the US... which in turn feeds into the cost and availability of goods and services within the Thai community.
I'm not saying that Seattle doesn't have good Thai options, and again: Thai and Ethiopian are Seattle's premier standout ethnic cuisines, and you're seeing a lot of growth in the prominence, quality and quantity of Vietnamese restaurants there. Seattle has some good Italian restaurants, too; so does LA... but neither city can hold a candle to NYC or Boston when it comes to having "the best" Italian food on the whole. The average quality, availability, and cost of food over there (due to competition) wins versus what we have over here. LA is a better city for Thai food for the same reason.
The main area that Seattle beats LA, imho, are when it comes to gastropubs. The gastropub scene in Seattle is awesome and they are taken as a serious part of the city's culinary scene, whereas in LA they are seem to still be chiefly viewed as "bars that serve food." Which is a shame, because LA has some great ones (Father's Office, Fat Dog, Ford's Filling Station among others). Inasmuch as I plan to open a gastropub, this is a pretty big deal to me... I'll probably look at opening one up in the Bay Area rather than LA, unfortunately.
The depth (most per capita in country), breadth of regional styles, and consistent quality of Thai restaurants in Seattle is astounding. It is the crown jewel of the Seattle food scene.
It's more heavily Cambodian since the city is 12.5% Cambodian but Lowell, Massachusetts has a very good southeast Asian restaurant scene. An awful lot of the restaurants are 50/50 Thai/Cambodian on the menu.
I think they’re all good cities for Thai food-it’s subjective, I’ve also found really great places in out of the way suburban areas, too.
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