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In the trend-conscious celebrity-driven world of Los Angeles where the dining public can be fickle, any restaurant that makes it past its first year has truly arrived as an operation of substance. By that measure, Talesai, now celebrating its twenty fifth year at the same location on a choice section of busy Sunset Boulevard, has passed the test of time with flying colors. Featuring boldly flavored authentic Thai cuisine prepared from high quality ingredients coupled with warm but professional service, Talesai’s flagship restaurant, has distinguished itself from the herd of ethnic hole in the wall places serving mouth-numbingly hot but otherwise indifferent food in settings that might scare off all but the most intrepid diner.
Founded in 1983 by the Yenbamroongs, (mother Vilai and son Prakas are a formidable team), from the beginning, the restaurant has dedicated itself to serving a well balanced menu of intriguing starters, mains and sides, all exhibiting the perfect balance between sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavors, the hallmarks of classical Thai cuisine. In an oasis of calm, seemingly far from the traffic outside, vibrantly flavored foods sing with lemon grass, kaffir lime, coconut milk, coriander and just enough chile to enliven but not overwhelm the tastebuds or the other flavors in the dish. Here, as in its best renditions, every flavoring is in balance and every dish is orchestrated to be a symphony of contrasting textures as well.
When asked about the early days of the restaurant’s history, Prakas, a Cornell grad and banker-turned-restaurateur, says, “There’s nobody in the world who can cook like my mother.” He didn’t have to think long before installing her as executive chef. Since that time, her sense of style and flavor has imbued both the restaurant, and its casual spinoff, Café Talesai in Beverly Hills.
Taking the principles of Thai cooking as a base, his restaurants serve food that respects the spirit if not always the letter of Thai cuisine. Take for instance, the Ultimate Ribeye, a signature dish with a wink to modernity where top quality beef is cooked to perfection and flavored with a complexly haunting sauce based on fresh garlic, chile, fish sauce and Thai basil. This dish is not the restaurant’s best seller for nothing. It combines the familiar with the exotic in a pleasing melding of East and West. Likewise, another dish, Hidden Treasures, a riff on the classic hor mok, has been on the menu from day one. It’s a steamed mousse of fish and seafood served on a plate with shallow indentations, each bundle of deliciousness covered with its own lid. You lift the lid and what wafts toward your nose is the aroma of an enticing coconut-based curry sauce, seasoned with galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime, coriander, shallot, garlic, Thai basil and chile. Other top dishes include the Aromatic Braised short ribs atop Thai pappardelle (wide sen yai rice noodles), Dungeness crab in a “dry” curry, intense and light at the same time, and oven dried beef, a modern take on the classic street food, served with dense and fragrant sticky rice. Bowing to American concerns about safe food handling, Talesai’s version is semi-dried in the oven, still juicy from its marination in a mixture of spices and soy, rather than following the traditional method which requires the meat to be set on a corrugated tin rooftop to dry in the sun.
Though firmly rooted in the traditions of Thai cooking, Prakas and company, have recognized from the outset that while Thai beer might be the traditional accompaniment to his food, wines, if carefully selected, work equally well, if not better. Starting with a tightly edited selection of bottles from California and France, the restaurant’s wine list has grown to include Thai-food friendly wines such as Austria’s Gruner Veltliner, a crisp but not austere white with just enough residual sweetness to embrace the bold flavors of chile and curry. Flights of wines served in small tasting portions from a much expanded wine list, paired with each dish, are planned for the newly remodeled restaurant as it enters its second half century. An enticing array of what Prakas calls, “Thai temptations” will also be launched in response to the dining public’s predilection for small bites and manageable portions of delicate dishes. “Making a meal of these small plates reflects the way diners want to eat nowadays, where quality is prized over quantity,” he says. As part of the new rollouts, front and center at the contemporary art filled space will be a prominent climate-controlled wine display. And for a taste of Talesai home cooking at home, beyond its reliable take-out and delivery offerings, the restaurant has a full line of its sauces, ready to use. Just add protein or vegetables, almost as good as having Mom’s cooking, if your Mom cooked at the Thai royal palace, as Vilai did, in her younger days.
Robert Wemischner is a Los Angeles based food writer, culinary educator and restaurant business consultant. He is also the author of four books, with his latest, The Dessert Architect, due out later this year. Robert can be reached at dessertarchitect@aol.com.
Talesai
9043 W Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles 90069
310-275-9724
www.talesai.com
Café Talesai
9198 Olympic Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310 271 9345
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