Thai town was the place to be Yesterday. A sea of people turned out for this year’s Songran festival, and rightfully so. There were just about a bajillion booths covering everything from the DWP to traditional Thai parasol painting. Three stages, two dozen food stands and a parade were only some of the highlights of this year’s festivities.
The big draw for me was the Curry King contest. As you can imagine, I was more than eager to
see a heated competition for this title, and my mind raced at the glorious possibilities of such an event… The reality, however, was nowhere near as exciting as my imagination had lead me to believe. About 6 restaurants had set up booths for the competition, including an Indian and Japanese curry places, and two booths were actually put on by the event itself! Beyond that, it was very hard to actually find out how the hell to participate in it.
It was not all in vain, however, as I discovered two awesome things:
- Bamboo (4852 Hollywood Blvd) actually has some pretty damned good curry.
- Vosges, that obnoxious chocolate company, has some incredibly good curry ice cream! Creamy, sweet and yet distinctively curry, it was an experience in itself. The only drawback is you have to plunk down $45 for a 4 flavor pack.
Otherwise, the King of Curry was more or less a bust.
But that’s ok, because there was so much more to enjoy there! Muay Thai matches went all day, there was a fashion show as well as the Miss Thai USA competition, there were dance and traditional performances, live bands (on two stages), there was even a massive Singha beer garden.
Another culinary highlight: Chef Jet Tila (whom you may have seen on the Food Network or heard on NPR) gave a live demo on how to make a curry, and hot damned was it tasty. It was also quite informative, and if you’re interested you can check out his recipe on the Thai CDC website. I’d also encourage you all to keep an eye out for future appearances by Chef Jet, as he puts on one of the most enjoyable live cooking experiences. Anyone who uses something called an “OS Moment” (you know, the “Oh Shit” moment?) as a barometer for cooking is alright in my book.
There was also an old Thai woman doing demons on how to make home-made curry paste from scratch as well as a dozen or so other how-to’s scattered along the fair. There was a little information booth on the commercial relations between Thailand and Portugal in the 1600s featuring some buccaneers (aka middle-aged white guys in irate costumes).
We managed to kill 6 hours there, despite temperatures nearing 100 and a painful lack of shade. So enjoy some highlight shots of the day, and be sure to check it out next year! We also have a sweet photo essay on it.
Here are some highlight shots of Chef Jet cooking up a yummy red curry:
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1 Mahatma Kane Jeeves // Apr 14, 2008 at 7:16 pm
We almost made it, but it was so damned hot we went to the beach instead. Maybe next year!
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