Aside from being one of the best old-school Thai restaurants in the SF Valley (the highly acclaimed Anajak is decidedly “new school”), the name of this modest café — Saoha Khao Soi — speaks volumes about how Thai cooking has evolved over the years.
Several decades ago, when Siamese cooking began to appear at the rare spot around town, the restaurants labeled themselves “Chinese-Thai” — fearing that “Thai” by itself would drive away locals who were concerned that the cooking of Bangkok would be too spicy, too peppery, too exotic for their Reader’s Digest bred tastebuds. And indeed, those early Thai restaurants (much like the early “Chinese-America” restaurants) offered many familiar dishes, along with less well-known creations like pad Thai and mee krob. If you wanted moo goo gai pan while others inhaled pad see ew, the option was there. And a restaurant would never name itself for a lesser-known Northern Thai dish like khao soi.
But here’s Saoha Khao Soi, at the cusp of Studio City and Universal City, near Universal Studios Hollywood. Diners can expect flavors that are bold, brave … and very delicious.
Khao soi is a dish from the Northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, where it’s found most often as a noodle soup, made with relatively thick egg noodles, flavored with coconut and curry, topped with crispy fried noodles. Chicken and beef are the usual proteins of choice. Pickled mustard greens, shallots, lime and chili oil are the toppings. The dish has roots in Burma — which makes it as much a showplace for the flavors of Southeast Asian as Northern Thailand.
There are 10 khao soi soup dishes at Saoha. But there are also 12 dishes featuring the noodles without the soup. I’ll gladly inhale these noodles in either form, because this is a dish that, after a single bite, becomes an obsession. Just when you think you’ve tasted noodles every way they can be configured, along comes khao soi, and your world of culinary perception explodes.
But first, let us begin with an order of chicken satay. I always order chicken satay at our local Thai restaurants. For such a simple dish — grilled chicken on a skewer — it can be madly different, preparation from preparation. It can be overcooked and undercooked. The chicken can be spindly and sad.
Or, as in the case of Saoha, the chicken chunks can be thick and moist. And the peanut sauce — which is too often an oily error — is in this case good enough to eat both on the chicken and as a side dish. Heck, I’d be glad to eat it for dessert. I think this is the best peanut sauce in town.
There are more fine appetizers: “biggie” egg rolls, gyoza dumplings, shrimp tempura, beef jerky and pork jerky, papaya salad with salty crab. There’s a full assortment of non-khao soi noodles and fried rice, with chicken, pork, shrimp, veggies, tofu and crab. There’s spicy eggplant.
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For me, it’s the dish the restaurant was named for; the khao soi dazzles from the first bite. The closest it comes to being unadorned is the khao soi with just vegetables and just tofu. But there’s so very much more. Some of which can be downright exotic.
The proteins begin with crispy chicken — not baked or boiled, but crispy, like a tempura. There’s braised beef, very tender, falling apart like a long-cooked brisket. There’s crispy pork, and shrimp, steamed or tempuraed, as you wish. There’s softshell crab and lobster. There’s A5 Wagyu beef and Hokkaido scallops. There’s a surf-and-turf combination of Wagyu beef and scallops. A surf-and-surf combination of shrimp and scallops. Plus a turf-and-turf-and-turf combo of Wagyu, braised beef shank and braised beef tendon.
But what I really left remembering were the noodles. I’ve had them in broth as well. And the broth is, truly, a wonder. No question of that. But the coconut and curry flavor of the noodles all by themselves had me on the phone telling my knowing coven that there’s joy to be found in a tiny café, in a mini-mall on Cahuenga Boulevard, where the 101 begins to descend into Hollywood.
A restaurant named for a noodle dish. And for a very special day of the year. “Saoha” refers to a “Saturday that falls on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month … a very powerful day for consecrating amulets and performing rituals for protection and prosperity.”
And, I’d add, for eating noodles. In soup or not. And chicken satay with “very powerful” peanut sauce. And very delicious, too.
Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email mreats@aol.com.
Saoha Khao Soi
- Rating: 3 stars
- Address: 3250 Cahuenga Blvd. West, Los Angeles
- Information: 323-366-2332; https://saohakhaosoithai.com
- Cuisine: Mini-mall Thai uniquely specializing in the Northern Thai noodles called khao soi, served both stir-fried and in soup. It’s a dish worthy of addiction especially among those for whom Thai cooking no longer has any surprises. This modest shop also served some of the best peanut sauce in town, perfect with its chicken satay.
- When: Lunch and dinner, every day
- Details: Tea and soft drinks; reservations not necessary
- Cost: About $20 per person
- On the menu: 9 Appetizers ($7.95-$15.95), 2 Salads ($13.95-$14.95), 16 Stir-fried Noodle Dishes ($14.95-$17.95), 5 Fried Rice Dishes ($14.95-$18.95), 9 Stir-fried Khao Soi Dishes ($16.95-$27.95), 10 Khao Soi Soup Dishes ($15.95-$27.95), 3 Special Khao Soi Dishes ($26.95- $32.95)
- Credit cards: MC, V
- What the stars mean: 4 (World class! Worth a trip from anywhere!), 3 (Most excellent, even exceptional. Worth a trip from anywhere in Southern California.), 2 (A good place to go for a meal. Worth a trip from anywhere in the neighborhood.) 1 (If you’re hungry, and it’s nearby, but don’t get stuck in traffic going.) 0 (Honestly, not worth writing about.)