Los Angeles is a city of neighborhoods. The legendary traffic makes it hard to get around, so most people end up sticking to the neighborhoods or towns that the live and work in. But once in a while, there is an excuse to get out of those comfort zones and explore a new neighborhood…..and more importantly, check out some new restaurants.
We were in the Silver Lake neighborhood last night to check out singer/songwriter, Jesse Merchant, at The Satellite. But before his set, we met up with friends to check out a local favorite – Night + Market (Song).
Night + Market has been around for a while, and has always been a neighborhood hot spot. Chef/owner Kris Yenbanroong gained additional notariety with an appearance on Dave Chang’s “Ugly Delicious” Netflix series. Recently, additional Night + Market venues have opened up in West Hollywood and Venice, so they must be doing something right!
The “Song” outpost itself is very kitschy. Mismatched tableclothes (including animal prints), plastic beaded room dividers, random neon signs on the walls and bright, bright colors make the restaurant boldly standout from the steel and reclaimed wood look that is so common in other venues. A couple of us got there early to put our name in, but overall people were waiting only 10-15 minutes for tables. The Song (Silver Lake) location doesn’t take reservations, but the West Hollywood and Venice ones are bookable on Resy.
Once we were seated, we asked our server our favorite question: “What are the can’t miss dishes? When we tell people we came here, what dish would they have been disappointed if we didn’t try it?” Here is what we ended up getting:
- Som Tum (papaya salad) – Green papaya with palm sugar, lime juice, bird eye chili, and peanuts. Super fresh and made to order at whatever spice level you request. Even in it’s “spicy” form, it was a cool respite from the heat that was…..
- Nam Khao Tod (crispy rice salad) – Fried rice salad with soured pork, raw ginger, onion, peanut, cilantro, and chili. Super spicy, but AMAZING. One of the two best dishes.
- Song Special Cold Noodle #1 – Egg noodle with ginger scallion, creamy seseame, peanut, chili oil – served cold. Probably our least favorite dish, but that’s probably because we were addicted to the spicy stuff.
- Pad Thai (stir fried rice noodles) – rice noodles, sweed radish, pressed tofu, egg, crushed peanuts, chili powder. Typical of what you might get at a Thai take-out restaurant. This version was better, but unremarkable
- Khai Soi (curry noodles) – Mae Sai curried noodles, braised short ribs, pickled mustard greens, red onion, cilantro, bean sprouts, and chili jam. This was the only dish that didn’t come family style, so it was hard to share. The noodles are super long, like ramen, so are designed more for slurping. Tasted great and got better when the rice arrived, to give the soup-y curry broth something to hold onto.
- Gaeng (curries) – Roast Duck Green Curry – roast duck in a medium spice curry broth with Thai eggplant, and green peppercorns. This was the other highlight to the meal. Spicy but still very complex and satisfying.
- To help sop up all of the goodness, we also got a couple of servings of Roti (light fried bread), jasmine rice and coconut rice
- Dessert was anothe Roti, sweetened with sugar and a scoop of ice cream.
Inside Night + Market 
Papaya salad 
Crispy rice salad 
Cold noodles 
Pad Thai 
Curried noodles 
Roast duck green curry 
Sweet Roti 
We washed everything down with beer, ice water and a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. The wine list is quite extensive and the owner has been quoted as saying that when he opened Night + Market, he was hoping to open a wine bar, as much as a Thai restaurant. Their Instagram tag line is even “A natural wine bar disguised as a Thai restaurant”.
Recap:
The food at Night + Market is definitely better than you are going to get at your local strip-mall Thai restaurant. With three locations now in Los Angeles, there is one pretty close to almost everyone in the metro area. It’s definitely worth a visit, especially if you are already in one of the three neighborhoods that they are in. Great bang for the buck, a fun atmosphere and a few truly amazing dishes!
- Night + Market (Song) (3322 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026
- Other locations noted above
- Web: Nightmarketsong.com
- Instagram: @ntmrkt
- Cuisine: Thai
- $$ ($50 – $100 for two)
- Overall Rating (w/o price): ★★★★ (Exceptional)
- Four Star Rating (w/ price): ★★★☆ (Good Deal)