Caption: Bobo Thai offers 12 pad Thai preparations with a choice of optional toppings.
Photo by Merrill Shindler
Silver Lake—The word “bobo,” translated from Thai, means “silly,” even “foolish.” Which would make Bobo Thai – a loose-limbed Siamese shop in the space that used to be Bar Moruno on Sunset in Silverlake – “Silly Thai.” And Bobo Thai wears the name with a wink and a nudge – the small dishes on the menu are listed under “Fun Bites.” The cocktails, wines and beers are “Bar Fun.” One noodle dish is called “Hot Stuff.” Another is “Happy Place.” A cocktail of mezcal, pomegranate and cardamom is “Bangkok Buzzfeed.”
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Bobo Thai is a creation of the Taiwan-based TTFB Restaurant Group, whose more than 150 operations include names like Thai Town, Very Thai, Yabi and Shann Shann – a branch of which is opening just a few doors away, where the specialty of the house will be rice dishes. By contrast, Bobo is built around pad Thai, Thailand’s national dish since 1938. And of course, much like the Indian-based chicken tikka masala being the national dish of Great Britain, pad Thai has roots in China. We need a passport to travel; food can cross borders all it wants.
Curry chicken skewers arrive with sliced onions, a rice cracker and chile dipping sauce.
Photo by Merrill Shindler
The earliest incarnation of pad Thai goes back to Chinese immigrants who settled over the centuries throughout Southeast Asia. At first, it was a rice dish. But in the 1930s, rice evolved into rice noodles thanks to an effort on the part of the government to join together the sundry ethnic groups of Thailand behind one commonly eaten dish – a bit like the eating of roast turkey for Thanksgiving. In 1938, Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram declared the consumption of pad Thai a mark of national pride. It also reduced rice consumption during a shortage. And it sure does taste good.
Bobo Thai’s crispy enoki mushrooms can be ordered as a topping for its noodle dishes.
Photo by Merrill Shindler
The menu at Bobo Thai is dominated by pad Thai, with a dozen different preparations, and seven optional toppings to make it that much quirkier — “Your Thai Favorites. Your Way” says the menu. The first of the pad Thais is “The 1938” – “our classic recipe…with pork belly.” As a pad Thai should be, it’s crispy and soft, sweet and sour, hot and salty. I added the crispy enoki mushroom – “our must-order topping” – which looks like a cartoon dish from an alternative reality. It’s also really crunchy. Though the crunch largely overwhelms the mushroom within. This is a potato chip made from a mushroom.
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Bobo Thai’s covered patio features string lights and bright pink flowering trees.
Photo by Merrill Shindler
“Hot Stuff” comes with smoky sausage, tofu and chili peppers. “The 2 AM” is wide rice noodles with green chiles and hot sauce. “The Gold Rush” is tossed with yellow curry and onions. Grilled shrimp and crispy Thai pork make for perfect toppings. If I’m getting chicken with my noodles, I’ll go with the satayish curry chicken skewer, or the green curry chicken wings. The green papaya salad runs from not so hot to very, very hot. If you need to cool off, try one of the wines listed under “Pet Nat.” Which stands for “Pétillant Naturel” – “naturally sparkling.” Though what really bubbles are the rice noodles. They taste even better the next day. As the best leftovers always do.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Beyond Sublime⭐⭐⭐ Worth Every Penny⭐⭐A Good Neighborhood Destination⭐ Might As Well Stay At HomeBobo Thai
Food Writer Merrill Shindler believes that nothing tells you more about a dish than eating it for breakfast the morning after. Which Bobo Thai does so well, with its addictive curry chicken skewer, its crispy enoki mushrooms…and its choice of a dozen preps of pad Thai. So good, they even taste great cold.
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Dining and Cooking