"If you live in the Valley, we're preaching to the choir when we tell you that tremendous Thai doesn't only exist in East Hollywood. Case in point: Lum-Ka-Naad in Northridge. The menu is big here, but you’re can narrow it down to two sections: “Northern Cuisine” and “Southern Cuisine.” These are filled with dishes from the two regions of Thailand the owners call home, and even if you closed your eyes and ordered at random, you'd end up with something unexpected and incredible on your table. Start with the banana leaf-wrapped curried fish and spare rib kua kling from the South and work your way up to the sour tamarind soup and grilled eggplant salad in the North. Delicious food and a geography lesson? Win-win." - brant cox, arden shore, garrett snyder, sylvio martins