Mesa Thai Cuisine
Thai restaurant · East Hollywood ·
Authentic Isan flavors, boat noodles, papaya salad, and more.
Authentic Isan flavors, boat noodles, papaya salad, and more.
"The broth reads almost opaque and unctuous, its surface dotted with bubbles of chile oil; it has a velvety texture that’s "impossible to stop sipping" and balances salty, spicy, sour, and sweet notes. The generous $15.95 portion includes the writer’s preferred small, thin noodles, two meatballs, plenty of sliced meat and liver, and is easily split into two bowls. Diners choose pork or beef (both rendered tender), but the bowl is held back slightly by a relative lack of crunchy texture—pork cracklings are present but minimal compared with the writer’s top choice—so the cracklings-to-broth ratio feels smaller. Still, the bowl delivers heat and chewy noodles and may represent the best boat noodle broth in Los Angeles; the rest of the menu is worth exploring too, especially Isaan classics like spicy sparerib soup and mango salad with pickled crab. The restaurant also carries "Lisa’s stamp of approval," signaling wider endorsement." - Kat Thompson
"A chef-driven Isan restaurant run by Phitwasuphon “Ple” Thanaporn (who learned street-food techniques from her mother, Bungon Inyu, in Bangkok) draws northeastern Thai flavors that appealed to a visiting superstar during a pre-festival stay in Los Angeles. The pop star arrived unannounced on March 22 at around 8 p.m., seated at table number six in a hoodie and ordered larb, a signature pad thai, tom sap (a northeastern pork rib soup known for its intense sour and spicy flavors), and yum ma muang (green mango salad). Thanaporn recalls, “One of my servers slipped me a note that it was Lisa, and I began to cry,” she says. “Then I pulled myself together and said I’m going to make her some dishes she’ll never forget.” A server named New told a visitor, “She only took a few bites of the larb, so maybe she didn’t like it, but she ate a lot of the tom sap.” Thanaporn says she later added dishes for takeaway—“I quietly threw in some meatballs, which I know is her favorite street food.” (A 2021 interview with Thai content creator Vuthithorn “Woody” Milintachinda had previously set off a massive 3,333 percent surge in Yuen Kin meatball sales after the star declared them a favorite.) The kitchen emphasizes bold, authentic Isan profiles: the chalkboard menu is written in colorful Thai script with cutesy icons and an untranslated Isan column that tempts adventurous diners with seven versions of som tum (including som tum pa mah with fermented blue crab, som tum korat with pickled fish, and a Lao-style som tum luang prabang that packs a “spicy umami bomb” from seafood paste, fish sauce, and padaek). “Very spicy” here means 35 to 40 Thai chiles, but Thanaporn says the guest opted for a medium-spicy mango salad without any proteins or sides. Servers tend to steer non-Thai diners toward sweeter, more familiar versions of dishes like pad thai, but for those who brave the Isan heat, “Thai spicy” often requires napkins at the ready to wipe away tears. Signature preparations are spelled out in sensory detail: the tom sap arrives in a tom yum pot with an orange Sterno flame, quartered tomatoes, sliced lemongrass, chopped scallions, and an imposing combination of blackened chiles and chile flakes floating on the surface—“It’s very spicy and sour, but in the northeast we love this dish,” Thanaporn says. The pad thai is made with tamarind paste, fish sauce, dried shrimp, and palm sugar tossed with rice noodles. The spot slings pork boat noodle soup every day (with beef boat noodles on Tuesdays and weekends), a detail that drew praise in 2022 from Thai Town Council president Ton Pattana, who said Thanaporn “represented the new generation of Thai cooks” and made “really good boat noodles.” Thanaporn, an early fan of the pop star, reflects on the encounter with admiration: “She worked really hard for her dream, and she loves what she does.”" - Bill Esparza
"Set in a strip mall on Western Avenue a few spaces down from Churrasco Chapin, chef Phritwasuphon “Ple” Thanaporn’s Mesa focuses on northern street food and central Thai that she guarantees is authentic; her family ran a northern Thai street-food stand in Thailand, so street food is her passion. I found the deep-fried rice ball salad to be a crispy, sour, ultra-spicy mix brightened by lime and fresh herbs, and the tom pah—rice vermicelli with slivers of papaya, bamboo shoots, preserved cabbage, bean sprouts, and coriander—is “like being in Thailand” and recommended with squid tentacles, blue crab, or snail. Her signature marinated pork steak salad with crushed peanuts and a scorching lime sauce is standout, and on weekends the well-spiced boat noodles deliver the small-bowl punch you’d expect in Thailand; be sure to ask for “Thai-style” if you want it kicked up for Thai diners." - Bill Esparza
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