Searching for the best Thai food in the Bay Area
by Michael Bauer : Between Meals / San Francisco Chronicle
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2009




I remember about 20 years ago, when the Thai trend was like sushi is today; every time a restaurant went out of business it was replaced by a Thai restaurant. We were in love with the complex, aromatic cuisine of this Southeast Asian country. During that time, I was writing a piece on the best Thai restaurants in the Bay Area and as part of that, I made a trip to Bangkok to check out the food. I learned that at that time, at least, the food translated pretty well.


Thai herb sausage with ginger and roasted peanuts at Lers Ros / Photo : Michael Bauer 2009

Since then, however, the food has been on a downhill slide and has largely become homogenized. Close your eyes and it would be difficult to tell one restaurant from another.

Now, I'm on a quest to find those rare places that rise above the rest. Friends and colleagues swear by Lers Ros on Larkin Street; so I recently paid a visit.

I was impressed by the spirit and execution of the food prepared by Tom Silargorn. The various dishes were distinctive, a vast improvement over places such as Manora Thai where most dishes are washed in sweetness.

One of my favorite dishes was the braised pork belly. This is an ingredient I've come to avoid at most Western places because it's poorly prepared. Here, it was crispy as the menu stated, kind of like chicharrones sandwiched between wonderfully rendered meat, in a sauce fragrant with chiles and basil.


Pork belly with basil and peppers / Photo : Michael Bauer 2009

Few places highlight young peppercorns still on the stem, which I found in a dish with slices of beef and galangal. It was so fiery, in fact, it raised welts on my tongue. I loved it; kind of the only version of S&M that appeals. Fortunately, it was cooled by another dish of flat noodles with a "secret gravy" and marinated pork.

This is a place where the chef obviously cooks what he likes: frog legs with basil leaves; smelt in a broth seasoned with chile paste and young peppercorns; green papaya salad with salted egg; and chicken entrails with basil. Most dishes are in the $7-8 range, and portions are so large there's enough left over for lunch the next day.

So where to next? I'd appreciate suggestions. I'm determined to track down a few fresh Thai restaurants for the next Top 100 guide.

fresh meat: Lers Ros
by tablehopper
TUESDAY, AUGUST 04, 2009




Kang Som Cha-om Kai Tod

Oh my God, am I really about to send you to a restaurant playing Michael Bolton, Peter Cetera, and Backstreet Boys on the stereo? You can bet your sweet, easy listenin' ass I am. Because it's where you're going to find some of the most refreshingly authentic Thai food I've ever tasted in San Francisco.

I've been a fan of Sai Jai Thai around the corner for a while, but ~LERS ROS~ is my new Thai lover, and it puts on one hell of a show, no bananas needed. The food here is so freaking delicious, crazy cheap, and it's open until 2am in the goddamned morning. I haven't even gotten to the food and I'm already swearing like a sailor.

Fortunately I dined here with a native Thai speaker (and star tablehopper reader) who totally helped show me the menu ropes since it has 114 items on it, eep. We got a big group together and had such a ridonkadonk feast for the paltry sum of something like $25 a head, with beers and tip included in that 2009-friendly tab. Where do I sign? Oh yeah, right here.

Now, before you saddle up in your Jimmy Choos and start up the Jag, you should know the neighborhood is, well, let's just say it's not a place where I want to hang out in my heels and show a little skin, lest someone think I'm a workin' girl (albeit a well-fed one). And once you're inside, the décor is, uh, really simple. But that smoove soundtrack adds a lot of color, let me tell you.

To the food. If you mimic this feast for your first tour, you're gonna be stoked. I'd almost offer a money-back guarantee, but in this nitpicky town, that would be stupid of me. Oh, and be sure to tell them medium spicy, not hot, or you're gonna cry, your tongue will puff up, and spicy twicey will be no laughing matter.

We started with the #12 Som Tom Poo Dong ($7.25) (keep the third-grade jokes to yourself, okay?), a shredded green papaya salad with salty crab, a tangy lime-based dressing, and yes, some chili. The tomatoes were a far cry from farmers' market beauties, but whatevs. Be sure to ask for it Lao-style, with no sugar, medium spicy: it will be pungent and sour and spicy, which is how I was told the dish should taste (I hope you like spice or this place is going to be challenging for you).

The next plate to hit the table was one of my faves, the #21 Yum Woon Sen ($6.95) glass noodle salad with ground pork, shrimp, peanuts, and that chili-lime kapow I love so much, plus other goodies like fungus and onion. (If there's a vegetarian in the group, they can order a vegetarian version of this dish.) The texture of the #26 Yum Pla Duk Foo ($7.95) was rockin', a salad that features crispy and light pieces of boneless fried catfish.


Koh Moo Yang / Larb Phed Yang

Some appetizers you can and should try are the juicy slices of the (can't miss) #4 Thai Herb Sausage ($6.25) served with pieces of ginger and Thai chili; the #9 Koh Moo Yang ($7.25), slices of smoky pork shoulder you dunk into a rice powder/chili pepper sauce that is simply outstanding; and the jerky-like #6 Nuer Tod ($6.95), with even more chili sauce to dunk the chewy-crunchy beef bits into.

The dish that totally plunked me into the flav-o-rama zone was the #25 Larb Phed Yang ($7.95), a magical combo of tender chunks of roasted duck that contrasted against fresh lettuce, onion, Thai basil, and that awesome rice powder-chili-lime sauce that I want to put on everything, including my romantic partner's, oh, I'll stop right there.

Just when I didn't think I could love a dish more, the infamous #62 Pad Kra Prow Moo Krob ($7.95) shows up, a saucy dish of pork belly (actually more like a purely evil version of Thai chicharrones), bell pepper, scallion, and basil leaves. It's a hefty portion, with satisfying texture and rich flavors. Most everyone who has had this dish is all cracked out for it, let me tell you. Goddamn!

Oh yeah, and the #53 Kao Kha Moo ($7.95) was no slouch either, a five-spice super-tender pork leg that comes over a bed of pickled mustard greens and Chinese broccoli in a bath of brothy goodness. Double goddamn.

We all got sweaty with the #29 Poh Tak ($7.95), a sour and spicy seafood soup that was one hell of a nasal passage clearer, and good for a group. Nothing really groundbreaking per se, but tasty nonetheless. Be sure to get some sticky rice, because you get your individual portion in a little woven basket, something I've never seen around town. I was also told that the alligator, wild boar, and all those other exciting-sounding items aren't really that exciting and are a bit spendy, so caveat emptor on those. I'm sure I'll get around to the frog anyway. Chang beer will get you through the meal in sudsy style.

Service is friendly, but my main beef is how your table will get pummeled with all your dishes at once, so maybe just order a few apps and then your mains—otherwise it all comes out fast and furious.

I haven't tasted such bright, exciting, full-of-personality Thai food in I don't even know how long. And with so many dishes for $8 and under, it's totally within reach for many people. I hope they continue to serve until 2am, which will only happen if people go go go—it's such a gem. Support this place, people! You'll want to anyway, it's that good.

114 Reasons To Eat At Lers Ros
By Jessica Battilana
Published on 07/02/0911:50 am

​​

When not one but two of my most trusted food loving colleagues mentioned Lers Ros to me a few weeks back, I made a mental note. The nine-month old restaurant was lavishly praised by Patricia Unterman just before Christmas, then written about again in the SF Weekly in late March. So that means I'm a little late coming to the party, but also that chances are good that despite all the attention this little Tenderloin Thai restaurant has received, you may still have never heard of it.
This would be a shame, because everyone should know about a great, authentic Thai restaurant in San Francisco that is open until 2 a.m. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Every single good eater in this city should know the glory of their pork larb, shot through with a generous amount of fish sauce, chilies and fresh mint, so spicy it'll leave your lips burning. You should probably also know about their Rad Nah, flat rice noodles topped with a thin, savory gravy and lengths of Chinese broccoli, which is the thing to order the next time you're feeling sick or vulnerable. And who knows, maybe one of these nights, round about 1:30 a.m., you'll suddenly have an intense craving for Pla Kra Pong Nuang Manow—steamed sea bass showered with fresh chilies and lime juice (number 112). Now you know where to go.

If the weather holds, it's good to know that you can also get Thai iced tea and shave ice.



Best New Thai
Lers Ros
By SF WEEKLY / BEST OF SAN FRANCISCO



Some of the best Thai food San Francisco has ever known is being served at Lers Ros, whose clean, modern room is an inviting setting for its sophisticated, freshly prepared dishes. Everything is good, but favorites include succulent pork dishes, including kao kha moo, pork leg stew perfumed with five-spice; pad kra pow moo krob, chewy pork belly; delicately prepared fish such as whole fried trout and steamed whole bass; and specials including sautéed pig's liver and roast rabbit. The huge menu (more than 120 dishes) offers appetizers (try the chunks of fried garlic frog), salads (including crisp shredded green papaya in a spicy lime dressing), soups, coconut milk curries, and vegetarian dishes. Almost everything costs under $10, except for the rabbit and the whole fish dishes. And if you live in the neighborhood — Lers Ros delivers! Open daily from 11 a.m. to midnight.





Thai Score /
Fabulous and unusual Thai food is available until the wee hours in the Tenderloin.
By Meredith Brody
Published on March 24, 2009 at 1:17pm

  

Steamed whole bass (pla kra pong nuang manow) was worthy of Le Bernardin. / Jen Siska

It's rare that I've eaten in Thai restaurants that have exploded my idea of what Thai food is, introducing me to exciting dishes as good as anything I've ever eaten anywhere. For years, decades even, Thai menus in America offered a list of preparations — stir-fried with basil, garlic and pepper, or ginger; stewed in red, green, or yellow curry — that you could order with your choice of meat, fowl, or seafood. The idea that nothing changed except the protein was less than inspiring. Classic Thai food is supposed to balance spicy, sour, sweet, and salty in each dish, but the general impression would be sweetish, with nam pla (fish sauce) seasoning almost everything. In addition, there'd be some appetizers (often including satay), salads (including the dependable larb, minced pork or chicken in a spicy lime dressing), soups (equally dependable: tom kha gai, the coconut-milk soup with chicken, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves), and noodles (pad thai, rice noodles topped with fresh herbs and chopped peanuts).

You could certainly assemble a pleasant meal, but it wouldn't be one that would make you grab somebody by the lapels and say, "You must go to XYZ Thai and order the pad kra prow moo krob!" (There are a few exceptions: Thai House Express, where the anise-scented kao ka moo, aka special pork leg stew, is extraordinary; Marnee Thai, with its fragile corn cakes and delicate pan-fried halibut; and Chai Thai Noodles in Oakland, for its kao ka moo and another roast pork dish, kao moo dang.)

And now I'm going to grab you by the lapels and tell you that my new favorite Thai place in the city is Lers Ros, exactly six months old, in the Tenderloin/Civic Center area known as Little Saigon for its plethora of Vietnamese restaurants. Pad kra prow moo krob was indeed my favorite dish of everything I sampled over two meals: an extravagant serving of chewy pork belly ($6.95 served over rice, $7.25 à la carte), carefully cut in precise chunky rectangles, stir-fried with basil, and served in a thin, spicy brown sauce with strips of sweet red bell pepper.

At that first dinner at Lers Ros, there was another succulent pork dish, kao kha moo ($6.95/$7.95), long-stewed pork perfumed with five-spice (cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds, peppercorns, and star anise), with mustard greens and Chinese broccoli, served with a dipping sauce of chile and vinegar. We wanted to try the shredded green papaya salad ($7.25) with raw crab, but were told the crab was out of season, so we had it with soft chunks of salted egg instead, an interesting textural mix with the crisp papaya, red bell peppers, and sliced tomato, in a sharp lime dressing.

From the brief list of specials chalked on a blackboard, we chose thinly sliced mild and sweet pig's liver ($7.95), with plenty of wilted greens and crisp crescents of raw red onion. A separate laminated menu of specials yielded garlic and pepper rabbit ($15.95), fried nuggets of tender white flesh on the bone, served with a bright-red chile sauce on the side. The spectacular pla trout tod nam pla ($12.95) a whole trout marinated in fish sauce, flash-fried so the skin was crisp and browned and the meat still moist, white, and sweet, was served with a bowl of mango sauce on the side. It was truly an astonishing dish.

When we returned, my sorrow at not reordering almost everything I'd tried was mitigated by the fact that Lers Ros' basic menu offers 114 numbered dishes. We were even more pleased with our first three dishes on this visit. Our green papaya salad ($7.25) was enhanced with four large grilled shrimp. Koh moo yang ($7.25), thick slices of grilled pork shoulder, was described as "smoky and tasty!," but I found the chewy meat itself a little bland, improved mightily by its spicy dipping sauce of chile and rice powder topped with cilantro leaves. The best of our three starters was the garlic frog ($7.95), small, tender, mildly fishy chunks still on the bone, served with the same bright red chile sauce as the rabbit had been. "Somebody back there is great with a cleaver," I said, because both rabbits and frogs have splintery little bones that require serious chopping skills.

Somebody back there is also great with presentation, garnishing dishes with carved cucumber, cabbage, and lots of fresh cilantro. We've heard the name Tom Silargorn as head chef, but our servers said there was a rotating roster of two to four chefs, depending on the day and hour. Their divine touch with fish, as demonstrated with the trout, was apparent in a totally different style: pla kra pong nuang manow, steamed fresh whole sea bass ($15.95) stuffed with lengths of lemongrass in a light broth sparked with lots of sliced garlic and cilantro, worthy of being served at the multistarred N.Y.C. fish palace Le Bernardin.

Kao mun kai ($6.95), rather bland sliced, steamed chicken served over garlic and ginger rice, came with a thick ginger–soybean paste sauce that I found insufficiently gingery, and a bowl of full-flavored clear chicken broth. Much better were the rich falling-apart chunks of kao na phed, five-spice duck ($7.25) served over rice with a clear chile and vinegar dipping sauce; much, much better was kang kharee ($7.95), a thick yellow coconut milk curry with prawns, full of potatoes, sliced onions, and carved carrot slices.

That night we were too full for dessert. The fried bananas with coconut ice cream ($4.50) we had after the first meal were decent, but superfluous. I'd had a second Thai iced coffee ($2), because Lers Ros' version is superb, but I knew I was vibrating more from the exciting food than the caffeine. And, unbelievably, Lers Ros is open until 2 a.m. every day. Whenever you go — order the pad kra prow moo krob.

Where:
730 Larkin (at Ellis)

Details:
931-6917, www.lersros.com. Open daily 11 a.m. midnight Reservations accepted. Wheelchair accessible. Parking: street, difficult during day, easier at night. Muni: 19, 31, 38. Noise level: low to moderate.