Ord of the Noodles

First stop on the delicious train?  

Ord Noodles

5401 Hollywood Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90027

Ord is a small, no-frills Thai restaurant/noodle house in Hollywood.  Yes, it's worth the drive.  Yes, it's worth the risk of illegally parking in the adjacent strip mall/Ralph's/Shoe Pavilion parking lot.  And yes, you will only spend an average of $6.00 on an adequately sized bowl of noodles.

On our latest visit, I had their Yen Ta Fo.  Fish cake, fried tofu, various vegtables, and other tasty morsels swim in a bowl of arromatic bright pink broth.  The soup itself is sweet, salty and sour and arrives piping hot.  Ask for your dish "medium spicy" and it will come out "spicy".  Ask for your dish "spicy" and it will come out "Thai spicy", meaning that it will burn your mouth and ultimately, make you cry.  This place would rather not compromise it's integrity in order to appeal to the broader crowd of sensitive and squeamish eaters.   At least, that's the impression I get.  

Their noodles are never too soft or sticky and never too hard or crunchy.  I had the Yen Ta Fo with rice stick noodles.  Throughout the course of my meal, the white rice noodles would progressively soak up more and more of the incredibly savory bright pink broth.  This noodle soup is like many in its composition: multi-layered in its numerous ingredients, whimsical in the ways it chooses to reveal its many flavors and flavor combinations to you.  

The Yen Ta Fo at Ord is so far the best I've had.  It is never bland.  And it never overpowers the eater with only one flavor.  It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.  And if I get it really spicy, it also makes my head buzz a little.  

Also try the Pad Kee Mao.  Fresh ingredients, solid flavors, also a nice tasting experience, and better made than most Thai "fast noodle" joints.  

Editorial Addendum:

Ord is indeed amazing. I had Thai Sukiyaki, which had superior brothiness and a great array of consistently surprising tasty bits (squid legs! a mussel-in-hiding!). The soups at Ord also tend to come with a crunchy-chewy mystery bit. I think it's a kind of wood-fungus. Initially, she thought it was a sea dweller. Whatever it is, it serves to soak up broth, and offer a nice contrast to its other soupy denizens. 

I mean just look at this thing: