After a day out and about, we wanted to grab some dinner close to our hotel, but that stretch of Pico in West LA doesn’t have a lot of offerings, especially on a Friday night. It’s a heavily Jewish neighborhood, a lot of places are closed on Friday evenings, and just like I’ve found elsewhere, “extended operating hours” were one of the first casualties of the Pandemic, an effect that continues to linger. So if you are in this part of West LA and not wanting to venture far, your options are pretty limited. A notable exception to this, however, was Melanee Thai Asian Cuisine, which was obviously quite popular with the locals.
Melanee is the sort of informal Thai food joint that I miss from big cities: Simple interior and kitchen-based. This reminded me a lot of several of my favorite Thai places in Minneapolis (like Sawatdee. Most of the seating is tables lining each wall on the sides of a service bar, and a nice ordering pass where you can look back into the kitchen. It’s a cozy, relaxed spot for dinner. The downside is that was pretty dark, and not conducive to good photography, but hey, eating good food is more important than photographing it.
We both started out with Thai iced tea as we looked over the menu. While the menu at Melanee Thai has most of the “standard” Thai dishes you’ll find at most American-located Thai places, like Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, Yellow Curry, and Spicy Basil stir fries, much of the menu is focused on Melanee Thai’s own house specials. Most of these are named after people, e.g. “David’s Special” (minced chicken served over coconut rice with veggies and a fried egg) or “Paul’s Special” (Shrimp with garlic served with broccoli and noodle, Paul is the owner of the place, and apparently likes).
While deciding which entrées we wanted, we started with an order of Crispy Spring Rolls. Basically your standard Thai-style vegetable spring rolls, these were well above average, nicely fresh, and perfectly crisped.
Myself, I went for the David’s Special, which was a very spicy minced chicken served over coconut rice with veggies and a fried egg. This is one of those dishes that, at least as prepared, didn’t really photograph well, but the basic profile was spot on: the chicken mince was nicely crisped with a very good pepper profile. The coconut rice had a nice overall nutty coconut flavor that complemented it as well, and the overall saucing was a pleasant, basil-centric sauce. Very tasty, if not all that photogenic.
Carol opted for another of the (non-named), the pineapple fried rice with chicken. The pineapple fried rice itself was nicely done with a good, light crisp on the rice, and there was a reasonable amount of veggies in the mix (mostly fresh green beans). The chicken itself was just sort of tossed on top, but it was decent enough in flavor and texture.
Overall, while I’m certain I can find some more exciting and flavorful Thai places in Los Angeles, and the food presentation wasn’t particularly attractive, Melanee Thai was overall quite tasty, and quite enjoyable. It fills a niche (late-night dining) in a part of town that’s not known for a lot of late night options, the food is good, and the proprietor quite friendly and welcoming.
