RESTAURANT REVIEW : Searing Thai Treats : The Exotic makes the most of classics--from coconut milk-based soups to seafood dishes and fried rice.

Thailand is nicknamed “Land of Smiles,” and smiles--of various sorts--come naturally at Exotic Thai Restau rant. When I was ordering pad se-eau , a terrific fried noodle dish that comes with a choice of meats, I had the temerity to ask the waitress to bring mine with mu (Thai for “pork”). Sensing my attempt at her language, she replied, with a jokey smirk, “That’s what cows say in English.”

(Naturally, like the American smart guy I am, I countered, “So what do Thai cows say? Oink?” We got it with pork.)

Although the waitresses in this personable Burbank restaurant smile and joke freely when you pose questions about dishes, they’re not necessarily forthcoming with descriptions or recommendations, despite their generally fluent English. In the Land of Smiles tradition, service is diplomatic and noncommittal, so remember, you’re going to be pretty much on your own.

Exotic Thai Cuisine’s menu employs words such as “veggie” and “exotic” to describe classic Thai dishes, but whoever is working at the range doesn’t compromise a whole lot in the way of taste. What I like best about this restaurant is the fact that the kitchen respects a request for hearty spicing, unlike the cooks at the typical suburban Thai restaurant, who are afraid to turn up the heat.

Larb , a ground chicken dish eaten with chiles, onions and lime juice, is billed as Eastern Thai Treat, and it’s not for beginners. It burns your tongue and sears your throat and is about as hot a version as you can find in Los Angeles. There’s an equally hot dish called naem sod, which the menu refers to as Northern Thai Treat. This dish treats pork to a healthy dose of ginger, chiles and sliced onion.

For those who don’t feel up to either of those, Thai egg rolls ( poh pia ) are good mild starters. Exotic Thai Cuisine’s version has a dense vegetable stuffing that gives them a satisfying heaviness, in place of the usual egg roll stuffing of glass noodles and minced pork. Dip them in the sweet, sticky sauce and eat them with the cucumber relish. They’re habit-forming.

Exotic Thai Cuisine doesn’t mess much with the traditional Thai soups. Tom kha kai is a wonderful creamy version of the coconut-milk based classic, with chicken, cabbage and a touch of galanga root. A warning, though: In Thai restaurants, soups are served in huge chafing dishes, resulting in portions that seem excessive in the case of rich soups like this one. Tom yum goong makes more sense in the tureen, because it is essentially a clear broth, distinctively edged with the flavor of lemon grass and chock full of large shrimp.

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From there, you’ll want to move on to warm salads, which Thai chefs were doing generations before California cuisine. (But ask the waitresses to separate the courses, or chances are you will get your soups, salads and appetizers all at the same time.)

One of my favorite dishes here is spinach duck salad, thanks to the finely chopped topping of duck that has been lightly coated with honey and fried crisp. Thai beef salad, or yum nuea , is generous with the grilled beef (the kitchen coats with hot pepper upon request). Naked shrimp salad consists of marinated grilled shrimp in a lime sauce with celery, onions, lemon grass and wilted romaine.

I don’t much care for the restaurant’s traditional Thai curries, which are rather oily and leave a strong aftertaste. The most popular one is probably the one they call Thai curry, consisting mostly of reduced coconut milk, bamboo shoots and chile paste. But I certainly fancy the restaurant’s spice-coated golden barbecued chicken (half a chicken to an order), and I positively crave the seafood dish called shrimp cake, which is four crisply fried disks you eat with a peanut-and-cucumber relish.

If you have room, the restaurant proposes interesting alternatives to white rice, many of which remind me of dishes I have stumbled on accidentally in Asia. Khao pad , called Exotic Fried Rice on this menu, includes shrimp, Chinese sausage, tomato, onion, eggs and a grainy curry powder. It is very exotic. The familiar Thai staple pad woon sen are clear, gossamer thin threads fashioned out of mung bean, which are then mixed up with similar components and fried.

Let us also not forget that delicious pad se-eau , flat rice noodles similar to Chinese chow fun. Exotic Thai Cuisine dry-sautes these tempting noodles with broccoli, garlic, egg and a choice of either shrimp, chicken, beef or pork--the aforementioned mu .

Where and When

Location: Exotic Thai Cuisine, 1212 N. San Fernando Blvd., Burbank.

Suggested Dishes: Larb , $4.99; tom kha kai , $5.95; pad se-eau , $5.25; Exotic Fried Rice, $6.50; golden barbecued chicken, $5.

Hours: Lunch and dinner, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Price: Dinner for two, $15-$22. Beer and wine only. Parking lot. American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted.

Call: (818) 841-2555.