Favoring curry and other secrets

Unless you live in Top Thai’s neighborhood, you’d probably zoom right by without giving the place a second thought. On this less-than-hip stretch of Reseda Boulevard, the plain white storefront practically merges with the more eye-catching Afghani cafe and food shop next door.

But this is a place that specializes in cuisine from Thailand’s mountainous north, a rare commodity since the closing of V.P. Cafe in East Hollywood and Chao Neu in Koreatown a few years back. At many Thai restaurants, northern dishes may show up only as occasional specials, unlike the more prevalent central style and the occasional Isaan (northeastern) style Thai cooking.

The first few pages of Top Thai’s menu don’t reveal the restaurant’s secret any more than its facade. They’re a clone of every Thai takeout menu you’ve seen stuffed in mailboxes. But turn to the back pages listing “house specials.” It’s full of unfamiliar names such as tum kha-noon and man mguew. The haunting, low-wattage pungency of these dishes, flashed through with clean citrus notes, typify the style of the north.

Top Thai has a handsome dining room, lent a bit of old-fashioned elegance by heavy patterned Thai china, cloth napkins and fresh upholstery on the booths, mimicking the patterns of hand weaving for which northern Thailand is known.

A small wine list recommends the off-dry Riesling and the Gewurztraminer, which indeed are good choices if you prefer wine to beer or soft drinks.

The north is the pork-eating capital of Thailand, so grilled meats and sausages are a specialty here. The simplest example is mu-ping, a satay made with wide, garlic-infused slabs of lean pork, rather than little chunks. Sai uua, a sausage laced with lemon grass and fragrant kaffir lime peel, has just enough chile to leave a tingly trace of heat.

Larb thod falls into this category too. It doesn’t resemble at all the originally Isaan meat salad called larb (a relatively mild version of which is available on the regular menu here). Larb thod is ground pork patties flavored with fresh basil and a bit of green chile. They’re topped with fried slivered shallots and come with a crunchy heap of deep-fried mint leaves.

A Thai meal is basically served family-style, with everybody sharing the dishes. This is harder to do with noodles (No. 95 and No. 96), which are meals in a bowl, but don’t pass them up on that account.

Few pastas anywhere can outdo khow soy, served in tiny shops on every corner of Chiang Mai, the capital of the north. The flat Chinese noodles, served in Burmese-style coconut curry soup, are a vehicle for an elaborate array of condiments. You get crunch from crisp fried wonton skins and a salty sting from pickled cabbage. Some people rev it up with raw shallot chunks, whole garlic cloves and peppery condiments. Here in one bowl are many of the influences that have shaped the north’s cuisine.

The same might be claimed of kang hung-lay, a mild red pork curry shot through with stupendous quantities of garlic. In northern Thailand, it has the same symbolic status that paella enjoys in Spain. Some say the dish came over the Burmese border with 18th century immigrants working in Chiang Mai’s teak industry. It has a sweet mellowness that hooks everyone, as I can attest. The group I got together to try Top Thai ran short of sticky rice, sopping up every last drop of this curry.

Nearly as popular was nam-prik oong, the north’s famous tomato-based ground pork dip, which has the kick of a Texas bowl of red. You scoop it up with raw vegetables or sticky rice pinched off in bite-size balls. This may make a fat mess, but it’s fun.

Way, way hotter is another dip, nam prik noom. It’s a tasty murk of mashed roasted green peppers, and it lays waste to the north’s reputation for mild cooking. Green jackfruit makes an appearance as a vegetable in tum kha-noon, a salad embellished with daunting quantities of pickled garlic, a little ground pork and tomato -- challenging but fabulous.

With only one waitress in this family-run place, service can run a little slowly on crowded weekend evenings. But take my word -- Top Thai’s northern dishes will be worth the wait.

*

Top Thai

Location: 7333 Reseda Blvd., Reseda, (818) 705-8902.

Price: Appetizers, $5.50 to $11.99; main dishes, $6.50 to $11.99; desserts, $2.99.

Best dishes: Larb thod, khow soy, kang hung-lay, nam prik noom, tum kha-noon.

Details: Open 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Closed Wednesday. Beer and wine. Parking lot. Major credit cards.