Casual, smart Thai

The owners of the lovely, low-key Rambutan Thai in Silver Lake have gone east, this time to open a restaurant in downtown Burbank. Just down from the local Starbucks and across the street from a funky used bookstore, Chadaka Thai stands out in this down-home neighborhood for its sophisticated, big-city looks.

A terrace gives you a bird’s-eye view of the eclectic crowd strolling by on a summer’s evening. Families licking ice cream cones alternate with teenagers on cellphones, guys in black leather with silver or gold crosses around their necks and couples just out for a promenade away from the kids.

At the back of the place is a dark, mysterious half-moon bar with a figure of Buddha looking down on the proceedings. The bar dispenses the usual roster of Thai and international beers, but also whips together exotic, Asian-themed cocktails for the trendy set gathered beneath a ceiling covered in silk patchwork. Huge vases of ginger and other tropical flowers stand at attention while diners delve into finger food.

Chadaka Thai is casual, but smart. The formula is much the same as that of Rambutan Thai. The ingredients are of high quality; the chicken is organic, the fish is fresh. And the kitchen prides itself on never cooking with MSG. In other words, it’s Thai food for the health-conscious and pitched more to American than Thai tastes.

Everything is freshly made, from the supple steamed wonton bundles in spicy soy to the rice paper-wrapped spring rolls filled with vegetables or the chicken larb bright with lime juice and chile. I like the green beans wok-fried with shredded vegetable pickles and Chinese radish. There’s a good green papaya salad, and an even better green pear salad with shrimp and toasted cashews.

All the curries are prepared with a spice paste made from scratch, and they’re each distinctly different, if a little bland to my taste. Unless you specifically ask for your dishes to be prepared Thai-hot, they will arrive, mostly, with the merest flicker of heat. The best of the curries may be the panang, which can be made with either beef or chicken, simmered in coconut cream with fresh chile and basil.

The service at Chadaka Thai is so warm and attentive it almost outshines the food. Waiters will help explain the menu and make sure you don’t order too much in that first rush of enthusiasm.

And it also offers takeout and local delivery.

But the restaurant’s biggest virtue may be that it stays open, even on weeknights, to a wide-awake 11 p.m., which means you can catch a movie at the cineplex and still make it in for a bowl of pad Thai or chicken satay. Now, that is very civilized.

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Chadaka Thai

Where: 310 N. San Fernando Blvd., Burbank

When: Open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, noon to 11 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. Lot and street parking

Cost: Small bites, $6 to $8; soups, $3.50 to $5.50; salads, $4.50 to $9.50; noodle dishes, $8.50 to $10.50; curries, $8.50 to $11; seafood, $11 to $16.50

Info: (818) 848-8520;

www.chadaka.com