Best Thai Restaurants In The USA

Encompassing distinct styles from the southern, central, northern, and northeastern regions of the country, Thai cuisine denotes a complex, layered, juggle of ingredients and cross-cultural influences brought to order by balancing salty, sweet, sour, and spicy tastes. Discover our favorite Thai restaurants in the USA from New York City to Los Angeles and points in between!

CHAO KRUNG THAI (Los Angeles)

The Los Angeles region is home to the world’s largest Thai population outside of Thailand. Communities include Thai Town, just east of Hollywood, where this 1969 pioneer, one of the first Thai restaurants in town, set the stage for the neighborhood’s evolution. Out of necessity, founders Boon and Supa Kuntee prepared Americanized versions of their homeland dishes to attract customers.

In 1976, they relocated the restaurant to Mid-City across from CBS Television City. Their menu caught on with locals and celebs, and Chao Krung became an enduring staple of the scene. Taking over in 2017 as restaurateur and chef, respectively, their Bangkok-born daughters Katy Noochlaor and Amanda Maneesilasan reconnected with traditional cuisine and the legacy of their grandmother, who had cooked for the royal family of Thai- land.

After learning about family recipes from relatives back home, the sisters introduced an authentic and expansive new menu. Start with appetizers such as pla muk yang, whole BBQ squid with spicy garlic lime dipping sauce. Grilled gems include kor moo yang, charcoaled pig’s cheek marinated with Chao Krung’s signature sauce. The Central Thai style-green curry is a spicy sensation of green chilies, kaffir lime, coconut milk, eggplant, jalapeños and sweet basil.

The culinary compass points north with khao soi, or Chiang Mai curry noodles simmered in coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce and palm sugar, and laab ped, a spicy northern Thai salad of chopped duck breast with crispy duck skin, lemongrass, and other fresh ingredients.

The sisters have two neighboring concepts in West L.A.’s historic Sawtelle Japanese neighborhood, Thai street food-inspired Tuk Tuk Thai (tuktukthailosangeles.com) and Ban Ban Burger for Thai smashburgers, fries, milkshakes, and other goodies. 111 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles. Tel. 323-939- 8361. chaokrungthai.com

OTUS THAI KITCHEN & COFFEE (Los Angeles)

June Kasama’s smile lights up the day. The same goes for her sweet eatery on the edge of West Hollywood, which the L.A. Times counted among the best Thai breakfast spots in town “for any time of day” in 2024. After coming to Los Angeles from Northern Thailand to pursue her master’s degree in economics, Kasama changed direction. Led by her passion for cooking instilled by her mother, she took over a traditional Thai restaurant where she had been working. Naming the bright space for the exceptional Otus camera brand, she celebrates her 10th anniversary in 2025 of putting all-day breakfast in the frame.

Signature dishes with a cherished place in my travel album include “It’s a Joke,” her cheeky take on Asian rice porridge (congee, or jok in Thai) with shiitake mushrooms, ginger, scallion, poached egg, and crispy noodles. Fun, too, is her kai-kata, a colorful homeland snapshot featuring a Thai-style egg parked on ground chicken, decorated with Chinese sweet sausage and green onions, and served with a baguette. She also mixes it up with brioche French toast topped with vanilla cream and maple syrup and orange- and vanilla-infused Vietnamese coffee. 1253 N. La Brea Ave., West Hollywood. Tel. 323-969-8611. otusthaikitchen.com

NIGHT+MARKET (Los Angeles)

If gastronomy, at heart, is about indulgent pleasures, then Kris Yenbamroong has hit the winning formula with his “food to facilitate drinking and fun-having amongst friends” approach at his award-winning “L.A. Thai” trio of restaurants. Translated, that means endorphin-firing street food-inspired grilled meats, larb salads, curries, and other fare that he intentionally seasons and spices up to fuel your consumption of his globe-spanning menu of thirst-quenching wines.

Forget about utensils. Yenbamroong encourages eating papaya, crispy rice, spiced- up minced chicken, and other salads with your hands. In a classic pairing, the pastrami in his spicy pad kee mao comes from L.A.’s legendary Langer’s Deli. Making the James Beard Foundation semifinalist round for Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2012 and 2013, Best Chef: West in 2016 and 2019, and Outstanding Wine List in 2019 and 2020, Yenbamroong comes by his talents naturally. He grew up working in Talesai (talesaistudiocity.com), his family’s celeb-magnet restaurant in Studio City, where his grandmother was the chef. 3322 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. Tel.: 323.665.5899. nightmarketsong.com

LOTUS OF SIAM (Las Vegas)

After immigrating from the city of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand to Los Angeles in 1987, Saipin Chutima relocated to Las Vegas in 1999. Drawn by its year-round tourism pull, she and her husband and business partner Suchay (Bill) purchased Lotus of Siam restaurant at Commercial Center on East Sahara Avenue.

They transformed the hole-in-wall space into a national benchmark for Northern Thai cuisine in the U.S., earning Chutima James Beard Best Chef: Southwest honors in 2011 along with enduring love from locals, tourists, and food critics alike.

Committed to showcasing the culinary traditions of her mountainous home region and century-old recipes handed down by her grandmother, Chutima gives spices, herbs, and intense flavors marquee billing on her still-celebrated menu. Unless you have eaten in Thailand, forget what you think you know about Thai food and start over with “Mom’s Dishes” like nam prik hed, featuring three different roasted mushrooms with green chili, garlic, onion and tomatoes pounded in a mortar and served with fresh and steamed vegetables and pork rinds. 620 E Flamingo Road, Las Vegas. Tel. 702-735-3033. lotusofsiamlv.com

SOMTUM DER (New York City)

Historic Elmhurst in the borough of Queens has long been the hotbed of Thai cuisine in NYC. “Little Thailand” pioneers include SriPraPhai (sripraphai.com), which was among the first restaurants to introduce Isaan (also spelt Isan) cuisine to the city. Describing a region of northeastern Thailand between Laos and Cambodia bordered by the Mekong River, spicy-leaning Isaan influences caught fire and became the byword for Siamese dining in NYC.

Named for som tum, the region’s classic shredded green-papaya salad, Somtum Der, founded in Bangkok’s bustling Sala Daeng district, rose above the crowd when it opened in 2013 for serving actual authentic Isaan dishes. Winning a Michelin star in 2016, this intimate East Village outpost remains a hot choice for complex, well-balanced bites like the signature sa poak kai tod der, a sinful fried chicken thigh jazzed with sweet and spicy nam jim jaew or Thai chili dipping sauce. 85 Avenue A, New York, NY. Tel. 212-260- 8570. somtumdernewyork.com