Going for a special occasion. Anything special on the current menu that we shouldn't miss? Also, how does the pay by course menu that I've read about here work? We're pretty excited - any thoughts?

I'm not a frequent poster, but I am a frequent reader and I dragged three friends out to Jitlada last night. It was certainly the best Thai food I've had in the U.S. We just moved to L.A. and my Thai town tasting has just begun, but I've already forgotten about poor old Sriphapai in Queens, my previous gold standard.

Between the 4 of us we ordered 5 dishes. We started with the mango salad, which was almost smoky with coconut. It was spicy, but the spice didn't overpower the sweetness. Very good.

We ordered 3 curries, we wanted to follow Eric's advice, but we were just drawn to the curries. I guess there was no risk of us being mistaken for authentic Thais anyways. We had the green curry with fishballs. I loved it but my SO thought that the duck yolks were somewhat foot-smelly. I thought the spicing was not overpowering and the vegetables were perfectly cooked - the thai eggplant was not at all mealy. Plus, the green curry itself was among the best I've ever had. Our next curry was shrimp and pineapple in turmeric broth. We ordered this mild, so I can only imagine what spicy would have been like. My poor squamish friend. The broth was thin, and it had an almost Tom Yum flavor profile - the pineapple sweetened the firewater nicely. I was also impressed that the shrimp were not overcooked. Very nice. The last was my favorite. Catfish and wild tea leaves in turmeric curry. It's hard to describe how great this was, the tea leaves were a little bitter, but they added a dark richness to the broth. Again the catfish was cooked just right in the broth. The spice in this dish was intense, but it grew slowly and didn't mask the complex flavors. One of the best things I've ever eaten.

Finally, we were already full when our seabass with turmeric and fried garlic came out. That didn't stop us from picking it clean. Our waitress (Jazz I think) suggested that we pile some mango on top of it - that was a great idea. Again, the fish was cooked perfectly and the garlic was sweet without being burnt.

Thanks so much to Eric for his translation, all of our menus had the translation on the back page and Jazz was just thrilled that we were there. It was a great night. I can't wait to go back (but first, I can't wait to eat my leftovers).