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| Jitlada: Authentic Thai in a Peaceful Setting by Laurel-Ann Dooley I eat out for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it’s a particular taste that I crave. Other times, it’s the popular buzz of a new hot spot that attracts me. Sometimes it’s just the simple desire to eat someplace other than home. And then there are those hard-to-pin-down reasons: certain somethings at certain restaurants that just make me want to go there. I discover one of those places with special pull on a recent visit to Jitlada Thai Restaurant. Located on the corner of Lavista and Cheshire Bridge Roads alongside Return to Eden health foods and Tara Theater, Jitlada is an unexpected oasis of calm at the edge of a busy intersection. The certain something that it offers is a quality few restaurants can tout: peacefulness. But more about that later. First, let’s talk food. I first visited Jitlada for lunch a few weeks ago and followed that in short order with two take-out dinners. Over the course of my three meals, I sample basil rolls ($3), spring rolls ($2.25), Nurr Nam Tok beef ($5.95), satay chicken ($5.95), Yum Yai salad, chicken coconut soup ($2.50), spicy green curry chicken ($8.95), pad Thai ($7.95), Masaman chicken ($8.95), spicy basil leaf beef ($7.95), fried banana ice cream ($2.95) and Thai iced coffee ($1.95). My repeat business alone speaks to the quality of the food. All is very good, the chicken coconut soup especially so -- not at all skimpy on ingredients, as is often the case elsewhere. The peanut sauce is also notable -- “No one else in Atlanta can make peanut sauce like us,” claims owner Paul Kajitta. Both the Masaman and green curry dishes are light in taste, the spicy basil leaf and Nurr Nam Tok beef exceptional, and the dessert of a deep-fried, wonton-wrapped banana served with coconut or green tea ice cream adds the perfect touch of sweetness. Kajitta says the food is authentic Thai – not Thai-for-Americans – and it is that legitimacy of which he is most proud. “You see restaurants that say ‘Thai-Japanese’ or ‘Thai-Chinese’ and you know that’s not real Thai.” At Jitlada, the menu is 100% Thai, prepared by Thai cooks who trained professionally in Thailand. That’s what makes the difference at Jitlada, Kajitta explains. “There are very few restaurants here that have professional Thai cooks.” Customer Paul Pathy agrees that it is the authenticity of Jitlada’s food that singles it out. Pathy, a consultant with EWG Solutions, lives and works nearby and is a devoted regular. “I basically eat there every day, and I’ve been known to go twice in one day,” he says, laughing. Pathy first developed a love of Thai food during his numerous business trips to Asia and finds Jitlada to be very similar to “the real deal.” “I don’t like Thai restaurants that cater primarily to American tastes,” says Pathy, whose favorites include the chicken coconut soup, the larb and all of the garlic pepper dishes. “I have a friend whose wife is from Laos, and she is very picky about what she eats. Thai food is very similar to Laos food, and Jitlada is on her very short list of places that make the authentic stuff.” My husband Kevin echoes Pathy’s sentiments when he tries the fare at Jitlada. Like Pathy, Kevin has traveled to Thailand on business, and he recalls his surprise when he was taken to dinner by his Thai host. “The food was not at all what I was used to getting at Thai restaurants at home,” he says. Jitlada reminded him of that meal in Bangkok. I had a similar recollection. For me, the Jitlada cuisine called to mind a Thai cooking class I had taken, taught by a chef who had trained at Bangkok’s famed Oriental Hotel. The meal we ate at the conclusion of the class tasted very good, and like Kevin’s experience in Thailand, it was markedly different from what I was used to getting at our usual Thai dining spots. The prices and portion sizes are also commendable. “I’m a big guy,” says Pathy, who stands 6’4. “I don’t like getting little itty-bitty things. Here, you never leave hungry.” And then there’s that peacefulness I first mentioned. I can’t tell you what it is exactly -- maybe it’s the large room that doesn’t feel overwhelming but instead feels open and airy. Or the soft, almost spa-like music. Perhaps it’s the tasteful décor that avoids stereotypical plastic gewgaws and sticks to nicely placed objects. Or talking with owner Paul Kajitta, whose soft-spoken and gentle demeanor could lower the anxiety level of a CPA on April 14th. Whatever the source, I find myself wanting to linger at my table and, thinking of it later, wishing I could return to sit a spell with a cool glass of Thai iced coffee. In fact, I just may head over there right now and treat myself to a noodle dish for lunch and some respite from a busy day. “A table for one and an order of Pad Thai, please.” Jitlada Thai Restaurant is located at 2329-C Cheshire Bridge Road. The prices quoted above are from Jitlada’s dinner menu; at lunch, prices are slightly lower, with no entrée costing more than $6.95. For reservations and further information, call (404) 728-9040. |
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| from top: various delights from Jitlada. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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