The Vitals:
the spot: Night + Market 2533 Lincoln Blvd Venice CA 90291
the eats: Pretty much whatever you want on the menu – GET THE CLAMS!!!
the bucks: Plan on spending about $35 a head on food
the full nelson: A hyped Thai spot that satisfies with an respectable level of Bang for your Thai Food Buck

It’s not every night that you get to dine with the likes of Sterling K. Brown and Slash(framed pic) but in Los Angeles, anything is possible. Beyond gloating that an old high school comrade is now one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and keeps it real with the old homeys like George Clooney(or so I’ve heard) I had the pleasure of checking out the much hyped Night + Market and when the dust settled . .  . the bill was . .  . surprisingly not that bad . . .

Night + Market has been a well touted Thai restaurant thanks to official propers from likes of the late Jonathan Gold, Eater LA, James Beard and the Infatuation. Being a former resident of Thai Town in Los Angeles, I’m no stranger to a good Thai meal. Usually these meals have been among the cheapest I have ever had. But this time I was saddling up to a trendy Thai restaurant’s third location in one of the hottest neighborhood in Los Angeles. I had a feeling I would eat well but would it honor the excellent cheap meals of my past? I was pleasantly surprised.

Night + Market is popular, hence the third location and you are encouraged to do your ordering quickly. We rolled in at about 7pm on a weeknight and it swelled to capacity within an hour. And an hour later, we were pretty much done with our meal. We ordered family style which is really just the move at any Thai restaurant and ate like we were all back at the high school cafeteria. It did help that my comrades and I all went to high school together as well. First up was this Thai beef jerky. Now if you are ordering beef jerky at a restaurant chances are its gonna be a bit more memorable than a bag of Jack Links you pounded while stuck in traffic. And that, this jerky truly was. A Must order.

A couple Singha beers in and my memory gets foggy but I’m pretty sure this was the Nam Khao Tod, a crispy rice salad with soured pork, raw ginger, peanuts, onions, cilantro and chili. Hard to believe that a fried rice dish can make a play for a salad but if this is what happens at a salad bar in Thailand . . . then I need to go to Thailand and spend a day grazing at the salad bar. Pretty much every dish rocked at Night + Market but if you do some digging in Yelp, you will see the Nam Khao Tod is a fan fav.

My fav dish of the night was not my best pic but you know what? Whatever. The clams at Night + Market are worth the shellfish priced splurge and really set it apart from your fav pad Thai joint in college.

Then a bunch of fried chicken happened, which I suppose is never a bad thing. Lately I feel like fried chicken sandwiches are the it food of the moment. This sandwich was fine but divided amongst four dudes might not do the sammich justice. The fried chicken plate was a gift from the kitchen . . . clearly some This is Us fans were working at Night + Market that night. Fried chicken is a big deal as far as street food in Thailand goes and I was drinking beers so this definitely was a well received dish. Still, dishes like the clams stood out just a bit more.

This was a dish I had to order on principle. Drunken noodles that get hit with Pastrami from Los Angeles’ most famed deli: Langer’s. This epic collab has all the feels of ultimate foodie bragging rights but to be honest . . . it was a little too salty and really just a little too much. Langer’s is great and Night + Market is great but I don’t need it both at the same time, let alone in the same bite.

Not pictured are a few other dishes like sweet potato in a Massaman curry, which happened to be the best thing to dunk the fried chicken in. All told we spent $200 for 4 people with a couple rounds of beers. And I mean a couple rounds for some guys who have known each other for 20 years kinda rounds. I would wager one would spend about $30 a head for food and since its family style, the larger the group, the more bang for your buck.

All in all I would hit this place back up which is a fine compliment considering the sheer number of tempting new restaurants LA  keeps churning out year after year. Not the cheapest Thai dinner I have ever had, and it might not be better than Uncle Boon’s in NYC but Night + Market def serves up some Bang for your Buzz Worthy Thai Buck.