Los Angeles: Crystal Thai-Cambodian Cuisine

SY and GY both got engaged last year.  To celebrate, the Chicago ladies gathered together in Long Beach for a weekend in November.  VN, SY, and I drove down from the Bay on Thursday.  We checked into our Airbnb and then went out in search of dinner.  

Long Beach has quite a large Cambodian community, so we knew we wanted Cambodian food.  There were a few options, but then I saw a photo of a soup that I knew I absolutely must try.  It didn't take much persuasion to get the group to Crystal Thai-Cambodian Cuisine.

Located just around the corner from a liquor store, Crystal Thai looked very unassuming from outside:

Once I stepped inside, I knew it was going to be good:

The bright orange walls, the forest green booths, the Cambodian karaoke playing on the TV screen...everything just screamed confidence.  

You know what else screams confidence?  Not listing any prices on your menu.  Yup.  There were no prices on Crystal Thai's menu.  We were ordering blind.

The three of us decided to split a pad thai:

We got it without any meat in deference to SY, who doesn't eat red meat.

The chha kreoung really jumped out to me from the menu:

It came with your choice of chicken, beef, fish, or frog sautéed in curry paste with kaffir leaves and long string beans.  We asked for chicken.  The kaffir made the dish so fragrant and lovely with rice.

And then came the soup that started it all, the somlor machu kreung:

When I saw a photo of it on Yelp, I just knew I would love it.  I could already imagine what it tasted like with its beef, intestine, tripe, and water spinach.  And it was.  It was everything I wanted and more.  The offal taste of the intestine paired so well with the sourness of the soup.

I was obsessed.  Too bad SY couldn't have any, but I'm grateful she let us order it anyway.

The meal was so freakin' amazing, that we brought the rest of the girls over for dinner two nights later.  

For the noodle fans, we got the pad saeawe:

The flat rice noodles were stir fried with Chinese broccoli, egg, and your choice of meat.

We also ordered the stir fried eggplant in oyster sauce with ground pork:

We got the chha kreoung again, but this time with fish:

It was still delicious, but I preferred it with chicken.

So that SY could have some soup, we got the sngor jrok trei, which was fish simmered in broth with lime juice and green onion:

While she enjoyed that, I tried not to hog the bowl of somlor machu kreung.  It was just as mind-blowing the second time around.

I could not stop talking about Crystal Thai after I returned to the Bay.  So much so that when I went down to SoCal with AG, CK, and CL the following month, I forced them to go.  Except apparently it's not that easy to eat at Crystal Thai.  

The first time we tried, it was closed despite us arriving well within the open business hours we found online.  But you can't trust what you see online, right?  So AG called the next day.  We were actually on our way to get tacos when he made the call.  When he found out that the restaurant would be closing at 5:00pm (which was less than an hour away), he immediately made a U-turn and away we went.

We made it with half an hour to spare.

Since there were no dietary restrictions to take into consideration, we went ham.  I was particularly interested in the lahb because besides ground beef, you can also ask for them to add intestine and tripe:

And we all know how much I love intestine.

AG was curious about the beef anchovy:

The beautifully grilled steak was served with an anchovy sauce that was flat out addicting

It was super refreshing and made us want to put it on everything.

Of course, we ordered my favorite soup too.  Everyone agreed that Crystal Thai was amazing.  So when someone threw out the idea of returning the next day as well, everyone was on board.  

(We made sure to ask about their hours before we left.)

The next day, we were back for lunch.  In the interest of trying something new, we got the nhom sdao: 

This salad of sorts was made with chicken and pork tossed with bean sprouts, cucumber, other greens, and a special dressing.  Something about the dish was so bitter that most of us couldn't handle it.  

Luckily, the egg with salted fish helped to clear away the bitter aftertaste: 

Why not order a whole fried catfish for lunch?:

Thanks to its accompanying plate of greens, we were able to pinpoint the bitter culprit of the salad.  Sdao (the flower-like greens below) is a bitter herb used in Southeast Asia:

When I talked to the man at the cashier, he said the sdao is unpalatable for even a lot of Cambodians, himself included.  I'm sure it's good for you, as nasty stuff tend to be, but I'll pass on that next time.

I've been to Crystal Thai four times now and everything I've tried there has been amazing (with the exception of sdao).  I cannot recommend it enough.  The somlor machu kreung has overtaken the catfish soup at my beloved Bo Da to be my ultimate favorite soup of all time:

It really just checks all my boxes.  Offal, check.  Sour, check.  Delicious with rice, check, check, and CHECK!

Crystal Thai has become a must stop on my SoCal itinerary.  If you're into hole-in-the-wall type of places and you don't mind bright orange walls, this is the place for you.  Make sure to bring lots of cash though.  Not because the dishes are expensive (I think most were around $20), but because you'll want to order everything.

Also, call ahead to make sure they're open.  Spare yourself the soul-crushing disappointment.  

Crystal Thai changed my life and I'm hoping it will change yours too.

Crystal Thai-Cambodian Cuisine

1165 E 10th St

Long Beach, CA 90813

(562) 591-7636