A flickering indigo aura ominously lights the handwritten, five-item menu at Holy Basil’s new weekend Thai seafood pop-up, Yum Los Angeles. It has all the requirements of the next great L.A. pop-up: a simple natural wine menu by the glass, interesting sakes, and it takes place in a location you wouldn’t expect for this caliber of high-quality Thai food. (A dimly lit food court in Downtown L.A.’s Historic Core, where Holy Basil is open daily). Yum Los Angeles is a reminder of Holy Basil’s stripped-down, raw streetside pop-up origins as a business.
“I want to see the faces of people, and I want to be able to connect with customers on a personal level,” chef and owner-chef Wedchayan (Deau) Arpapornnopparat tells L.A. TACO. “This experience is also about making new dishes.”
He shares that 80 percent of Holy Basil’s orders are take-out or delivery during daytime noodle operations. Mostly all are the same delicious dishes that have earned them a permanent spot among the best Thai food restaurants in the city, like their pad kee mao (spicy basil noodles) and “Thai-style dry-aged salmon ceviche.” The daytime-only restaurant is about to celebrate three years in Downtown's Historic Core neighborhood, an accomplishment he and his partner Tongkamal “Joy” Yuon do not take lightly. Both are also residents of the neighborhood and embrace the neighborhood’s homeless population, which Downtown has developed a negative reputation on. “They don’t bother our team or us,” Deau says. “They are a part of the community as well. We just have to learn how to handle and live together.”