Holy Basil Keeps Rewriting The Playbook For Thai Food In Los Angeles

“I feel like our menu is so different because LA allows you to do it,” chef Deau Arpapornnopparat says of the dishes he’s serving at Holy Basil, the free-spirited Los Angeles Thai-food sensation that recently opened its Atwater Village location. “And if we have an opportunity to do it, we should just do it.”

At both their original downtown spot and their new Atwater Village restaurant, Arpapornnopparat and Joy Yuon are reflecting Thai food through a deeply personal lens. They’re also showcasing premium ingredients (from suppliers like Snake River Farms, True Story, Four Star Seafood and Garcia Ruelas Farms) as they serve wagyu gra pow, fluffy omelets, crying tiger short ribs and a pitch-perfect “grandma’s fish and rice” that will make you want to devour every little crispy and tender morsel of hand-shredded local rockfish.

As usual, Arpapornnopparat and Yuon (chefs who continually tinker and like to experiment at pop-ups and other events) are thinking about all the things they want to do. It’s a typically frenetic time for Holy Basil, which is getting ready for its appearance at the Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival on March 1. Arpapornnopparat says he plans to make Thai shrimp aguachile for the festival because it demonstrates Holy Basil’s range. He previously called this dish Thai crudo but then realized that the spice level was more than guests expected in a crudo. Also, it’s fun to have a dish called Thai aguachile in a city where so many flavors blend.

Arpapornnopparat looks around his new Atwater Village restaurant and says that he’d like to use a cozy back area behind his kitchen (which currently has three small tables) for family-style dinners with lots of seafood like whole fish and crab.

Holy Basil is largely influenced by the food he enjoyed growing up in Bangkok, but his father was Chinese and Arpapornnopparat lived in India before going to college in Connecticut, so there are all kinds of reference points. Arpapornnopparat is considering weekend brunch that will merge Asian and American flavors (think ham, Chinese sausage, eggs, Maggi sauce and ketchup). He’s also working on a Santa Monica location that will largely mirror the downtown Holy Basil.

“We want to open many locations because we want to make our Thai food and this experience more accessible,” he says.

Arpapornnopparat also has plans for a Melrose Hill restaurant where Thai omakase could be the main event.

In the meantime, he’s waiting for his beer-and-wine license in Atwater Village and is in discussions to collaborate on custom rice lager and wine for Holy Basil. And Yuon, known for her tea drinks, will create mocktails in Atwater Village.

The couple are excited about the Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival, where Holy Basil will be alongside chefs including Adam Perry Lang, Duff Goldman and Stephanie Izard on March 1.

The event will also feature a whimsical dessert room, a punk rock-themed bar, a graffiti artist creating a mural in front of guests, a DJ and the Artist Plate Project (in conjunction with the Frieze Los Angeles art fair) with 50 limited-edition plates designed by artists including the late Virgil Abloh.

“Festivals are an outlet to do whatever menu we want to do,” Arpapornnopparat says.

He adds that he chose Friday, March 1, because he is eager for Holy Basil to be part of a lineup with LA restaurants like Chifa and Bridgetown Roti. (Coincidentally, Bridgetown Roti’s Malique Smith popped into Holy Basil Atwater Village this week.) Arpapornnopparat loves being in a city with similarly unfettered independent operators.