NYCReview
photo credit: Noah Devereaux
Lamoon
This spot is Permanently Closed.
When you visit Acadia National Park, you should stare at a few birds. And when you go to Costco, it’s important that you hoard samples and drag race your cart through a furniture aisle. That’s how you make the most of those places - and there’s a similar strategy if you want to have a truly memorable meal at Lamoon. But instead of birdwatching or making vrooming sounds, it involves ordering various pig parts.
Lamoon is a cash-only, BYOB restaurant in Elmhurst, and it’s just one small room with a handful of tables and murals on the walls. It specializes in Northern Thai food, and after looking at the menu for roughly 2.5 seconds, you’ll realize that meat - and specifically, pork - is a very big deal here. There’s liver, brain, blood, and spine, for example, and if you prioritize the dishes involving those parts, you’ll be rewarded.
Start with the Northern Thai sausage made of pork, herbs, chilies, and tiny bits of ivory-colored pig ear that stick out like brides at weddings. It’s crumbly and aromatic (with plenty of makrut lime and lemongrass), and the ear provides crunch and texture the way a few potato chips do in a bologna sandwich. Follow this sausage with a bowl of soup. The kanom jeen nam ngeaw, with its mildly sour broth and dice-sized cubes of pork blood, is a great choice - but the leng soup is even better. It’s a bowl of citrusy broth with enough heat to keep your hand hovering near your water glass, and it comes with a massive mound of pork spine covered in cilantro, chives, and green chili. Tackle the chunks of spine just like they’re ribs, make use of the wet naps on the side, and take a moment or two to appreciate how the juicy meat falls off the bones like it didn’t really want to be there in the first place.
At this point, you might (fairly) assume that vegetarians will feel lost, alone, and confused at this place where pork products are listed on the menu like they’re salt and pepper. But there are actually a good number of things you can get without meat, including some very good pad see ew with chewy tapioca balls and a creamy Northern red curry with whole red grapes. These dishes aren’t as exciting as the meat-heavy stuff, but if you live in the area, we fully encourage you to stop by for some weeknight noodles.
Just be aware that if you leave without consuming a part of a pig you can’t find at Trader Joes, you aren’t taking full advantage of this place. Eat a few chunks of pork spine, feed a friend some pork blood, and chew on a piece of pig ear while you think about the past year of your life and wonder if it might’ve been improved by more pig ear (the answer is yes). These are the most delicious and unique things at Lamoon - and they’re the main reasons why you should pick up a bottle of wine, and have dinner here tonight.