Night + Market Song opens Monday in Silver Lake

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Night + Market Song’s foyer, in pink. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The 50-seat Night + Market Song’s dining room. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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A poster of Cindy Crawford graces the color-blocked walls. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The bar at Night + Market Song. A beer and wine license is in the works. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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Night + Market Song is opening on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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Night + Market chef-owner Kris Yenbamroong. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

By Betty Hallock

March 21, 2014 1:42 PM PT

Among fans of West Hollywood Thai restaurant Night + Market, anticipation for the opening of its sister iteration in Silver Lake has been virtually palpable. Drive down Sunset Boulevard toward Micheltorena and past Night + Market Song‘s pink facade and the craving for chef-owner Kris Yenbamroong’s grilled fatty hog collar and nam prik can hit hard.

But come Monday evening, Night + Market Song will open its doors for dinner, serving the house-made sausages, nuoc mam chicken wings, crispy rice salad, laab, papaya salad, khao soi and other mainly northern Thai specialties that have drawn a cult following.

Yenbamroong, who is 31 and has had no formal culinary training, says he wanted to open “the ultimate local, neighborhood spot ... like going to your neighborhood bar and maybe it’s not perfect, but it’s your place to go.”

The 50-seat restaurant next door to the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic is painted in the saturated primary colors of Southeast Asian billboards, color-blocked orange, blue and pink, and the tables are covered with flowered vinyl tablecloths that he picked up in Thailand. Wall decoration includes a Bangkok party flier, found art (probably left by squatters, Yenbamroong noted) of an Al Gore photo with a drawn-in conversation bubble that says “Drop LSD,” and a poster of Cindy Crawford. Like at the original Night + Market, Yenbamroong expects to add to the space bit by bit. “I didn’t want to be precious about it.”

A curtain of pink beads separates the main dining room from the foyer, where a few tables are placed among planters. Over a communal table that seats 10 to 12 is a banner custom-made in Thailand that lists the restaurant specialties, including what Yenbamroong lists on his menu as “catfish tamale” and “various spicy salads.”

There’s a small bar toward the back of the restaurant, and Yenbamroong expects to obtain a beer and wine license next month (that means no BYOB).

Also, no reservations.

Open for dinner 5 to 10:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

3322 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, nightmarketla.com.

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