The Salty Turnip and Egg at Ruen Pair

Jon Shook, of L.A.’s Animal and Son of a Gun, once told L.A. Weekly his favorite places to eat in L.A. One of them is one of my favorite places to eat in L.A., Ruen Pair, where I almost always get the same thing: the Prik King (see #9 on the list of my favorite places to eat in L.A.). Shook, however, goes for a different reason: “You gotta get #106,” he told L.A. Weekly. “The salty turnip and egg. It will blow your brain out coz it’s super cool.”

Last week, Craig and I went there while still deep in the throes of our apartment hunt. We figured it would be a cheap, fast, Pad Thai kind of night. Once there, though, Craig started studying the appetizers–looking over the spring rolls and other familiar items–when I pitched the #106. “Jon Shook says it’s the bees knees.”

“Jon Who?”

“Just trust me.”

So we ordered the #106 and it came out looking like it does in that above picture because that’s actually a picture of it, so that makes sense. And Jon Shook isn’t kidding: there’s a lot going on there. It looks almost like an omelet but it has this deep caramelized flavor from the rapidly cooked parsnips which come shredded so they permeate the whole omelette. We thought we’d want a dipping sauce with it, but it doesn’t need it, there’s so much flavor.

After that, of course, I had the Pad Thai I planned on having, even though I usually get the Prik King.

This is excellent Pad Thai, up there with the best I’ve had, simple but heightened with acidity from fresh lime.

And there you have it: something old, something new. Now we just need something borrowed and something blue and we’re married (with a little help from the Supreme Court tomorrow, of course).