PHILADELPHIA
THAI
Kalaya
Thai · Lively · North Philadelphia
$$$
Nok Suntaranon's Fishtown restaurant won James Beard Best Restaurant in 2023 — arguably the most acclaimed Thai restaurant opening in America in the last decade. Drawing from her Southern Thai heritage (Trang province specifically), the menu pushes past Pad-Thai expectations into the deeper traditions of Thai regional cooking: complex curries, fermented dishes, the kind of spice work most American Thai restaurants don't attempt. For the most important Thai restaurant in the country right now.