BOONCHOO HOME OF DELICIOUS VALUE.

Byline: Larry Lipson Restaurant Critic

For those of us who love the flavors of Thai food, it's a never-ending search to discover something untried, or even to enjoy another version of something familiar.

Perhaps the best thing about this continuing endeavor is that it doesn't cost much.

Take the new Boonchoo restaurant in North Hollywood as an example.

Here's a spacious dining room with few frills (the word ``spare'' comes to mind) where most of the dishes - served family style, big enough to be shared by two or more - are ticketed at $5.99 or less.

Consequently, the ordering of three menu items should generally be enough for two normal appetites, four items should result in some minor leftovers and five items could mean a need for enough car space to carry home several packages of food.

Now we all know that restaurant reviewers tend to over-order simply because they want to taste as many dishes as possible.

Guess what - after two visits to Boonchoo, my refrigerator is full of leftover Thai food.

But there's no soup present.

That's because the seafood soup called potak ($7.99), Boonchoo's most expensive dish, was completely finished, not a single drop left.

And the piddly amount remaining from its rendition of tom kha gai ($4.99), the tasty coconut milk and lemongrass-flavored soup with chicken and mushrooms, wasn't considered worth putting into a to-go cup.

Incidentally, the steaming pot of potak contains mussels, scallops, shrimp and lots of surimi (imitation crab).

You'll find that familiar plates of mee krob ($4.99), a sweet, toffeelike rendition of Thailand's national crispy-noodle-with-chicken appetizer, and sate (or satay, $4.99), the skewered, marinated meat starter with the spicy peanut dipping sauce, prove to be satisfying beginnings here.

And surprisingly good are the house yellow curry recipe ($4.99) of chicken and potatoes in a mildly spicy coconut milk sauce, and an unfamiliar dish titled ``nam kow tod'' ($5.99) that brings together crunchy fried pork skin, boiled ground pork spheres, red and green onion, peanuts, ginger and a few slivers of pig ear together.

The latter look better than they taste, so most of the thin pieces - there aren't that many, anyway - easily can be left uneaten. Boonchoo's chef-owner, Somkiat ``Jun'' Cramer, makes a bountiful pad thai ($4.99) rice noodle dish with ground peanuts and bean sprouts.

Her sliced barbecued beef ($5.99), served firm and a tad dry, comes with a very zingy chile sauce, sliced tomatoes and cucumber, giving it both a flavor and moisture boost.

Her catfish ($5.99) plate is probably the weakest effort, with the pieces of catfish lacking in taste and texture, though saved to some degree by an accompanying red curry paste.

You can order your food hot, medium or mild at Boonchoo. And you'll get it pretty much the way you requested it.

Medium has enough kick to keep the fare interesting, though beware that its spicy heat quotient varies somewhat according to the ingredients.

Peppery dishes made with coconut milk, like the yellow curry dish, possess that smooth, creamy comfort that soothes the palate even though there's plenty of chili heat involved.

Potak, made with a clear lemongrass broth, lacks this creaminess, so the spicy heat appears to go up a notch, even if you specified medium.

Of course, as at every Thai cafe, the iced coffee ($1.25), will immediately cool and soothe any chile-injured palates in a hurry.

The Facts

The restaurant: Boonchoo.

Where: 11020 Vanowen St., North Hollywood.

When: Open for early or late lunch, dinner and snacks from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Recommended items: Tom kha gai chicken and mushroom coconut soup, potak seafood soup, pad thai noodle plate, yellow curry with chicken and potato, nam kow tod three-way pork dish.

How much: Everything under $7. Most items $5 or $6 each. No alcohol. Cash only. Credit cards pending.

Reservations: Taken. Usually not necessary.

Our rating: Three stars for food; three stars for service; fours stars for value.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO Nick Cramer is served pad thai and nam kow tod by waitress Som Talapatcharoenkit at Boonchoo in North Hollywood.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer