Justin Pichetrungsi

The Path

Justin Pichetrungsi’s early training moved from art student at ArtCenter College of Design (until 2008) to art director / imagineer at Disney (until 2019), with a parallel role as professor at ArtCenter College of Design. Drawing, design, visual storytelling, teaching, and the discipline of making ideas precise enough to hold shape all sit behind the restaurant work that followed. Today, Justin is chef-owner of Anajak Thai (since 2019), and that earlier training continues to read in the structure of the restaurant. The move from studio and classroom to kitchen did not replace the prior work; it brought those habits into sharper use, giving the food a frame without dulling its motion.

The Work Today

Since 2019, Pichetrungsi has been chef-owner at Anajak Thai Cuisine in Los Angeles, California. His cooking there is Modern Thai cooking with an extensive wine program, built around classic Thai dishes reimagined for the modern Los Angeles culinary landscape. The restaurant’s language is one of refinement, but its pulse remains unmistakably culinary and alive: dishes arrive composed, yet still seem to carry the motion of the wok, the flicker of heat, and the snap of timing that define Thai cooking at its most expressive. Pad siew remains a through-line from childhood training to the present menu. It was one of the first two dishes he learned to make, and one of the few recipes that has never changed: “The pad siew is one of the few recipes that has never ever changed—it has the fewest ingredients and is dependent most on movement and timing.” That emphasis on movement and timing speaks to the entire restaurant’s sensibility, where restraint is not absence but concentration. Cashew chicken sits beside it as another first dish he learned, and one he still teaches staff. Together, they function almost like the restaurant’s memory and its method, anchoring a modern operation in the intimate muscle memory of apprenticeship. The restaurant’s signatures stretch from Southern Thai crispy fried chicken to an omakase tasting menu experience created to showcase the flavors of Thailand as interpreted for Los Angeles now. The range suggests a chef comfortable moving between the familiar and the formal, between dishes rooted in comfort and a tasting menu format that allows for a more deliberate unfolding of flavor. Thai Taco Tuesday, known as TTT, carries the work outdoors: a special menu of tacos and tostadas served in the alley next to the restaurant, where it became a cult-favorite street food party. In that setting, the restaurant opens up in a different register—less enclosed, more communal, and animated by the looseness of an evening that spills beyond the dining room.

Signature

Justin's signature dishes include Thai Taco Tuesday (TTT), Omakase tasting menu experience, Southern Thai crispy fried chicken, pad siew, and cashew chicken.

In Their Words “The pad siew is one of the few recipes that has never ever changed—it has the fewest ingredients and is dependent most on movement and timing.”

Acclaim

Justin's honors include James Beard Award for Best Chef California (2023), Food & Wine Best New Chef (2022), and StarChefs Los Angeles Rising Stars Community Chef Award (2021).