Notes and news to fill out the dog days of August:

New in Silver Lake
Silver Lake has a new Thai restaurant called Nadbob. In a nutshell: nothing to go out of your way for, but it has possibilities if you live in the area and are tired of the other Silver Lake Thai options. However, it does mean braving the parking lot of "crackhead plaza" -- i.e. the mini-mall that houses Tang Donuts and Saito. It's worth it for the sushi -- but the Thai place should probably offer a delivery option. Here's my Chowhound review if anyone's interested in more detail.
Nadpob Thai Cafe
4321 Sunset Blvd.
323-666-9000

Also coming soon to Crackhead Plaza: a new Indian place, possibly spawned from the owners of Mumtaz. But don't hold your breath -- construction on the space seems to be interminably stalled.

Residents take sides on Glendale Town Center
An interesting L.A. Times story on the proposed Glendale Town Center development lists some of the restaurants that are interested: The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's, Wood Ranch BBQ and something ominously called "Fox Sports Grill." Same old, same old...I guess you can't expect local establishments in a pricey outdoor mall setting. It's too bad, but I'm pro-Town Center anyway -- here's why:
-I don't feel much sympathy for the Galleria, which is a claustrophobia-inducing teenybopper nightmare of a mall. The teenyboppers can continue to shop at Forever 21 in the Galleria, while the more mature folks can go to Anthropologie in the Town Center. There's plenty of disposable income to go around.
-Downtown Glendale, despite some recent improvements, still has a large blighted area. Unlike most older downtowns, there's still potential to develop the area into a pedestrian-friendly area with entertainment options, and the Town Center development will include a park and movie theaters.
It seems like Rick Caruso could solve many of his P.R. problems by agreeing to take less than a $77 million contribution from the city, and possibly by building fewer than the proposed 300-plus residential units. He could acquire the land himself while still having the city maintain the park, for example, and trim the residential portion to 100-200 units.

Is Fake Dog better than real dog?
The L.A. Weekly's Jonathan Gold reports on a Northern Chinese, a restaurant that serves Shenyang Fake Dog Meat. Apparently it's actually a tasty shredded pork dish "cooked in the style of dog," for those who miss the real thing. Northern Chinese takes this week's prize for Place Most Likely to Gross Out Your Squeamish Westside Friends.