The Pad Thai Stand Revisited

Recently, on the way home from one of JJ’s “excursions”, I was feeling a bit hungry. We were passing Carnival Market on Ashford Street when I suddenly remembered the Pad Thai Stand, which I hadn’t been to in a while…..like 5 years! Since they have a covered patio, I thought that JJ could relax while I had some lunch.

As I walked in; I quickly noticed that the place is looking a bit run down.

The woman working actually came out from the counter to take my order. Based on my previous visits, I got the Boran (old style) Pad Thai with Tofu ($15) Medium Heat. My order took about 20 minutes….which was strange considering I was the only customer…..I quickly noticed that they don’t do the noodles over high heat here…..more on that later.

It was a rather large portion.

The chunks of tofu was fine; my favorite item in this version of Pad Thai are the pork rinds. The egg was chopped into pieces and overcooked for my taste. Enjoyed the crunch of the bean sprouts.

I liked the spice; it was hot enough to get my sweat glands going. A bit on the sweeter side for my taste, a bit lacking in in savory tones……which was one of the reasons I got the Boran. Usually the more traditional version has much more umami-savory tones than other versions.

The most “interesting” thing were the noodles; which were super chewy and rubbery. In fact, I took a good amount of the Pad Thai home with me. When I went to heat it up it was all stuck together in a giant clump. I needed to keep heating and mixing to try to get the noodles separated. Then I remembered….I saw the young man cooking the dish over a rather low heat. This would often cause the noodles to clump together.

Kind of a bummer, though JJ enjoyed hanging out.

The Pad Thai Stand
3520 Ashford St.
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Sunday – Thurs 11am – 2pm, 4pm – 11pm
Fri – Sat 11am – 2pm, 4pm – Midnight