Thai Restaurants – Page 18

Bai Yook Thai Cuisine

February 13, 2006 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

When we first moved to San Diego, Bai Yook was one of our favorite Thai Restaurants. I had always enjoyed the Grilled Beef Salad(Yum Nua) at Bai Yook; and though we had a found a few Thai Restaurants we enjoyed more, we still used to return to Bai Yook every so often. Still, we hadn’t been back to Bai Yook since we moved a bit farther away from the Hillcrest area several years ago. Our not so great visit to Saffron had kind of left us reeling, and also craving some decent Thai Food, and Bai Yook came up in the conversation. So we decided to have dinner at Bai Yook a few nights ago.

Located in a fairly quite corner in the busy Hillcrest Shopping Colonnade, Bai Yook is a small but quaint and relaxing little restaurant. Sitting in the dining room of Bai Yook, you wouldn’t even know that a few doors down is a Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s, or Lalo’s Al Pastor Taco Shop.

We arrived at about 530 and found the restaurant to be completely empty, we requested a table outside, and was quickly seated. As we looked over the menu we noticed many changes since or last visit. A few of our favorite dishes, like a seafood clay pot dish were missing.

But at least my "old favorite" Yum Nua(Grilled Beef Salad – $7.95), was still on the menu. I eagerly awaited my old favorite beef salad; nice and tender grilled beef on a bed of lettuce, crisp cucumber, slices of tomato, julienned carrots, lot’s of thinly sliced onion, cilantro, all in a spicy lime and fish sauce dressing. The coup de grace was the nice sprinkling of roasted ground rice powder that would add a nice nutty flavor to the salad. What I got brought me down to Earth :

I could literally smell the salad before I saw it! Waaay to much fish sauce, made the dish quite salty and fishy, and not enough lime to balance the dish. The lettuce was a single wilted leaf, on which lied sliced beef that looked pan fried, and though very soft, left an oily film on your tongue. The oily beef was surrounded with two meager slices of cucumber and tomato "lying in state". There was a bit of rice powder, but the overwhelming amount of fish sauce blocked everything else out.

I still had Pad See Eew on my mind, so I ordered the Pad See Eew with Shrimp ($8.95):

Now on the menu I read that the Pad See Eew was prepared with "black bean sauce" and came with Chinese Broccoli. I dunno, maybe this is a new type of Chinese Broccoli(Gai Lan )? Sure looks like ordinary (Brassica oleracea Italica) broccoli to me. The Black Bean Sauce should have scared me off, but unfortunately, it didn’t. These really weren’t black bean like I know it, but some other fermented bean that was extremely salty, bitter, and astringent. To quote the Missus; "it tastes like Chinese medicine". Too bad, the shrimp were cooked to a nice tender state(and fortunately hadn’t absorbed the bitter taste), and though not fantastic; the noodles were also cooked well. I drank three glasses of water trying to finish this.

The Missus had wanted the Salmon Curry($10.95), but they were out of salmon, so we got the "Choo-Chi", a Fried Fish (we were told it was snapper) Curry($12.95).

Though the peas kind of threw me off, and I found the "curry" to be very watery, this dish was by far the best of the evening. The fish fillets were breaded and fried to moist perfection. The curry though thin and runny, was passable, though a bit heavy on coconut milk and salt. We did finish this dish, so it must have been pretty good.

As I licked my salt-chapped lips, I wondered what had happened to my beloved Beef Salad? What happened to Bai Yook? And even with more dread, I remembered that I had recommended this place to more then a few people! Yikes!

Bai Yook Thai Cuisine
1260 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103

Monday – Friday Lunch: 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Dinner: 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Saturday 12:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Sunday 4:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Saffron Noodles and Sate & Saffron Thai Grilled Chicken

February 9, 2006 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

Su Mei Yu’s two very popular and successful restaurants reside on busy India Street. For those who don’t know who Su Mei Yu is, she’s the Author of the most enjoyable cookbook, Cracking the Coconut which I have on my list of cookbooks to purchase, she is also a regular contributor to Fine Cooking Magazine and the San Diego Union Tribune. In fact, I’ve had some success with Her recipes in Fine Cooking, but unfortunately, have not had very good meals at Saffron. I had first heard of Saffron Grilled Chicken while I was doing consulting work in San Diego back in ’99, and made sure to stop by there, and wondered what the big deal was about. In fact, I dropped by 4 times in the following months, and really never did figure out what the fuss was about. When Saffron Noodles opened we tried it out, but was again disappointed, the Pad Thai was overly sweet and the noodles were overcooked, the drunken noodles were okay, but no better then I’ve had in a many other places. So I beg the question; can you enjoy someones cookbook and recipes, yet not enjoy the restaurants they own? So in my dogged determination to find some redeeming dish at Saffron, we decided another meal was in order.

Saffron Noodles and Sate is the newer of Su Mei Yu’s two restaurants. While Saffron Chicken is more of a take-out "joint", Saffron Noodles has a very nice dining area, adorned with artwork, and very relaxed, though the restaurant personnel are some of the fastest I’ve ever encountered.

Noodles and Sate features, what else, many noodle dishes:

As well as many specials. The Missus decided to order the "Duck Soup Special", according to the sign, people wait the entire year for this soup which is only served for a limited time($7.00):

A small pile of moist and tasty chopped duck lay in the middle a medium sized bowl of soup. The thin rice noodles were a bit strange, kind of mushy, they reminded me of somen. After a quick taste of the soup, the Missus exclaimed; "Oh my God"! I responded with; "Wow, is it that good". The reply? "This is terrible, it tastes like soy sauce water, and the noodles suck!" A quick taste verified what she said. No amount of fried shallot, Thai basil, or anything could save this watery broth. We finished the duck, and left most of the soup and noodles. The most revealing comment? "I’d rather have 100 bowls of Pho’ than this!" If you’ve ever noticed; most of my Pho posts are done solo…….

I ordered Pad See-Eew with Chicken($7.70):

A very small plate of noodles with 5 florets of broccoli, as well as cross cut stems. The chicken was very moist and tender, though. Though the menu had a "chili pepper" on it, this dish was not spicy at all, but that could be based on my palate. In my mind, Pad See Eew is a deceptively easy dish. Simply, rice noodles flavored with soy sauce and/or fish sauce, sugar or other sweetening agent, and broccoli. But Pad See Eew also represents a sort of an understanding of the cuisine, and when done well, is delici-yoso beyond words. The best Pad See Eew I’ve had so far were at Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas, and Krua Thai in West Covina. I’ve not yet experienced the ultimate "wok hay" version that Elmo, from Monster Munching has, but maybe someday. To be very brief, the Pad See Eew was very mildy flavored (I dare say bland), and very tame. I found the portion size to be very small.

I left hungry and we ended up at Gaglione Brothers.

Still convinced that Saffron must have something going for it, I recently went to Saffron Grilled Chicken during a recent lunch hour.

What I found interesting was that a rotisserie is actually used to cook the chicken. The "Guys" working here are super fast, I was in and out in 3 minutes flat!

I ordered the 2 Thigh Chicken Combination($5.70):

I choose the "Peanut sauce" for my chicken. I’d been disappointed in the Sriracha and other sauces I had before, and was told that the peanut sauce was the way to go. Basically, the sauce is a red curry, peanut, and coconut milk based sauce, and tasted pretty good. The chicken, even though it was dark meat was on the dry side, and tasted very bland without the added sauces. Just to confirm I had another co-worker taste the chicken, and asked Her if it was better then Costco’s Rotisserie Chicken. The answer? "No way!"

The best item on the plate was the "Cambodian Salad", a nice mixed salad of cabbage, carrots, in a very refreshing sweet-sour dressing. Too bad, I only got a small container of it, but I’d come back just for that.

I also ordered a skewer of Chicken Sate, without checking out the price – it was 4 bucks!

What I got were two very dry chicken tenderloins, seasoned with what seemed to be a yellow curry based sauce.

I really want to enjoy Saffron, but have always left disappointed. I’m sorry to say I think we’re done here.

Saffron Noodles and Sate’
3737 India Street
San Diego, CA 92103

Saffron Thai Grilled Chicken
3731 India St.
San Diego, CA 92103

Road Trip: Wat Thai Temple – North Hollywood Part II

January 23, 2006 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Thai Restaurants

*** Update 01/01/09 – Wat Thai food court had reopened, on Sundays only.

*** Due to neighborhood complaints about parking the Wat Thai Temple food court has closed.

Fairly stuffed on my Sausages and Papaya Salad, I sat watched the various vendors at work while waiting to see what the Missus would "find". It was also fun to watch what others were eating.

Soon the Missus returned with Her "bounty" including a large Sticky Rice with Mango($5.00):

A huge, perfectly ripe mango with sticky rice flavored with coconut. I hadn't had mango so good since I lived in Hawaii! The Missus told me that she had intended to purchase a small plate, but the Lady working the stall in the ultimate display of up selling, waved a huge mango in front of the Missus telling her; "Biiig one, moah betta, biiig one moah betta!" So how could she resist? I'm not quite sure how these vendors managed to get such perfectly ripe mangoes in the middle of Winter, but I'm sure not complaining! This is a "must eat" item if ever visiting Wat Thai.

Among other items; sticky rice with taro and sweet beans ($1.00):

I didn't get to taste this, but it met with the approval of the Missus.

More sausages, two sour sausages, another grilled sausage, and another "sausage patty":

The sour sausages had grains of rice in them and were sour enough to make me "pucker up", and were somewhat addicting. The other sausages were not as good as the versions I purchase earlier.

A fabulous Fish Curry in banana leaf($3.00):

Tasting like a really good panang curry, this little cup had a layer of shredded cabbage on the bottom, followed by a thin layer of thai basil with coconut milk, followed by the wonderfully moist and tender flaked fish in a red curry sauce. This was all topped off with a chiffonade of kaffir lime leaf. An amazing little dish! This same stall was selling meat from roasted pork shank. When you placed an order the pork meat was removed from the bone; chopped and placed over rice, it looked soooo good! But my arteries sent "no mas" signals to my brain which prevented me from ordering that dish. In what was a slightly humorous moment, the Missus asked the Lady manning the stall if she could purchase the pork bones, which the Lady responded "You have dog, huh?", and proceeded to trim off two shank bones, and placed them in a sack. When the Missus offered to pay; the Gal simply laughed and said "No, no, I give you free, for dog!" So even Sammy and Frankie made out!

On the side directly opposite the food stalls, we could see this Woman, busily moving back and forth. She looked like the busiest Woman in the whole food court; but had no customers! So we walked up as she was packaging two containers of white "disks", that a Young Lady came and "swooped up".

Totally intrigued, and having exactly $3 in tokens left, we decided to order the Kanom Krok. The Lady proceeded to oil the cast iron "pan".

And poured a rice and coconut "batter" into the molds.

And green onions are added if you wish. After cooking for a few minutes, and when the batter is starting to "bubble", a sweeter lighter batter is added to top off the Kanom Krok:

The Lady asked us if we wanted to go and take a "walk" around the Temple, and come back in 10 minutes. But we decided to just wait and had a nice chat with Her.

When the sides of the confection has developed a crust and the middle of the batter is starting to solidify, the Kanom Krok is loosened.

Until it's ready:

And it's packed up and ready to eat:

The way to eat Kanom Krok is to place two half disks together to form a sphere and eat them right away – they're Delici-yoso!!! One quick note, the interior of the Kanom Krok is positively molten. So unless you want to become a candidate for a lip and tongue graft, proceed with caution! (Thanks for the reminder MEalcentric)

When you visit Wat Thai please make sure to take a walk around the Temple grounds, you'll truly feel transported to a whole "different world".

There are so many different things available; you can' t possibly try everything in one trip. We're saving the Fried Banana/Taro/Sweet Potato, and the Soup/Noodle stalls for the next time. Yes, there will be a next time!

Visiting the Wat Thai Temple was such a fun and delici-yoso experience; even the lousy traffic on the 101 and 5 freeways, and the almost 3 hour trip back to San Diego didn't dampen my spirits.

Wat Thai of Los Angeles
8225 Coldwater Canyon Ave
North Hollywood, CA 91605

Weekend Food Court – 8am-6pm Every Weekend!

Road Trip: Wat Thai Temple – North Hollywood Part I

January 22, 2006 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Thai Restaurants

*** Update 01/01/09 – Wat Thai Food Court has reopened on Sunday's only

*** Due to neighborhood complaints about parking the Wat Thai Temple food court has closed.

The weekend "food court" at the Wat Thai of Los Angeles, the largest Thai Theravada Buddhist Temple in the United States has long been a food destination on my "list" of places to see and eat. After seeing various posts on Chowhound; Monster Munching, and Professor Salt's blog, You gonna eat that?; and several years of coaxing and cajoling, the Missus finally gave in to a "short" road trip up the I-5, from San Diego to North Hollywood for a Saturday eating frenzy.

We left fairly early and made what could on some days be considered an ill-conceived 130 mile trip in a brisk 90 minutes. Once off the freeway, and taking the turn at the corner of Cold Water Canyon and Roscoe Boulevard, you immediately see Wat Thai Temple looking quite out of place, looming above this land of auto repair shops, service stations, and the adjoining residential neighborhood. We had purposely chosen a fairly early morning during winter, that didn't coincide with any festival, so that we would not have to compete with the masses for parking or seating, nor have to wait in lines for any long period.

At 915 in the morning, all the vendor stalls are open but there are no lines:

And the fragrance of ginger, garlic, fish sauce, and Thai herbs are floating in the air. Noah seems to have designed this "food court". There are two of everything. Two stands making papaya salad, two "sausage/meat" stands, two stands making soup, and so forth.

The Vendors take no cash; instead you go to one, or more of the "token" booths and exchange cash for tokens.

After exchanging our cash for tokens; the Missus went off in one direction, and I in another. I made a beeline for this booth in the middle of the food court:

I had already pretty much knew what I would be ordering, but since there were no crowds I could take my time, and I looked over the larb and other sausages.

But my sights were set on having a Papaya Salad($3.00), even in the dead of winter.

And so while the Lady was hard at work at the mortar, I had time to look around.

And ordered a chicken satay($1.00):

Perfectly grilled; slightly charred around the edges, moist and mildly flavored, this was very good. The Missus was very surprised at my display of restraint; I didn't order any beef or pork, or any other of the satays.

I did order this interesting "sausage"($2.00):

If someone knows what this mystery meat is called, please let me know. It's a nicely formed rectangle of "meat", spotted with garlic and rice, with a slightly crunchy, almost tripe like, gelatinous strings going through it. The sausage was dense, garlicky, and slightly sour. And not the slightest bit salty; I had expected "Spam on a stick", but this was not even close. I really enjoyed the flavors and textures of this "mystery meat".

I also slid over to the booth next door and ordered a grilled sausage skewer($1.00):

Very similar to a"formed" sausage patty; this was nicely flavored, and quite dense. Nice pepper and garlic, and a slight sweetness throughout the sausage.

Finally, my Papaya Salad was ready:

As I sat, I took time to admire this melange of ingredients; green beans, peanuts, julienned green papaya, and tomato were readily visible. Along with a generous amount of Blue Crab.

The salad was as close to the most perfect Papaya Salad I've ever had! There was such balance and harmony(in such an appropriate venue) between the fish sauce and lime juice, the tomatoes added a touch of sweetness and kept the sour lime juice in check. The interplay of textures between the papaya, green beans, and peanuts was excellent, if on a menu, it could be called "crunch, three ways". The crab added at briny, salty component, that was tempered by the lime juice. The "heat" was perfect; I'd gotten medium. Spicy, but not so spicy as to block out all of the other flavors. This was delici-yoso!!! Even on a winter day, where everyone around me was having soup and porridge, this Papaya Salad was King.

I ate half of everything, and saved half for the Missus. But where was the Missus?

To be continued…….

Thai Cafe

December 26, 2005 mmm-yoso Buffets, Thai Restaurants

**** Thai Cafe has closed

At this time of the year, with all the hustle and bustle, it seems that there are occasions when we are only allotted time for a quick bite. And yet, our appetites may betray us, and require a more substantial, yet quick meal. In cases like this Thai Cafe is a Godsend.

Most Customers arrive at Thai Cafe with intentions of chowing down on the well priced ($6.50/lunch, $8.99/Dinner), which features about 25-30 items.

The quick drill goes like this. We walk in, and as the Server is walking up to us, we stage whisper, or raise fingers with the amount of people in our party. In this case two, the Server walks us to our table, while we give him our drink order. And instead of sitting down, we set off to the buffet.

If you expect "warming tray hell", you may be slightly surprised, that most(you'll figure out what doesn't rather quickly) dishes do rather well. And during slightly more busy times, the dishes are turned over quite promptly. By this time a whole 3 minutes has elapsed. After a few visits, you develop a Thai Cafe "strategy". You actually do two "plates" before sitting down. The first is a plate of "salads" and fried items. On any given day the Papaya Salad can be a good choice.

Very simple and without dried shrimp or crab, it's still features good "heat" from the chilies, along with the crunchy papaya, it's actually not bad at all. On this visit, the Larb(in this case ground chicken) Salad was just brought out, and thus didn't have the chance to dry out. The taste of lemongrass, and cilantro stand out. On many visits the larb salad has been dry, so we'll usually pass.

There are two noodle dishes that are usually dependable; the Spicy Noodles (Drunken Noodles):

Or the Pad Woon Sen (Bean Thread). As you can tell, these a quite short on the meat, but all carb lovers would probably enjoy them. On any given day, one could be better then the other; but an "educated" eye, can determine which to choose. There is also fried rice(ok), and what I consider to be terrible Pad Thai as well.

There are several curries, usually a spicy fried catfish, or something similar, salt and pepper squid(not bad), orange chicken, Pad Prik King(Green Beans)and a fried chicken with peanut sauce(I get just the chicken, and make my own sauce). During the evenings there is also a mussel, and a shrimp dish as well.

At 8 minutes, I've got my two plates, grabbed my sauces, and have started eating:

Since we eat fairly quickly, we can usually polish off everything in about 20 minutes:

Not bad, a meal under 15 bucks, and your out in under 25 minutes. Unless you really get mesmerized by those Soy Sauce Eggs.

It's not fine dining Thai by any means. But it's fast, and tasty, and much better then some of the cheap Chinese Buffets, and way better then many Chinese Fast Food options. At least everything does not taste the same and use the same "sauce". When we're in a rush, or really hungry and can't wait. We often times will drop by Thai Cafe.

Thai Cafe
4722 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Lunch Buffet – $6.50

Dinner Buffet – $8.99

Sang Dao

September 15, 2005 mmm-yoso Lao Restaurants, Thai Restaurants

*** Sang Dao has moved, and updated post can be found here.

I've been keeping my ears and eyes open for a good Thai/Laotian Restaurant here in San Diego, and have been given a few leads. Sang Dao had been recommended to me by a friend. So here we are at the dusty East end of National Avenue in Logan Heights:

Sang Dao is located next to Muang Laos Market #1, across the street from a 99 cent Chinese Food restaurant. The bars on all the doors and windows tell you what kind of neighborhood you're in, but this is where you sometimes find the best food. Enter the restaurant and you immediately know it's a real "Family" business; at a table in the back people are chatting, teenagers are watching television, and the youngsters are playing catch in the middle of the restaurant.

As we sat, I noticed the comprehensive condiment tray with everything from the standard Sriracha to shrimp paste; so far so good. A very serious, stoic, Young Lady took our order, and soon we could smell the garlic in the air, and the sound of a spatula stirring a wok!

The first dish served was the Drunken Noodles with Shrimp ($5.95):

The shrimp were fresh and tasty, the heat was very nice, and the noodles were cooked well. We also enjoyed the Chinese Broccoli in the dish. To us the dish was much too "wet", and lacked flavor beyond the heat. There seemed to be a good amount of garlic, but we really couldn't taste it, a bit more sweetness would have made this dish much more enjoyable. As we were eating the noodles the Spicy Catfish was delivered ($6.95):

The Missus had ordered this and thought it was pretty good. I however thought that it was too oily and muddy tasting. The dish featured slices of catfish that were fried, than stir fried with a sauce, I could make out the taste of galangal, but not enough to cancel out the muddy taste. Overall we thought this dish was the weakest.

Our Beef Salad (Yum Nua- $5.95) was served next:

This dish was delici-yoso, and easily the best dish of the evening. The dish had a nice, sweet, spicy, salty, and sour flavor. The beef was cooked to perfection, and was not so hot as to start cooking/wilting the vegetables. A very balanced, very nice plate. One thing is that the "appetizer/salad sin" was committed here. That is, the salad was served after some of the main courses. Didn't matter much with us, we polished this one off.

The Spicy Fried Rice with Chicken ($6.95) was served next, as you can tell, we were on our "reverse-Adkins" tonight:

Now I ate almost the whole plate, the Missus only had a few spoonfuls, she thought the taste of shrimp paste over-powered everything, she's also not a fan of dark meat chicken, which was present here. I thought it was good, not great, but good. Yes, there was alot of shrimp paste, but I enjoyed the spiciness, saltiness, and thought the green onions added nice flavor. I think a bit of lime might have balanced out the dish a bit more.

Overall, I thought that this was really a good "home-cooked" meal. The food had that "homey" feel, and if thought of in that way, it was not bad at all. Also, the prices are really good by San Diego standards. The other thing I totally forgot was to order Larb, which is probably the best known of Laotian dishes. During the whole meal we were the only customers in the Restaurant. Service was efficient and fast, food is simple and very "home-style".

Sang Dao
4212 National Avenue
San Diego, CA 92113

Open Tues-Sun 10AM-8PM

Road Trip: The Boat – Rowland Heights

September 12, 2005 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Road Trip, Thai Restaurants

**** The Boat has closed

In need of a “quick” lunch I decided to drop by The Boat in Diamond Plaza off of Fullerton Road. We used to live relatively close to The Boat, and ate here quite often. So I kinda just wanted to see if perhaps my tastes had changed since I last ate there.

It was 10 til 11 and Diamond Plaza was absolutely packed! Unbelievable! I managed to find a parking spot at the far end of the mall, dodged the crazy drivers honking at each other and cutting each other off, and made my way to The Boat, which was very quiet:

I was quickly seated and my order was efficiently taken. The first item I ordered was the Pad Kee Mao ($5.25):

As you can clearly see; the Pad Kee Mao doesn’t even look like it’s been cooked in a wok! Though I enjoyed the chilies and the amount of basil, that’s all I could taste. There was really no other flavor at all. Also, the chicken was dry and tough. This dish was a disappointment, I’d never order it again. I took most of it home, where the Missus asked me, “where’s the flavor?” I gave her a bottle of Soy Sauce, and said “here’s the flavor…”

I also ordered the Papaya Salad ($4.95):

This was an okay dish. Nice flavor, good spice, and the shrimp added a nice salty, briny taste along with a good texture counter-point. The sauce needed, a bit more fish sauce, there was a bit too much lime juice in this dish. But decent overall.

In comparison to our meal at Krua Thai this was a very mediocre meal.

Some notes on The Boat. The service is fast and efficient, though friendly is not in the vocabulary. Most of the clientele are Chinese, but the people working looked to be Thai. I don’t think I’ll be coming back again, I left wondering what is was about The Boat that I enjoyed so much in the past?????

A little side note. This is the Restaurant that people were literally running each other over to get into; New Capitol Seafood. When we lived here it used to be Ruby Palace (?), or something like that. Maybe Elmo or Mealcentric can tell me what the deal is with this restaurant? There was a line all the way down the stairs! At 10 til 11 in the morning!

The Boat
1390 Fullerton Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
11:00 A.M. – 12:00 A.M. Sunday to Thursday
11:00 A.M. – 1:00 A.M. Friday and Saturday

Di Chan Thai Restaurant – And a Reverse Atkins Moment

September 5, 2005 mmm-yoso Thai Restaurants

Di Chan has been on my "list" since recommended by a friend a few months back, we live only a few minutes away, so we finally decided to pay Di Chan a visit:

On this day, the Missus and I were having what I call a "reverse-Atkins" moment. That is we were craving carbs. Obviously there's no way the Atkins Diet would work for us! As a matter of fact I often have my Reverse Atkins breakfast at work – hash browns, breakfast potatoes, and toast. As we entered the strip mall storefront I felt somewhat claustrophobic at the entrance hallway:

We were seated in the small dining area to the left of the hallway. Our next surprise (gasp) was when we opened the menu. We had last had Thai Food at Krua Thai in West Covina, and were really hard pressed to find any dish over $6.95. At Di Chan, there are no noodle or entree below $8.95; talk about a dose of San Diego reality! In need of a starch fix we ordered the Pad Thai, Spicy Basil Fried Rice with Shrimp, and for some protein a Beef Salad ($8.95):

I've got to say that this was the most beef I've ever seen in a Beef Salad. The strange thing with this was that the Beef was stir fried than tossed with the salad, thus the "salad" was extremely warm, partially cooking the cucumber and other vegetables; not quite the refreshing salad I had in mind. Also though the dressing is described as a spicy lime dressing, this salad had a bit too much fish sauce for my taste, and we even had to ask for extra lime to squeeze over the salad. The heat level though, was perfect.

The Pad Thai($9.15) was delivered next:

In contrast to the salad, the Pad Thai was much to sweet, and could've used the fish sauce used in the salad. We also added lime juice to this dish as well. The noodles were cooked to a perfect al dente, the shrimp were also cooked perfectly, the fried tofu added a nice texture, though the chicken was overcooked, dry and stringy.

The Spicy Basil Fried Rice with Shrimp ($9.95) arrived last:

The rice was done well, though I wished they used a bit more Thai Basil in this dish. The Missus enjoyed this dish more than I did. There was a bit of the essence and carmelization of the wok in this dish, but not enough to pull it over mediocre in my book.

A few notes; Di Chan really feels alot smaller than it is, if that's possible. The service is very nice; in fact the Manager (Owner?) stopped over and started discussing Gas Prices with us. Most of the menu items are of the standard "pick your protein/pick your sauce" type.

Di-Chan Thai Restaurant
5535 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

View Larger Map

Road Trip: Krua Thai Restaurant – West Covina

August 28, 2005 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Thai Restaurants

After our brief browsing and shopping foray at Hong Kong Market, we made our way in the slowly rising heat to Krua Thai.

Though only on the other side of the mall, the heat almost got the better of us, and we almost stopped at other restaurants twice. But after reading Elmo's Krua Thai review on Monster Munching, I really wanted to give this restaurant a try. After what seems like a half hour (it's amazing how the heat can really slow you down) we crawled in through the door at Krua Thai. The first thing the Missus said was "Picturessss, I like pictures!" She has a thing about food photo's, I guess they help her make decisions on what to order. Though they sometimes sent her into complete analysis paralysis. The decor in Krua Thai is nice in a Eighties kind of way – the only thing odd is that the counter area is separated from the dining area by a divider, which has a sofa on one side. I found that a bit odd. I did like the glass exterior of the restaurant, though the view of Glendora Ave is less than thrilling, it kept the restaurant from being too dark.

After seeing the Pad Kee Mao($5.25) on Pam's site Daily Gluttony, I knew that I needed to order it.

The Pad Kee Mao($5.25) was cooked to perfection, the noodles smooth and slightly firm, provided the perfect amount of resistance. The ground chicken was excellent, the chunks not too small, moist, and with a nice taste. The tomatoes were tangy and added a nice sweetness to the dish. I'd have enjoyed the Pad Kee Mao alot more if it was more aggressively seasoned, in my opinion, it was not spicy enough, and there was not enough basil. The menu says mint, but it was Thai Basil that was in this dish. Good, not great.

Green Papaya Salad with dried shrimp and salty crab ($4.75):

I'm a big fan of Papaya Salad, in fact, one of the dishes I had the first time I ate Thai food was Green Papaya salad. I usually don't order Papaya Salad in most Thai restaurants, because I'm usually disappointed. It's usually a sour – salty mess, especially with salty crab. This version was very good, the papaya and beans crunchy; the tomatoes added sweetness, the chewy texture of the shrimp, and the briny crab together created a nice dish. I could've done with a bit more heat, but I'd order this refreshing dish again.

On the other hand, the Nam($4.95), or sour sausage was a complete failure:

Bland and mushy, this almost tasteless sausage was totally over-powered by any of the "garnishes".

We also ordered the Catfish with Chili Sauce($6.50):

The catfish was fried than topped with a sauce that featured Thai Basil, Mint, and Kaffir Lime, this was nice and tasty, though again it could have used a bit more heat. The catfish was prepared well, but you'll have to maneuver around some tiny bones. A nice dish with rice.

The best? The Papaya Salad; the "dressing" was excellent, darker than any I've seen, with sweet, sour, and salty tones. The Missus ended up pouring the dressing over rice to finish up.

You'll be really hard pressed to find anything over $6.95 on the menu, and the hours are great. The Missus first glanced at the hours and said, "so this place is only open for lunch". I had to show her it's 11am to 330am, that's three thirty in the morning. I'd say you get your money's worth here.

Krua Thai
935 South Glendora Ave.
West Covina, CA 91790
Open Daily 11am to 330am

View Larger Map

Plaza Sorrento Food Court – Greek Bites and Amarin Thai

August 3, 2005 mmm-yoso Greek Food, Thai Restaurants

***** Both of these places have closed

I'm a true believer in Food Courts; not the cookie-cutter shopping mall type, mind you. But those found in areas of the San Gabriel Valley, with interesting variety and decent quality. You'll hardly ever find "great" food in a Food Court, but it's the "hunt" that counts. Two of my favorites are The Quincy Market in Boston and Union Station in Washington DC. The usual program would go like this; we'd each take $20, head off in opposite directions, with instructions to meet at a central location in 15 minutes to share our bounty. Honestly, there are more "clunkers" than winners, but it can be fun. So when we came across the Food Court in the Plaza Sorrento during our visit to the Sorrento European Bakery, we became very interested. And since we were starving, and one Banh Mi would not quench our hunger, the hunt was on.

In this food court is a Indian Tandoori place, a Vietnamese restaurant, and Japanese restaurant. I started noticing that many of the places in this "food court" had it's own dining area, making the description of food court into a misnomer, this collection of eating establishments was more of a "restaurant row". On this trip we decided on Greek and Thai.

From Greek Bites we got a combination platter ($8.65).

This pretty sizable platter was a big dissapointment, even at food court standards. The gyros meat was very dry, the chicken kabobs were dry and tasteless, and the chicken wings were – eh, ok. The salad was short on feta and the dressing tasted bottled. The rice pilaf was over-cooked. The tzatziki was good though, and we ended up slathering it over everything, and even bought another one ($.40). Seems like the name Greek "Bites" was somehow appropriate. At least we had leftovers for Sammy and Frankie.

Our other choice was Thai from Amarin Thai Restaurant.

I asked if this place was under the same ownership as Amarin Thai in Hillcrest and was given a positive nod. I ordered the Thai Sausage ($5.95) and Grilled Beef Salad ($7.25). One quick thing, unlike the speed of most food court type places, there was quite a wait here – even though it was sausage and a salad I ordered.

The Thai Sausage was nicely portioned with all the usual condiments, the sausage was alot milder than I'm used to (i.e. LOS in Vegas), not as salty, a bit more herbacious, and softer in texture. The sausage tasted fine with a squeeze of lime and wrapped in a cabbage leaf, but I could've used a bit more peanuts.

Yum Nuah (grilled beef salad), is one of my favorite dishes, especially on a hot summer day. This version had a generous amount of beef, lots of cilantro, cucumbers, lettuce, and tasty ripe tomatoes. The dressing was a bit one dimensional, I know that sounds strange, but it had too much fish sauce and not enough lime. I ended up squeezing the lime from sausage dish to balance the flavor out. We ordered this dish hot and the heat was excellent, though in spite of the amount of beef, the overall portion size was on the small side.

Best dish of the day – the Thai Sausage. We finished almost everything (Greek stuff leftover), and could have gone for more, but it was getting a little late, so we headed home.

So not quite a food court, The Plaza Sorrento " International Food Court" features a great variety of restaurants, putting everything from Boba and Pho' to Tandoori Chicken within reach. Obviously your mileage may vary in these type of places, but it's fun to be able to grab a good variety of dishes. And besides, there's great sport in the hunt! Do you think there's a future for an organized food court eaters league?

6755 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92121