Soi 30th opened up right next to Lefty's on 30th Street last fall. My good friends and I actually went and ate there at the end of September, basically going through a good part of the menu on that evening. But the focus was on what was going with each other; work and other things have been keeping me from seeing them as much as I'd like to.
I decided not to do a post after that visit; mainly because we were just enjoying each other's company and catching up on what was going on.
That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the food….I did enjoy a couple of the dishes. Though some were quite uneven; I attributed that to being newly opened. It did help that the place was being opened by the former owner of Krua Thai in Chula Vista.
I decided to do a couple of visits on my own; which stretched out over almost nine months. But finally, think it's time.
The restaurant is small; the interior tiny, with some outdoor seating. The set-up is perfect for the "North Park Brewpub" type; you order at the counter, get a number, have a seat.
On my first visit; I went with a dish that I usually use to gauge the cooks Wok Skills; Pad See Eew with Shrimp ($13).
Not an especially generous portion; the shrimp was cooked perfectly, a wonderful tender and plump. I liked the fact that the sauce wasn't overly sweet, but the noodles, while nicely coated, was on the over-cooked side and lacked the smokey "wok hey" that I look for in this dish.
I did enjoy the Thai Jerky ($7); which had been nicely dried, then fried.
Edging just on the precipice of being hard; I loved the chewiness, the flavor, salty-savory, was quite good as well.
On my next visit; two more Thai staples…..
The SomTom E-san ($7), was a bit disappointing.
While the papaya was expertly shredded, this just wasn't spicy….especially for Issan Papaya salad. I wasn't asked for a spiciness level and this was too mild. Not very much salted crab, nor enough tomato. Too much lime and not enough fish sauce; this just wasn't what I wanted.
I had mixed feelings about ordering the Thai Sausage. You see, on my visit with friends the sausage wasn't sour enough and the meat quite mealy. This however, was very good.
Nice light sourness; pork skin, great firm, but not hard texture. Very nice! Sadly, much like CC's visit (check out her post), no ginger, and sliced serrano peppers instead of Thai Chilies.
A few weeks later; it was the Khao Man Gai, which was very disappointing; the chicken was super dry, the rice not flavored enough and hard.
The ginger based sauce needed….well, more ginger as it really lacked zip.
I also ordered the Crispy Chicken Wings.
Much of the rather light batter was flaking off the wings; broken bones, and the meat was moist and tender it had dark spots. I thought it a bit too sweet for my taste and I felt it needed more zip and a crunchiness that would hold out a bit longer.
After this; I decided to give the place a rest for a couple of weeks; which turned out to be months.
When I finally returned; I saw that Soi 30th had Pad Ped as a special; so I decided to order it. The portion size was quite large and that egg was nice and runny.
I found the sauce a bit too "gloppy" and the pork dry. The were lumps of sauce; you know, when you're not on your stir-fry game and you add in the sauce to finish and it lumps up under the heat.
On my next visit; I had what is perhaps my favorite dish at Soi 30th; in fact, I've had it again recently and it was the same; It's the Pork Belly and Chinese Broccoli.
Not over sauced; the star was the pork belly; crunchy, not hard, which gave away to a nice tenderness. Mild garlic tones and I could actual taste some heat here; not much mind you, but at least it was there. During this visit the Gailan was too hard and crisp, but on my subsequent visit, it was cooked nicely. On both visits the fried egg was over-cooked for my taste; but maybe the clientele freaks out over soft and runny eggs? Still, a good dish.
On my last visit, I was curious about the Khao Moo Krob – Moo Daeng; basically red pork (like charsiu) and pork belly. The fluorescent red sauce really caught my attention.
The "red" pork was on the dry and tough side and really lacked flavor. The pork belly though was again nicely fried up, making it crisp and delicious. The sauce was too sweet and missing the nice tangy-savory component used on Moo Daeng. The rice was perfect and fragrant, though the boiled egg was way overcooked, the yolk quite dry.
So, why all the visits? Well, there's something about this place that I like….perhaps it's the vibe…..the dishes I enjoyed had that "hint of Thailand" and while on the gringo side, were not bad. Perhaps I need to do this a some other Thai places that missed the mark previously?
The service was amiable and the prices not bad.
To quote reader EdwardW who emailed me about Soi 30th back in September - "I want this place to do well. It’s close to my home and about as honest Thai cooking I’ve found in San Diego." Well said! And thanks for reading and taking the time to send us an email!
Soi 30th
3442 30th St
San Diego, CA 92104
Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm, 430pm – 930pm
Fridays 11am – 330pm, 430pm – 930pm
Sat – Sun 12pm – 930pm
After not enjoying that Huckleberry Bourbon (my good FOY "YummyYummy" had warned me that the drink seemed a bit watered down over her last couple of visits), I ordered the Tequila Mockingbird, which I enjoyed; especially since it wasn't too sweet and there was a nice bit of savory heat from the Habanero Bitters.
