True Thai

Thai House earns its reputation for fine food

Stacee Sledge

Aug 7, 2003 — I've never been to Thailand, but as my enjoyment of its cuisine steadily grows, I'm more tempted to make the trek.

The menu at Thai House Restaurant, tucked in Meridian Village shopping center across the street from Bellis Fair mall, touts its food as "the best Thai food in town." It's been lauded several times in the popular "Northwest Best Places" guides, so it just might be onto something there.

After my initial visit, I can't wholeheartedly concur, but I will say that it ranks in my top two or three — and I'll certainly return to see if it can climb to the top of my list.

Our server was a young man, a bit low-key in the way only a teenager can be, but extremely capable. He often stopped to ask how our dishes were and never let our water dishes fall below half-empty.

He took our orders soon after we were seated in the nicely appointed dining room. It wasn't until after our young server left that I realized he hadn't asked me how spicy I wanted my phad Thai.

Thai House Restaurant

Location: 187 Telegraph Road Phone: 734-5111 Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday 4 to 11 p.m., Sunday Serving: Traditional Thai treats for lunch, dinner and take-out. Menu items sampled:  Tofu thod $4.95  Phad Thai $7.95  Sizzling duck $12.95  Steamed rice $1

A few minutes later, he brought us small bowls of salad cradling curls of fresh green-leaf lettuce heavily dressed with a warm, creamy peanut dressing and tossed with slight strips of carrot and thin cucumber slices.

The warm dressing brought out its intense peanut flavor, although there was perhaps a bit too much dressing settled into the bottom of my bowl.

We followed this with an appetizer of tofu thod, deep-fried tofu squares served with a sweet and sour peanut sauce.

More than a dozen of the jagged wonders filled a decorative china plate. Heat rose off the plate, and we had to wait a few minutes before we could comfortably consume them. Brittle outside but oozing warm tofu inside, the bite-sized bits were sprinkled generously with pepper-lemon seasoning.

My entree arrived before we could finish the appetizer, so my husband polished off the tofu thod off while I dug into my dish.

Regular readers will know that I'm a fan of phad Thai and have trouble deviating from this traditional noodle dish. I believe this is because phad Thai is one of those dishes that can only be successfully prepared in a restaurant.

Rice-stick noodles stir-fried with fish sauce, bean sprouts and egg were piled high onto a gorgeous square platter and then garnished with ground peanuts and loads of scallion. The version at Thai House was pleasant, if a bit on the bland side. A kick of spice would have perked up the plate pleasantly.

It's only fair I point out that in Thailand, phad Thai is not a spicy dish. It has generally been fired up in flavor to satisfy a uniquely American conception that Thai cuisine is often scorching. So my slight disappointment with the phad Thai was really more to blame on other Americanized Thai restaurants I've patronized in the past.

More than five minutes passed before my husband's entree was brought to the table.

This is one of my primary pet peeves when dining out, and although I was initially ready to overlook the inequitable arrivals, my annoyance amplified as I watched a neighboring table — also with only two diners — suffer the same scheduling snafu with different dishes.

One bite of sizzling duck and my husband was all smiles, his wait forgotten.

Crispy pieces of duck were served hot from the wok — spitting and hissing — with a mix of broccoli, carrot, onion, cabbage, mushrooms and a delectable garlic sauce.

My husband, a historically fast eater, loved this dish. It took him nearly 15 solid minutes to devour, and he barely spoke the entire time, except to rave about the flavor of the duck and the abundance of portion size.

No dessert options were offered or found on the menu, but in the end it didn't matter; I left with almost as much leftover as I had consumed, and my husband was equally satiated by his enormous duck dinner.

I grabbed a takeout menu as we exited the eatery, which was filling up quickly. During the short car ride home I found plenty of tantalizing Thai delights that I look forward to sampling on future visits.