Thai me to the moon...

I couldn't resist the awful pun. I apologize profusely but it couldn't be helped, especially since we're becoming such good friends.

Ahem.



The subject today is Thai food and aside from the fact that I know I'm going to get crap for this, I've currently got two favorites in town: Royal Thai and Thai BBQ (the Original).

First up, Royal Thai. It's on Sahara just West of the Strip (can you tell this is our general neighborhood area? Yeah.. deal with it) and it's neatly situated in a strip mall filled with other cuisines that we've been meaning to try but have yet to venture toward because, well... Royal Thai is amazing. Menu and info for you here

The staff is O.M.G awesome and despite the fact that we're usually the only ..er... white people in the place (isn't this a good measure of the cuisine? If other people of that ethnicity love to eat there?), we've never been treated with anything less that excellence.

Not only this, but the food? The food makes me squee in my pants. Almost literally. I'm a big fan of Pad Thai in particular and this place makes me quite happy about it. Portions are huge and prices are absolutely affordable. I always start out with the appetizer - tempura vegetables (because despite the fact that I'm a fatty and don't generally eat a lot of veggies, I can't pass up deep fried eggplant, zucchini, broccoli and carrots with sweet sauce for dipping!) and then move on to the Pad Thai. I have also tried the eggplant main dish as well as the orange chicken. Everything to date has been absolutely delicious. Not a single complaint from me or any of the poor intrepid souls that have ventured here with me.

The best thing about Royal Thai is the dessert. Seriously. I'd punch babies for this dessert. I believe they call it sweet rice... I'm not sure how to say it in Thai, so I fake it and tell the server that I want the green rice (yeah, it's green, but totally worth the shock value) with ice cream. And by ice cream, I mean coconut ice cream which is not too sweet - actually, not as sweet as the rice - and still has bits of coconut in it. It comes in a little dish and you may want to share it, but not.. if you know what I mean. It's incredibly rich and it may be too much for you to think about eating, but you'll want to anyway. Also, the rice is served warmish and of course the ice cream is not. Great combination. NOM NOM NOM!

The other favorite thusfar was attempted just this week: Thai BBQ on Jones and Flamingo. Menu and location details here Whilst waiting for our showtime for Sherlock Holmes (which, BTW, was quite good indeed), my friend Ghryc (that's pronounced Freak... don't ask) and I ventured to the intersection of Jones and Flamingo for a bit of food before we sat around on our rears for 2+ hours.

Being that the co-author, Kobold has this silly allergy-to-shellfish thing, I often try to avoid eating things with .. you know, animals that could kill him while we're out and about, but my company tonight would not be spared the tragedy of killing small crustaceans. We ordered the appetizer called "Wings of Angel"... which is a little disturbing if you're super-religious, but we're not so we were all about cherubic cannibalism. The order comes with 2 boneless chicken wings which are stuffed with shrimp, pork, chicken (of course) and clear noodles, also served with a side of sweet and sour cucumber sauce. Y.O.M! Not just yum, but YOM. Whilst my companion was given to eating the sauce all by itself, it did indeed lend to the taste of the shri-por-ken (like tur-duck-en, get it?) and sort of helped cut the very minimal greasy edge of the deep fried goodness.

I, being that I have decided this is my standard fare at Thai places, had the Pad Thai, which was an enormous helping (hello, lunch for 2 days afterward) and though there were no substitutions on the shrimp on the menu - as I would have preferred chickens - I was quite pleased with the overall taste. Very well done indeed.

My companion is of the opinion that you can't go to a Thai place and not have curry - I'm not entirely sure what he ordered, but he ordered it in the "please hurt me with the level of spice" area and was pleasantly surprised that not only did it "eviscerate" him as he had wanted, but it still had excellent flavor. All I remember is dabbing my finger in a bit of the sauce, putting it on my tongue and being incredibly sorry afterward. Please keep in mind, I'm from the Midwest, which means spicy things aren't really my specialty.

We were remiss and didn't order desert, as we did have a flick to catch, but we were both heartily satisfied with our meals and we left without too much of a dent in our pocketbooks.