Favorite Thai Place

So close to the action, his 

water cup was at my seat!

I always love trying out "hole-in-the-wall" restaurants.  Although they can sometimes be a little grungy,  the food can be surprisingly delicious.  The best cuisine's aren't always  the five-star fine dining restaurants with white table cloths and all male waiters.  Thai Tom in the University District is a great example of a small hidden gem in the Seattle area.

Zoe and I outside Thai Tom by on University
Avenue by UW.

The line can be long for this 7 table and approximately 250 sq. ft. sized restaurant, but it is worth the wait.  Make sure to pay attention when the small Taiwanese women calls your name.  "Zoe" can very easily be pronounced as "Carrie", and then you're out of luck.

If your party is anymore than 3 people, you are destined to wait for a seat at the bar.  Overlooking the "kitchen", you watch as the pantry chef chops vegetables and wraps up fresh spring rolls.  The real fire comes from the single chef slaving over the stove.  At a rapid pace he will whip up sometimes 6 different noodle dishes at once.  Different oils, chopped vegetables, chicken or tofu, and noodles are thrown into the wok pans and fried to thai exquisiteness.  He then uses the counter you are sitting at to plate the dishes.  The steaming noodles sit there, making your mouth water until one of the two ladies working the floor picks them up to be delivered.

Zoe with her Chicken Pad Thai

Most members of my family usually order the Chicken Pad Thai.  It is probably one of the best executes of the popular thai dish in the city, so I can see why. The green onions pack  tangy-ness, while the bean sprouts help tone down the sweetness.  I like how they are mixed in, instead of just placed on top in a giant pile like at most other thai places.  The plate is served with rice, which doesn't make much sense to me because you already get so many noodles!

Chicken Pad See Ew

Although I do enjoy the Pad Thai, my favorite thai dish has always been Chicken Pad See Ew.  I love the consistency of the flat and wide rice noodles.  I love chewy noodles! (That's probably why I like gnocchi so much as well.)  My dish comes with lots of veggies that add the perfect crunch.

Both dishes have small pieces of fried egg and chicken in them.  My only critique is that I wish there were either more bigger sized or more pieces of chicken.  It's a lot of noodles, with not a lot of protein.  But, the chicken that is in the dish is so well marinated, it almost tastes like candy!  The line outside in the rain can be long.  The wooden chairs and barstools are very uncomfortable, and the restaurant only takes cash.  But, Thai Tom is a definite must for any out of town guest you want to woo with a hole in the wall Seattle favorite!

Me with my favorite bowl of noodles!
Chicken Pad See Ew

Not Soi Great

Afek and his Thai Iced Tea

Vegetable Summer Rolls
Crunch slivers of of assorted
fresh vegetables wrapped in
rice paper with a savory peanut
dipping sauce.

Saturday night, spur of the moment, I get a text from Afek.  He wanted to know if I could watch the new “New Girl” with him.  It’ s our favorite show to watch together.  All I really did that day was homework because I had two papers and a test the week before Thanksgiving.  Why do all the professors always pile on all the work right before break? I guess its better than having to do homework over break.  I told him to come over whenever he could and we would start up my Hulu account.  By the time he walked over, in the rain, it was already 7pm.  We decided to go “Get Fat” and comfortable before watching the show.  I didn’t really feel like driving too far, so we decided to just go downtown.  I recommended Thai food, because that was were we always ate when we would go out back in Seattle.  Unfortunately I haven’t had that great of Thai experiences in LA, compared to Seattle.  Besides Nappakao, a neighborhood restaurant right by my house that is pretty decent for Kirkland, Washington, my favorite Thai restaurant is Thai Tom.  Thai Tom is a small, hole-in-the wall shop in University District.  Hopefully I’ll go there over Thanksgiving so I can blog all about it.  We ended up going to Soi Seven on 7^th street.  I remembered going here once before last year, but I wasn’t so “Type A” back then, so I couldn’t really remember if I liked it or not.  This time my critical eye and tastebuds got to me.  Didn’t have the best experience, even though the date was still lovely as always.  Afek ordered the Thai Iced Tea.  Love the condensed milk, but its too sweet to eat with dinner.  I used to order them when I was younger and went out to Thai food with my family.  We started with the fresh veggie spring rolls-my favorite Thai appetizer. Although presented nicely, the rolls were very dry.  The vegetables did not taste fresh, or crunchy at all.  And there was too much rice paper, making them very sticky.  The appetizer came with a savory peanut dipping sauce that was actually pretty good. At the Thai places I visit at home, the dish usually comes with a thai chili sauce.  I really liked the peanut sauce, reminded me of a chicken satay dish.  Would had been great if the rolls were better. 
For our main entrees I ordered the Pad Siew with chicken.  This is my favorite Thai dish anywhere I go.  It's a pan fried wide noodle, usually served with some sort of vegetable.  I like the wide noodles because of their sticky and chewy like consistency.  This plate was not the best.  The whole dish was room temperature, and a little bland.  Not only did it not have enough spice, but overall it didn't seem like the noodles had soaked up enough of the sauce.  I was also not a fan of the vegetables served with it. Usually the dish comes with a medley of greens maybe accompanied with some carrots or peppers.  This dish only came with what seemed like the stems of broccoli.  They were hard and very bitter tasting.  I think I only ate two out of the whole dish, just picked around the rest.
Afek ordered the red curry.  He said this is his favorite curry dish at Thai restaurants, I like green curry because of the sweet coconut taste.  He was really hungry, and said it tasted alright, but the consistency was not on point.  The curry was way too watery, and lacked some flavor.  

Pad Siew Chicken
Slices of Chicken tossed with wide pan-fried
noodles in a sweet soy sauce with broccoli
eggs.

Besides the less than mediocre food, the service was not the best as well.  Our entrees were delivered only 3 or 4 minutes after our spring rolls, not even giving us enough time to finish them.  Wasn't actually that surprised that the food came out that fast, given there were only a few other tables occupied on a Saturday night in DTLA.  Not something you would expect for a restaurant on 7th street.  I guess the place has some really good lunch deals, so that much be when they get all their business?

Red Curry
Spicy and creamy curry comprising of red
chilis, red curry paste, coconut milk, bamboo
shoots with chicken.

After dinner we had to decide where to get our sweet tooth cravings.  I took him to Syrup, the Dessert Bar downtown.  Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to order any of the extravagant crepes or liege waffles with toppings.  My parking job outside was a little in the red, and I didn't want to risk getting a ticket.  I grabbed the carrot cake to go out of the pastry display, and Afek got a glazed donut.  We ate our desserts in the car, protected from the rain, and on the look out for cops.  My carrot cake was a little dry, with way too much frosting.  Probably trying to cover up the taste.  We rushed back to my apartment in the rain, and finished up the New Girl Episode we were dying to watch.  Not the best dining experience Afek and I have had, but it was still a fun Saturday night.