Bangkok Villa for Thai fans
Dishes good to excellent as chefs turn down heat to match American tastes
Thai food, one of the world's most popular cuisines, has a new home at Bangkok Villa in Santa Rosa.
SCOTT MANCHESTER / The Press DemocratPublished: Sunday, December 25, 2005 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, December 24, 2005 at 9:00 p.m.
It wasn't that long ago that almost all Asian restaurants in America were Chinese. Then, in the early 1970s, Japanese restaurants and sushi bars started opening - I remember one of the first ones in New York, and how odd the food seemed to most people: "Raw fish? Eeeew!" (Los Angeles and San Francisco, of course, had long been home to Japanese eateries.)
Facts
Bite-Size Reviews
EDITOR'S NOTE: Here are spoon-size portions of previous restaurant reviews by Jeff Cox, accompanied by the date the original ran, as well as his overall rating, based on a four-star scale. This listing is limited to reviews receiving at least 1½ stars. Reviews will appear on a rotation basis.
Sugo, 5 Petaluma Blvd. S., Petaluma, 782-9298. Lunch Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays, 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays from 12 noon to 7 p.m. Closed Mondays. Lori and Joe Shea used to run Caffe Giostra in Petaluma and won rave reviews for their simple but excellent meals. They're back and doing the same thing at Sugo, with an emphasis on classic Italian and Italian-American pastas, pizzas, salads, and specials. The food and wine are inexpensive, the place accommodating and friendly, the desserts house made. What's not to love? Reviewed 12/18/05
Poggio, 777 Bridgeway, Sausalito, (415) 332-7771. Open daily. Continental breakfast from 6:30 to 11:30 a.m. Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. except to 11 on Fridays and Saturdays. A pretty, tony Italian restaurant in the middle of downtown Sausalitohas a killer wine list and well-made northern Italian meat and fish dishes from the grill and rotisserie. The prices are reasonable, and if you don't feel like driving home, Casa Madrona is right upstairs. The food is simple and made from fine ingredients--sort of like good home cooking. Good desserts, too. Reviewed 12/4/05
El Torogoz, 144 Kentucky St., Petaluma, 762-8798. Open Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Fridays through Sundays from 7 a.m. A mom-and-pop shop that serves the foods of El Salvador, Mexico, and the United States, all listed on a menu that combines English and Spanish seemingly at will. The food can be surprisingly good. Take, for instance, the Torogoz Cheeseburger, a half-pound of ground beef topped with mushrooms, fried onions, and provolone cheese passed under the broiler to enhance its color and flavor. All kinds of coffee drinks, smoothies, and shakes. The ambiance is downtown San Salvador, food and folks are fun to encounter. Reviewed 10/9/05 ½
The Girl & the Fig, 110 West Spain St., Sonoma, 938-3634. Daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The restaurant, with its beautiful old bar, is physically connected to the Sonoma Hotel. There's an outside dining area behind the hotel and restaurant that's a pleasant place for lunch, dinner, or Sunday brunch. The food is flavorful French country in style, the wine list is all Rhone varietals, and the desserts are grand. Owner Sondra Bernstein has collected the best recipes into a cookbook, so you can recreate some of the dishes at home. Reviewed 10/2/05
Graffiti, 101 Second St., Petaluma; 765-4567. Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. every day, and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. every day, except to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. A fine restaurant set in Petaluma's newly renovated riverside district, and worthy of the setting. Chef Jeramy Roberts does excellent small plates (the calamari is fab and the crab cakes are as good as you'll find anywhere), but also full entrees like pan-roasted rack of lamb, lobster and mushroom ravioli with truffle butter, and wild king salmon in season. The wine list is interesting and the desserts good, too. Reviewed 9/18/05
Satur, 620 Fifth St., Santa Rosa, 576-7822. Lunch Mondays through Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner Mondays through Saturdays from 5 to 9 p.m. Closed Sundays. The owner of Bistro Allure on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa does a small plates restaurant on Fifth Street, and here the goal is to pack each little dish with as much flavor as possible. The lamb chops come with spicy potato croquettes, the steak with fried shallots and mushroom ragout, the spare ribs with mango-rum glaze. And a nice wine list with lots by the glass to pair up with the small plates. Reviewed 9/11/05 ½
Brisas del Mar, 2001 Highway 1, Bodega Bay, 895-9190. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. A modest Mexican seafood restaurant that serves good Mexican-style entrees from the 5 p.m. dinner hour. Its attempts at Sonoma Coast entrees are less successful. But you can find good mariscos, quesadillas, and combinations on the menu daily. The tostada de ceviche is especially good. The restaurant is located on the north end of Bodega Bay in a small shopping center. Grilled steak, paella, and shrimp skewers are specialties. Reviewed 9/4/05
Rios is actually two restaurants, Island Feast and Nit's Thai Creations, 15025 River Road, Guerneville. Island Feast is Hawaiian-Polynesian, open Tuesdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Nit's Thai Creations is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 4:30 to 9 p.m. Two fun restaurants with Hawaiian and Thai themes co-exist in Rios, which seems appropriate for the often-blended culture of the Russian River at Guerneville. The food is good, the bar is full, the river glides pleasantly by, and you can eat quite well for not very much money at all. Reviewed 8/28/05
Crossroads, 116 E. First St., Cloverdale, 894-4667. Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. Dinner 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Chef Shawn Cook is turning out some solid hits in this Cloverdale "best kept secret." The style is international, with Vietnamese, Italian, French, American, and fusion cooking, all prepared with a deft hand and a taste for fresh ingredients. You will find something as simple as a pepper steak and as exotic as Vietnamese chow mein. If the citrus flan is on the dessert menu, get it. Reviewed 8/21/05 ½
Seafood Brasserie, 170 Railroad St., Santa Rosa; 636-7388. Breakfast from 6:30 to 11 a.m. Mondays through Fridays and lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.. Brunch from 6:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Good presentations of muscular dishes involving local and imported seafood (and a little red meat here and there), with excellent service and a good wine list. Interesting desserts, too. Reviewed 8/14/05 ½
The General's Daughter, 400 W. Spain St., Sonoma, 938-4004. Dinner from 5:30 to 9 p.m. nightly. The Daughter's new chef is Preston Dishman and he's obviously in love with good ingredients. In moving to Sonoma County from Florida, he's come to the right place. His cooking is creative without going over the top, his flavors bright and clean, his dishes often simply put together to showcase those ingredients. His influences include Asia, the Deep South, Southwest, California -- just call him eclectic. The desserts are every bit as good as the savory portion of the meal. Service is terrific, as is the wine list. Reviewed 8/7/05
Shotgun, 13441 S. Highway 101, Hopland; 744-1977. Lunch 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner 5:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Closed Sundays and Mondays. Lawson's Station -- a new luxury hotel in Hopland -- has a well-appointed restaurant called Shotgun because of an erstwhile western theme that's been dropped, but the posh atmosphere is far from Old West. The wine list features Mendocino County wines at very reasonable prices. Buffalo rib-eye steak is locally raised by the hotel's owner. Nightly specials recently included a perfect halibut. The dishes are American with nods to France, Italy, and Asia. It's a rendezvous for local winemakers. Reviewed 7/31/05 ½
Zaré, 5091 Solano Ave., Napa, 257-3318. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. seven days, with dinner starting at 5 p.m. Chef and co-owner Hoss Zaré is Azerbaijani -- part of Iran -- and brings his culinary ideas and ideals to this restaurant alongside of Route 29 in Napa. Mostly, the food is just plain delicious, with items like Dungeness crab rolled up in a filet of sole and served with a tarragon white sauce, and a beef short rib that's come down from heaven to delight our palates. He's got a good wine list, plenty of fun in the décor, and a glad hand and warm smile for all of his customers. Reviewed 7/24/05
John Ash & Co., 4330 Barnes Road, Santa Rosa, 527-7687. Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and Sunday brunch from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Closed for lunch on Saturdays. Dinner 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. seven days. The Front Room bar and lounge is open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sundays, from 5:30 to 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays. The restaurant is just as good as ever -- maybe better, now that The Front Room Bar and Lounge is open. This lounge has a rustic décor and its own menu. In the main dining room, the food is excellent as usual, and Scott Noll's desserts are extraordinary. One of the best wine lists in the world. Reviewed 7/17/05 ½
Sea Modern Thai Cuisine, 500 Petaluma Blvd. South, Petaluma, 766-6633. Lunch Tuesdays through Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner Tuesdays through Sundays from 5 to 9 p.m. Closed Mondays. A pleasant neighborhood Thai place with a relaxing atmosphere and good standard Thai dishes with some American twists -- like a Maine lobster with mango sauce and a Merlot sorbet with fresh fruit. Good curries and noodle dishes, while seafood entrees fresh from the fishmongers are the specialties. Reviewed 7/10/05 ½
Press, 587 South St. Helena Highway, St. Helena. Dinner Mondays through Fridays from 5 to 10 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays, lunch and dinner (same menu) from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Owner Leslie Rudd is focused on the very best ingredients possible, with which he stocks his Dean & Deluca stores. Here he creates a restaurant that uses them to create some scrumptious dishes. We're talking Pennsylvania Dutch veal, Berkshire pork, Kennebec potatoes, and on through the menu, where quality not only counts, it dominates. Any missteps occur in the kitchen, not the pantry. Fabulous wine list and perfect service. Reviewed 7/3/05
El Dorado Kitchen, 405 First St. W., Sonoma, 996-3030. Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. daily. El Dorado Kitchen -- featuring a chef and cooks trained at The French Laundry who obviously learned well -- is a bright new star in Sonoma's already-stellar restaurant scene. Chef Ryan Fancher chooses his ingredients with attention to quality and cooks in a way that allows those ingredients to show what they have to offer. The wine list showcases the wines of The Valley of the Moon and Carneros, but has plenty of other wines. Entrees can be four stars and dreamily delicious when everything works. Reviewed 6/19/05 ½
Ristorante Allegria, 1026 First St., Napa, 254-8006. Lunch Mondays through Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, open continually from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. A good-looking room in a building that was formerly a bank; standard, well-made Italian food; a full bar with fun cocktails and a good wine list; a location in the heart of downtown Napa; nice wine list; good service; an HDTV with the game on, open from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays through Sundays. What's not to like? Reviewed 6/12/05 ½
Kabab and Curry House, 507 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, 523-7780. Lunch Mondays through Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9:30 p.m., and to 10:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Closed Sundays. This fine new restaurant is another star in Santa Rosa's ever-improving firmament of Indian cuisine. It's devoted to traditional regional Indian dishes, close to 90 of them, all nicely made by Chef Luke Rozario, who hails from Goa in South India. Lots of spices, so order a raita (yogurt mixed with cucumber and mint) or a lassi (yogurt drink) to cool your taste buds. Good wine list and full bar. Reviewed 6/5/05
Bistro V, 2295 Gravenstein Highway S., Sebastopol, 823-1262. Dinner Wednesdays through Saturdays from 5 to 9:30 p.m. and Sundays from 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Chef Rick Vargas does classics like cassoulet, onion soup, lasagna Bolognese, fish stew, and more with a careful, expert hand and the results are irresistible. The wines are reasonably priced, the menu is varied, and Vargas keeps everything under a fine control that means the food is exemplary. Good desserts, too. And Sunday Champagne brunch. Reviewed 5/29/05
Colibri Grill Café, 4233 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa, 538-2726. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Sundays. Closed Mondays. Good breakfasts with cheese blintzes and Mexican specialties; hot and cold sandwiches and burgers for lunch, and excellent barbecued chicken, pork ribs, and hot links for dinner. The great barbecue sauce comes mild, spicy and get the fire extinguisher. Daily specials might include lamb shank and salmon, among other dishes. The pies are homemade. Not much on the wine list, and corkage is $5, so you might want to bring a good Zin for those ribs. Reviewed 5/22/05
Boca, 340 Ignacio Blvd., Novato, (415) 883-0901. Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. every day. Excellent steaks grilled Argentina-style and served with chimichurri sauce, four kinds of empanadas, duck fat fries, jalapeño creamed corn, a wine list with a handful of fine Argentinian malbecs, and some chocolately desserts so good they make the trip worthwhile. Owner George Morrone (he also owns TarTare in San Francisco) pays homage to his family's Argentine background with good food and a gaucho atmosphere. Reviewed 5/15/05 ½
Mixx, "Enoteca Luigi," 135 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, 573-1344. Open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and for dinner from 4 to 10 p.m. Closed Sundays. An Italian restaurant takes over the spot formerly occupied by Dan and Kathleen Berman's excellent Mixx, and serves predictable Italian food. The pastas are fine, the tomato sauces piquant, the many daily specials can be good, but the food rarely rises above adequate. Still, there's a good wine list, nice desserts for the kids, and it's a good place to relax when shopping downtown Santa Rosa. Reviewed 5/8/05
Dynasty, 6555 Hunter Drive, Rohnert Park (behind the Bank of America), 584-0106. Open Mondays through Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Sundays from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. All the standard Chinese restaurant basics well-prepared and served up in a pretty room with a moon gate entranceway. Besides the basics, specials like prawns, chicken, pine nuts, and noodles wrapped in lettuce leaves are listed on a separate card. Home-made pot stickers are a treat, and the fried rice is a fine accompaniment to dishes like spicy garlic lamb and salmon steaks. The portions are large, the quality high. Reviewed 4/17/05 ½
Lucas Wharf Restaurant and Bar, 595 Highway 1, Bodega Bay, 875-3522. Lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and to 9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturday; summer service starts at 11 a.m. A pretty room, long full bar, cheery fireplace, and killer views of the docks and Bodega Harbor with fishing boats and seagulls and seals popping up in the water to see what's going on all make for a romantic place to visit. The food, however, could be better. The fresh-shucked oysters are good and the desserts pass muster, though. Reviewed 4/10/05
Russell Ramsay's Chop House, 1460 Farmers Lane, Santa Rosa, 571-1800. Open Sundays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays until 11 p.m. The guys who brought you Johnny Garlic's and Tex Wasabi's now bring you a chop house, featuring USDA Choice steaks and lots of tried and true old favorites, like Steak Diane, French onion soup, coconut prawns, cowboy rib-eye steak, double-cut pork chop, cioppino, and many varieties of pastas, salads, sandwiches, and good desserts like a real New York cheesecake and apple pie. Reviewed 4/3/05 ½
599 Thai Café, 599 Broadway, Sonoma, 938-8477. Open Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Closed Sundays. When you want an inexpensive but very good little Thai restaurant, you want a place just like 599 Thai Café. The pad Thai is outrageously good, the curries right on the money. The portions are good, the prices are low, and the service is delivered with a big, warm smile. Owner Sunee Petprasert makes sure the ingredients are fresh and you are satisfied. Reviewed 3/27/05 ½
Annapurna, 535 Ross St., Santa Rosa, 579-8471. Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Closed Sundays. Traditional Nepalese food served in a pleasant atmosphere in downtown Santa Rosa. A fine place for lunch as well as dinner. Lots of curries, great chicken from the tandoor oven, lamb curry, smokin' hot naan, excellent momos and samosas. Nice choice of wines and beers, and the wine is downright cheap. Vegetarian as well as meat dishes. Reviewed 3/20/05 ½
Saffron Restaurant, 13648 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen, 938-4844. Dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5 to 9 p.m. Chef and owner Chris Dever does intriguing dishes, many of them involving saffron. His crab cakes are out of this world, his filet mignon is served over saffron-flavored pappardelle noodles, and his desserts -- the cheesecake is as good as you'll find anywhere. Great wine list featuring well-aged Spanish reds. Reviewed 3/13/05
A16, 2355 Chestnut St., San Francisco; (415) 771-2216. It's always good to have a few places up your sleeve when you visit San Francisco. This place in the Marina District -- A16, the name of the road from Naples to Bari -- should be not far up the sleeve, because the food is superb. It's real Italian cooking, like you get in Italy in the area from Campania over to Puglia. A great Italian wine list supports a menu chock full of authentic Italian delights, handled with delicacy and sophistication. House-made salamis, authentic pizzas, house-made pastas, intriguing and flavorful entrees like breaded quail and luscious petrale sole. Don't miss the dessert selections like the semifreddo or the plate of beautiful cheeses. Reviewed 3/6/05
Ta Ke Sushi, 5979 Commerce Blvd., Suite 8, Rohnert Park; 585-3001. Open every day from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., except Sundays from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. An excellent Japanese restaurant that serves generous portions of good food at reasonable prices. Features 21 different kinds of chef's special rolls for between $6.95 and $14.95. Udon and soba noodles are available for lunch or dinner. Thirty-four appetizers and side dishes, combination dinners, beautifully fresh nigiri and maki sushi, and full plates of sashimi (for $14) complete the menu. Reviewed 2/27/05
Wine Garden Food and Wine Bar, 6476 Washington St., Yountville, 945-1002. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., except to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The Nord family, Napa Valley grape growers since the 1960s, have completely redone the building that was The Diner and feature wines made from their vineyards or vineyards they are consultants for. The space is comfy and the food superb. It's small plates of American food exalted by fine ingredients beautifully handled. Smithfield ham-wrapped venison with eastern huckleberries and mustard spaetzle is one example, duck tamales with black mole and white crema casera sauces is another. Fabulous desserts. Reviewed 2/20/05 ½
Syrah, 205 Fifth St., Santa Rosa, 568-4002. Lunch Mondays through Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner nightly from 5:30 p.m. Josh Silvers is the chef and consistently wows not only the local clientele, but the national media as well. The wine list is exceptional. His creations are carefully thought out but full of fun and pleasure. He'll cover a lamb shank with chocolate and chili mole, do Mac & Cheese with truffles and mascarpone, whip up salads with ingredients that fit together like voices in a barbershop quartet. Reviewed 2/13/05
LaSalette, 452-H First St. East, Sonoma, 938-1927. Breakfast from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Same menu for lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Closed Mondays. Since Manuel Azevedo moved his Portuguese restaurant to the Sonoma town square, he seems to have improved the quality of his food, which was already very good. Now he has a woodburning oven in a beautifully decorated room, so there are more roasted goodies, like whole fish, rack of lamb, and duck, plus feijoada, bacalhau (of course), and Portuguese pork and clam stew. Great desserts and a fine wine list with lots of Ports (of course). Reviewed 2/6/05
Café 29, 3000 Highway 29 North, St. Helena, 963-9919. Open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Closed Mondays. A nice place for breakfast, with sweet and savory crepes on the menu. They stay on the menu all day, and dinner service starts around 4:30 and offers entrees like marinated skirt steak, pork chop, grilled salmon, and pastas. Crepes for dessert, too. A fine wine list and a special $17.50, four-course, prix fixe menu for earlybird diners Tuesdays through Thursdays. The portions and prices are right. Reviewed 1/30/05
Restaurant Carneros, 1325 Broadway, Sonoma; 931-2042. Serving daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Executive Chef Ercolino Crugnale and Chef de Cuisine Janice Martin make sure everything is immensely tasty and beautifully presented at the restaurant at The Lodge at Sonoma. Although it's there for the tourists and business folks who blow into town, locals would be well advised to drop by for imbibing and relaxation, as well as the terrific food. Desserts are exceptional, too. Reviewed 1/23/05 ½
Patrona Bistro and Wine Bar, 130 West Standley St., Ukiah; 462-9181. Lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Closed Sundays and Mondays. One of the classiest-looking restaurants around, with lots of nightly specials including house-made pastas and interesting concoctions like a seared ahi etouffee and double wide pork chop in a spiced root beer sauce. But there are standard bistro plates, too, like lamb shank, grilled rib-eye, and lemon and herb roasted chicken breast. A fine wine list with many local and international choices. Reviewed 1/16/05 ½
Then the Vietnam War ended in a mad dash of helicopters leaving from Saigon rooftops, and the next thing you knew, most American cities had Vietnamese restaurants. Shortly thereafter, Thai restaurants became common. Now there's hardly any nation of Asia that isn't represented by a restaurant somewhere in the Bay Area - from Nepal to India to Pakistan to Burma to Cambodia to Laos to Indonesia.
But of all the similar cuisines of Southeast Asia, Thai food seems to have found the most favor with Americans. It now ranks among the four most popular cuisines in the world, according to Thailand's Ministry of Commerce. It's also reaching a crescendo of popularity in Britain. There's a reason it has so many fans in this country, exemplified by the food and ambiance at Bangkok Villa, two doors north of Whole Foods market on Yulupa Avenue in Santa Rosa.
A chief reason is that Thai cooking tends to be lighter than other Asian cuisines, especially Chinese. It uses less oil, and dishes aren't thickened with cornstarch. Thai chefs also understand how to accommodate American tastes. Much Thai food in Thailand is ultra fiery hot, but the cooks here don't mind turning down the spicy heat for American palates. And the cooks may add a little sugar to sauces or dishes due to the American preference for sweet foods. Still, the cooks seem to be able to do this without ruining the careful balance of sweet and sour, spicy and salty, that's at the heart of the cuisine.
An exception may be the Pad Thai ($8.50, 3 stars ), which is too often sweetened a little too much for my taste. And that's not just at Bangkok Villa, but at every Thai restaurant I try (except for one on Irving Street in San Francisco that serves unsweetened pad Thai and seafood dishes spicy enough to blister the chrome off a trailer hitch). Bangkok Villa's version includes fresh, shelled shrimp, bits of chicken, egg, bean sprouts, ground peanuts and rice noodles stir-fried with a mixture of Asian spices.
As at most Thai restaurants, there are plenty of curries on the menu. These come as red, yellow or green curry. But what is curry exactly? It's a complex combination of many herbs, spices and other flavorings like shrimp paste, fish sauce or dried shrimp. These are blended either in a food processor or by hand in a mortar. The exact mix changes from cook to cook, but a recipe for red curry that I have in my recipe box calls for dried chiles, shrimp paste, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, garlic, shallots, lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime peel, cilantro roots and black pepper.
That seems to be pretty close to the "chef's secret spicy sauce" used in the dish that Bangkok Villa calls Thai-Tanic Beef ($12.95, 3 stars ). It's spicy, the beef is tender (so much beef in Asian restaurants is the chewier cuts), the flavors complex, and it's served with mushrooms, zucchini, tomato and scallions.
That accommodating approach to American culture was evident the other night. In front of a bas relief of a beautiful female, half goddess and half human, who is allowing a bird to alight on her fingertips and who is wet down by a waterfall, was a small Christmas tree with presents under it. I suspect this open-hearted trait of the Thai people is the reason why my friend Ross, who went to Thailand on vacation, never came back.
Although Thais don't usually categorize dishes into courses, they do here in deference to American custom. Among the appetizers, I tried the Chicken Satay ($7.50, 3 stars ). The chicken strips are marinated in coconut milk and curry paste, skewered and grilled. You get five of these juicy and tender delicacies. An accompanying sweet cucumber salad of cukes, red onion, carrot and orange slices is fresh-tasting. The problem is the peanut sauce, in which the taste and texture closely resembled a peanut sauce in a jar that I bought at the supermarket in a moment of weakness a few weeks ago. My belief is that a good, house-made peanut sauce is critically important in Thai cuisine. So I asked the kitchen if the sauce was made in-house or store-bought, and was assured that it was "home-made."
I wasn't perfectly satisfied with the Spring Rolls ($7.50, 2 stars ). The rice paper wrapper contained mostly rice noodles and lettuce, with precious little shrimp, mint and cilantro. It was served with the same peanut sauce that came with the satay. The other problem was that the four fat rolls were served with a fork and spoon, yet the rolls needed cutting. A knife would have helped.
I like green papaya salad, a Southeast Asian specialty, but this Thai version called Som Tum ($7.50, 2 stars ) was good but mediocre. The papaya was limp and chewy rather than crispy, and the salad contained bits of tomato and some hot chile peppers, and was dressed in what tasted and smelled like fish sauce (the menu says ground peanuts in lime dressing, but I doubt it).
Then came the Bangkok Dancing Prawns ($12.95, 3 stars ). Four large prawns are stuffed with crabmeat and pork, then skewered, charbroiled and stuck into an orange at raffish angles. They're served with a dark, spicy sauce. The problem is that they are cooked and served shells on, so that all your energy is spent on getting the shells off the meat - a daunting task, as the cooking welds the shells to the prawns' flesh - instead of simply enjoying the prawns. Once I mangled the shellfish and wrestled them free of their shells, however, they were delicious.
Two curries were very good. The Panang Chicken Red Curry ($8.50, 3 stars ) contained loads of breast meat in a red curry, topped with coconut milk and basil. Duck Curry ($9.50, 2.5 stars ) was a red curry with a generous portion of de-boned duck meat, pineapple chunks, bamboo shoots, tomatoes and basil. It was a good, solid dish.
For dessert, I tried a comforting hot Tapioca Pudding ($2.95, 3 stars ) served in a margarita glass, studded with corn kernels, and topped with coconut cream and a mint sprig.
To sum up: Good - and, in some cases, excellent - Thai food that sure beats most of the Chinese places around.
This story appeared in print on page 4
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