Lemon Grass Thai Cuisine

HOT!!

Tonight, I ventured out to Lemon Grass Thai Cuisine in Brooklyn Park for some take-out. I was absolutely starving by the time I got there, so I ordered Egg Rolls (Shredded carrots, onions, and glass noodles wrapped and lightly fried. Choose from - vegetarian or pork) for the car ride home. They were absolutely delicious and made my aching stomach feel better immediately. They must have been really hot when they packaged them today, since they basically melted through the styrofoam...hopefully I didn't eat any of it?!

When I got home, I pulled out my Yellow Curry with chicken (Coconut milk, yellow curry paste, potatoes , basil, and green onions). I was interested to see if it was actually spicy since I'd asked for EXTRA spicy. Um...yeah! I could barely eat the deliciousness. I'm sweating and my nose is running...so it was AWESOME! It also helped me eat a little less since I could barely breathe...ha!

The little restaurant was cute and had ample seating. I will definitely dine in next time I go, which will be soon since they have such great spicy-ness!

Decor: cutesy

Prices: average ($10-15)
Spice level: I'm still on fire

More information:

Lemon Grass Thai Cuisine
8600 Edinburgh Center Drive
Brooklyn Park, MN 55443
(GPS says it is in Minneapolis)

http://lemongrassthaicuisine.net/

Ginger Hop

Yawn…

I was excited to try Ginger Hop, which recently opened in Northeast Minneapolis, after hearing rave reviews from one of my favorite dining companions. Although the overall presentation of food was good, the meal was quite boring.

To start, we ordered Shrimp Spring Rolls (fresh spring rolls with shrimp, mint and basil, served with peanut dipping sauce), which were by far the most boring spring rolls I’ve ever had in my life (check the blog- I eat spring rolls often!). I thought they would be saved by peanut dipping sauce, but alas the sauce was basically oil with pieces of peanut and had no flavor. We also ordered Walleye Satay (beer battered and deep fried, served with wasabi tartar sauce), which was awesome. This was the true winner of our meal! The wasabi tartar sauce….sooo good!

One of my dining companions ordered Basil Stir Fry with chicken (Broccoli, red pepper, shitake mushrooms, onion, garlic and Thai basil in a flavorful oyster sauce with your choice of chicken or tofu). Although the presentation was good, the dish was pretty bland. I guess that’s all I have to say about that…

Two of us ordered Sweet Green Curry with chicken (Green curry and coconut milk with red pepper, eggplant, peas and your choice of chicken or tofu). We chose to order this because it was highly recommended by the waitress. I was a little skeptical from the start because I couldn’t choose a spice level…I have NEVER been somewhere that said the dish comes one spice level…that REALLY annoyed me! I asked for a spice tray and she seemed to think we wouldn’t need it, but we both did! Although we both ate most of the dish, the chicken was SUPER weird and we both barely touched it. YUCK! Overall, the curry was nice and creamy, but was definitely lacking in flavor. Luckily, we were starving and willing to eat just about anything (but the chicken!!!)

All in all, I was pretty disappointed AND bored. I’ll go back, but I’m skeptical of this whole “East meets Northeast” thing.

Decor: chic

Prices: average ($10-15)
Spice level: BOO!

More information:

Ginger Hop
201 E Hennepin Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55414

www.gingerhop.com

Eastside Thai

What a treat! I drove through the snow and traffic to try Eastside Thai in St. Paul. With no website and no posted reviews...I wasn't sure what to expect. This 10-table restaurant put me at ease immediately- it's clear that it's family run and local. The menu is small with under 30 items and no desserts.

I decided to have some comfort food- Pad Thai with tofu (we bring the taste of this famous noodle dish from the street vendors in Thailand just for you). It was absolutely delicious! From what I read, it was prepared quite traditionally (next time I'm in Bangkok, I really need to pay closer attention!). Unlike my dining companion's noodles on Saturday, these noodles were prepared to perfection and had a ton of flavor without being very greasy. The fried tofu wasn't the best I've ever tasted, but overall the meal really impressed me.

I am excited to return...hopefully to dine-in next time!

Decor: comforting

Prices: cheap! under $10
Spice level: nail on head

More information:

Eastside Thai
879 Payne Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55101

Bahn Thai Cuisine

Dinner should never take that long...

With some of my favorite dining companions in town, we decided to venture out to Bahn Thai Cuisine in Plymouth. Although Plymouth is a nice area, this restaurant was tucked away in a mostly-abandoned mall...the place had some nice decor, but the tables and chair made us think of a rec center, so the night was immediately off to sort of a weird start. After waiting for about 35 minutes without having a waiter stop over, I approached the host stand and asked for some service. One of the two waiters came over and said "I can take your order quickly" like we were inconveniencing him. We ordered a few appetizers (we were starving!) and entrees. The appetizers took 40 minutes...we ordered fried meat balls, chicken satay and spring rolls. All items were pretty darn mediocre.

While waiting for the appetizers, many people came to the restaurant and due to the lack of service, they gave up and left. We saw 3 or 4 tables abandon their hopes of dinner...it almost became funny!

The main dishes had mixed reviews. One dining companion ordered Pad Thai with Chicken (rice noodles, eggs, bean sprouts, green onion topped with crushed peanuts). Although it was tasty, the noodles were pretty gummy and seemed overcooked.

Another friend ordered Gaeng Khiao Waan Gai- Chicken Green Curry ( chicken, coconut milk, green curry paste, zucchini, peas and basil leaves). The chicken was extremely weird and thus she barely ate her meal. I tried the curry and it wasn't horrible, but it was a little high on salt and low on flavor. She ended up munching on some of the Pad Thai.


For a break from curry, one dining companion chose Pad Pak with chicken (broccoli, celery, onions, pea pods, carrots, fresh mushrooms and bell peppers). This had great overall flavor, but definitely could have been a bit spicier. This dish had chicken that looked and tasted delicious...not totally sure why some chicken was good and the other wasn't?


I ordered Pad Ped Puck Curry with chicken (coconut milk, red curry, napa, broccoli, carrots and bell peppers). This had absolutely amazing flavor and was probably worth the insane wait! The one issue was that I found a piece of chicken in my tofu dish! Had this been back in my vegetarian days, I would have been quite steamed!!

At the end of the night, we questioned one of the servers about the wait and he shared that they were down a cook and at least one server. Although that did add some perspective, why on earth didn't they tell us that earlier? OR stop over and say, "hey we are short staffed, but we will be back as soon as we can." Not that complicated.

I'll be back...but I'm not super thrilled about the idea of potentially suffering through bad service again...

Decor: mix and match

Prices: average ($10-15)
Spice level: right on

More information:

Bahn Thai Cuisine
4108 Lancaster Lane North
Plymouth, MN 55441

www.bahnthaitripod.com

Magic Thai Cafe

What a riot! My dining companion and I enjoyed Magic Thai Cafe in Eagan, which included fun music and a quirky server....oh and great food!

My dining companion ordered Pa Nang with chicken- medium spice (strips of red and green bell peppers, onions, coconut milk, red curry, kaffir lead, topped with ground peanuts). It wasn't super spicy, but overall had good flavor. It definitely wasn't the best panang curry I've had, but it was okay! (In case you're thinking I can't spell "panang," you're wrong....I'm pretty sure there is no correct way of spelling it...."Pa Nang" is how this restaurant listed it!!)

I ordered Spicy Noodle with chicken- hot (stir fried rice noodles with onions, green onions, tomatoes, and basil). I didn't order "very hot," just "hot" because our server assured us that the spice scale was a Thai spice scale and not a Minnesota spice scale. He seemed very suspicious of us...it seemed like he was thinking "who are these chicks that have probably never had spicy food?" The dish was absolutely scrumptious and I was glad I ordered it "hot" because it made my lips tingle and my nose a touch sniffly (AWESOME!) I loved the flavor and didn't want the dish to end.

Our server quickly brought us our bill, but oh no, we wanted a sweet treat. We ordered Purple Rice with Custard and he immediately tried to get us to order Sweet Rice with Mango instead. Um, hello?! If I wanted Sweet Rice with Mango, wouldn't I have ordered it?! When he brought us the Purple Rice with Custard, he seemed very curious to see if we would like it. Well, we loved it!! My dining companion did some quick research and discovered purple rice is native to Eastern Thailand....hopefully I'll see it at some other restaurants in the future!

Decor: cutesy

Prices: average ($10-15)
Spice level: they can make it hot!

More information:

Magic Thai Cafe
1258 Lone Oak Road
Eagan, MN 55121

www.magicthaicafe.com

Boba Thai Lounge

After a journey to Brooklyn Center's Brookdale Mall I arrived at Boba Thai Lounge, which looked more like a bar and grill, but was still delicious.

My dining companion and I decided to share a salad to start- Yummy Noodle Eggroll salad (Vermicelli noodles on a bed of chopped lettuce, carrots, cucumber and cilantro with eggrolls, topped with crushed peanuts). While this sounded super bizarre, the picture on the menu looked awfully appetizing and this was definitely the favorite. Although it wasn't spicy, it had great flavor with the cilantro, peanut and sweet and sour sauce. I could have had this as a main course.

For a main course, my dining companion ordered Masamun Curry (chicken stewed in a masamun curry with coconut cream, potatoes, onions, tomatoes and peanuts). She thought it was okay, but compared to other curries she has had (red, yellow and green), she did not enjoy it as much. As a lover of masamun curry, I tried it and have to say it was quite good and definitely tasted as it should.



When we first arrived, we asked the waitress for suggestions and her favorites. She told us her favorite was Spicy Lemongrass Beef (thin tender slices of beef cooked medium well, then tossed with lime, lemongrass, Thai chilies, roasted rice powder, kaffir lime leaves, bean sprouts, yellow onions and tomatoes, topped with chopped green onion and cilantro), but that we wouldn't like it because it is spicy and sour. Well after that remark, I obviously chose to order it. She couldn't have been more wrong- it had great flavor and hit the mark on my personal spice scale! She claimed it was tingly (we assumed she meant spice?) but it definitely didn't burn my lips (a sensation I do enjoy).

Overall, it was a good dining experience and I look forward to returning....hopefully they will have pop next time (they were out!) and maybe I can go when the mall is open!

Decor: forgettable- like a bar and grill

Prices: average ($10-15)
Spice level: good

More information:

Boba Thai Lounge

1268 Brookdale Shopping Center
Brookyln Center, MN 55430

www.boba-cafe.com

Thai Curry House

When I arrive at a new restaurant in a strip mall, I always think...this could be really good or really bad! Well, congrats Thai Curry House, you were really good! I met my dining companions for lunch in Burnsville (a touch past where I usually wander) and was immediately taken in by the decor- there were several different styled dining areas within the one restaurant, including a few tables where you could sit on the floor.

One of my dining companions ordered Yellow Curry with chicken- no spice, which arrived looking quite reddish. She loved it and my other dining companion and I both thought it had great flavor, despite the fact that there was absolutely no spice involved (she claimed to see small, red specks of spice...I beg to differ).




My other dining companion ordered Drunken Noodles with chicken- spice level 4. Why they don't have this dish at more restaurants is beyond me? It is so delicious. This was the real winner today. Even though it wasn't very spicy, it had a really rich and savory flavor. I was jealous!




I ordered Green Curry with pork- spice level 5 (that's for you, sis!), which was quite good, but definitely not spicy enough. (I have to admit that even though it was quite tasty....it wasn't jaw-dropping like the Green Curry at Bangkok Thai Deli). The pork was cooked well and tasted delicious. I also enjoyed that the bamboo shoots were sliced into fine pieces instead of larger chunks- it was quite conducive to having a bit of bamboo with every bite!


For dessert, we decided to get Mangoes and Sticky Rice (it's become a favorite of mine!) and a Fried Banana. They were both good, but we would have liked a higher sticky rice to mango ratio and the fried bananas came with vanilla ice cream with sprinkes....a touch bizarre!

Overall, it was worth the trek to Burnsville and I look forward to returning.

Decor: welcoming!

Prices: average ($10-15)
Spice level: they could go a lot hotter!

More information:

Thai Curry House
1916 Highway 13 East
Burnsville, MN 55337