Roat Osha #2

After months of ignoring the siren's call, I was able to have my second experience at Roat Osha. I have to say, the feedback is pretty similar. I had the Green Papaya Salad and flavor-wise they do an awesome job, but spice is another story. Why can't they make their food spicy enough?

Has anyone else struggled here? Let me know...

Rating- :) :) :) 3 out of 5 Smiles from Sukie

Thai Krathong- Duluth weekend

On a recent visit to Duluth, I was able to dine at Duluth's best (and only!) Thai restaurant, Thai Krathong. We had several curries and a Pad Thai and it was fantastic- I would highly recommend you try it if you're ever in Duluth. It's in the Canal Park area, which is super fun!

Funny fact: they have two spice scales; 1-5 is Minnesota, 6-10 is Thailand

Big Bowl Fresh Chinese and Thai

And it's official....Round 2 has begun! (Unfortunately Round 2 starts before I'm able to finish Round 1...). I returned to Big Bowl, but this time to their Edina location and yet again had a fantastic meal.

We started with Spring Rolls, which were pretty standard in my book, but there is nothing wrong with standard. I then moved on to Panang Curry with Chicken, which is hands down the best Panang in town! It may surprise you since Big Bowl is after all a chain, but it's true! In fact, I dare you to find better Panang...seriously!!

I'd tell you about what my dining companions ate, but unfortunately they enjoyed the Fresh Chinese part of "Fresh Chinese and Thai," so I don't care about their food!

Na's Thai Cafe

This weekend, I was joined by a delightful dining companion on an excursion to Chanhassen, MN! I know Chanhassen isn't that far, but for some reason I felt like it was REALLY out there....well after driving there...I realized it wasn't!

Na's Thai Cafe is a cute little place that you'd miss unless you were looking for it. We started by ordering Yum Woon Sen (silver-thread noodles with onions, shrimp, chopped pork, tomatoes, peanut, cilantro & freen onions), which I don't think I've seen anywhere before. They were delicious and had great flavor!

She ordered Massamun Curry, which proved to be delicious and had full-size peanuts, which was a fun surprise! I ordered a Silver Thread Noodle salad which game in a gallon-sized bowl filled with lettuce, noodles, chicken, onions, peanuts and tons of delicious sauce. It was definitely different form what I usually feast on- curry or at least spicy food, but it was great!

This tiny little hole-in-the-wall was cute and I'll be excited to return.

Decor: fine

Price: average ($10-15)

Spice level: so-so

For more information:

Na's Thai Cafe
566 W 78TH St
Chanhassen, MN 55317

Pei Wei Asian Diner

I decided to truck it through the snow to Pei Wei Asian Diner in St. Louis Park. I hadn't had Thai food in what seemed like years and was eager for some curry!

Pei Wei was almost exactly like Noodles & Company, but the Asian version! I couldn't believe I hadn't heard of this chain until seeing it on Urbanspoon. The atmosphere was fun and quite busy for being a snowy night. The waitstaff was helpful, but I realized that there was a drive-through (!) and wished I had seen that before going through the trouble of parking, etc.

I ordered the Thai Coconut Curry with vegetables and tofu (we use green curry with coconut milk to give this dish a nice, velvety texture and a smooth curry kick. Fresh ginger, Thai basil, red bell peppers, onions and long beans combine to give this dish wonderful flavor). I was impressed that they offered brown rice (healthy me ordered it!) and tons of vegetables. The tofu was tasty, but different then any other tofu I'd ever seen. It had dark edges and was long and flat, similar to lasagna-type noodles.

I asked for my dish to be prepared extra spicy and while it had some kick, I was definitely disappointed with the lack of burning lips!

This would be a cute place to meet a friend or bring a date and is definitely reasonable with most dishes under $8.

Decor: trendy

Price: cheap (under $10)

Spice level: blah

For more information:

Pei Wei Asian Diner
5330 Cedar Lake Road
St. Louis Park, MN 55416

www.peiwei.com

Chiang Mai Thai

This past weekend, I went with a nice sized group to Chiang Mai Thai. Although I've been there several times before, this was my native voyage as a blogess. We started with appetizers that were both pretty good- Fresh Springrolls (Rice paper rolls stuffed with noodles, lettuce, cilantro and bean sprouts with curried beef) and Happy Shrimp (Six coconut and tempura battered shrimp, deep fried to a golden brown) and of course, a couple of bottles of wine.

I knew before we arrived that I would order Pad See Yew (Rice noodles or egg noodles stir fried with egg, broccoli, napa cabbage, soy sauce, garlic and spices). A few years back, I ordered this dish to split with a friend and we ordered a 3 out of 4 for spice. It was so insanely hot that we couldn't eat it and they had to remake it (we felt HORRIBLE!). Now that I've been exposed to a lot more heat, I love spicy so I ordered this dish as a 4. The waitress seemed uncertain, but I had to do it!! I am so glad I did since it was absolutely delicious. The flavor was right on and so was the spice- I was quite impressed.

The rest of the table pretty much stuck to curry- Panang, Massamun and Sweet Green Curry, all of which tasted like heaven to me. I was genuinely impressed with the night, but because of the chic atmosphere, it just doesn't feel that traditional to me.

Decor: really nice- great for a date!

Price: average ($10-$15)

Spice level: right on!

For more information:

Chiang Mai Thai

3001 Hennepin Avenue S
Minneapolis, MN 55408

www.chiangmaithai.com

Reuan Thai Restaurant

I met several dining companions in Osseo to try Reuan Thai Restaurant, which was recommended by a coworker. All of the servers working there were young women that didn't quite look old enough...but we did enjoy their wall of pictures showing menu items (even though they didn't quite match the food we received).

To start, we ordered Spring Rolls, which were fine, but nothing special. One dining companion ordered Reuan Thai Fried Rice (house fried rice with chicken, BBQ pork, shrimp, onion and snow pea pods), which definitely didn't look like the picture and was boring as heck. She had also asked to add mushrooms...but that didn't happen! This dish was pretty much just fried rice.

Another friend ordered Chicken Curry (chicken simmered in coconut milk, red curry paste, bell peppers, peas and carrots) since there was no green curry on the menu and she had been craving it. This had great overall flavor but the chicken was so weird (sort of slimy and cubed) that she had to stay away from it.

Pad Pak- Reuan Thai's Special (stir-fried vegetables including fresh mushrooms, celery, broccoli, onion, pea pods, napa, green beans, bell peppers and carrots with your choice of meat) was the final choice of my dining companions. This had tons of delicious vegetables, but we agreed that the sauce could use more flavor and spice.

I ordered Tom Yum with chicken (a delicious lemon flavor soup with straw mushrooms, celery, galanga, kaffir leaves, lemongrass, cilantro, green onion and Thai chili), which had a great flavor! I was impressed with the broth flavor, but the chicken was weird and a bit tough (although different from the other weird chicken) so I mostly stayed away from that.

Overall, the meal was okay, but a little so-so for everything....

Decor: fine

Price: cheap (mostly under $10)
Spice level: not spicy enough

For more information:

Reuan Thai Restaurant
311 Central Avenue
Osseo, MN 55369