Thai food…I *heart* you

One of the things that is great about Sac-town is the availability of awesome food. You want great Mexican? Done. Italian? Done. Pacific Rim fusion? Done. Greek? Done. You get the idea.

I’m surprised when I hear (often) that Sacramento doesn’t have good restaurants…or enough of them. Granted if you compare Sac’s restaurant scene with larger cities, we’ve got fewer. Still, the choices we have are quite rich and varied–unless you’re a die-hard 4-star kinda eater, you’re unlikely to get bored with the selection.  Call me simplistic, but that’s pretty much enough to keep me happy. And even our most expensive restaurants don’t have prices in the stratosphere that is the SF dining scene.

However, even with all the choices we have, I do have my regular hangouts…the places I rely on when I’m just not in the mood to cook and want to eat out in a casual environment (i.e., it doesn’t need to be an “event”). And my fallback food is nearly always Thai. If I was limited to eating only one type of cuisine for the rest of my natural life, it would be Thai food. In every city I’ve lived in, I have made it a priority to find at least one good Thai restaurant as my backup food source.

My disclaimer is this: I’m talking Americanized Thai food. On a research trip to Thailand, the food was simply amazing–but nothing like what you see in Thai places here. (I really, really struggled with the whole fish-for-breakfast thing, I’ll tell ya. It’s just so wrong.)

 

My choice in Sacramento used to be Siam on Franklin. Several years ago, the owners sold the place and moved back to Thailand, taking their brilliant cooking with them. I recently went back, and found out that the food’s still pretty good…but lacking whatever addictive substance they used to put in everything. Amarin at 12th and I is consistently good–and conveniently close to Cesar Chavez park, which means it’s a good stop after the Friday night concerts.

I also recently discovered a hidden gem in a stripmall in Natomas. (What? I was in Natomas?)…Anyway, Bangkok Palace is tucked away in a boring little center on West El Camino, next to a La Bou and a Chinese restaurant. I’m not sure what they put in their spicy eggplant, but it was awesome enough to lure me back several times. Their green curry is also very good–perfect mix of spicy and creamy, with fresh veggies and good quality meats; however, the consistency of the sauce tends to be a bit on the watery side. 

And, it had been several months since I last dropped in at Thai Basil (24th & J). The friend I was out with said he thought the food had been too inconsistent in his last several visits, but we agreed it was time to give it another shot. And Thai Basil came through with flying colors. We tried the tung-tong appetizer–which wasn’t what I was expecting, but was tasty nonetheless. The pad-kra-pow with beef was perfectly and complexly (is that a word?) spiced, and it was complemented by the mellow savory medley of flavors in the pad-see-ew (it’s kind of like comfort food, Thai style). Not only that, but the service was spot-on: attentive, friendly, accurate, and efficient.

And, of course, there’s the Official Backup Food Source, which is Thai Palace at 33rd & J. Sometimes, on my way to the grocery store for dinner stuff, I decide I’m not in the mood for cooking and simply call them up and swing by to grab takeout instead. The siren call of Thai Palace lures me several times a month. (Whatever that addictive substance is, they are putting it to good use.) Plus, it’s just plain yummy, consistently prepared, the service is always good, and the owner welcomes us back each time we go.

I’ve been to so many Sac-town restaurants in recent months where the service was downright pathetic. I can’t believe a restaurant owner can look around at the growing competition (and the fact that dining out is, in fact, discretionary spending), and still provide mediocre-to-awful service.  I hate to say it, but I’ve stopped going to one of my all-time favorite restaurants because the service has been TERRIBLE the last few times I dropped in. Don’t you hate it when you tell a friend, “Let me take you to this awesome restaurant…you’ll love it!” And then it sucks? Yeah, that happened a few times. I’m not going to mention the name of the restaurant here, but I’m going to try it again in a month and see if they’ve worked out their issues. (Mostly, it just means losing the cranky old man who is their maitre’d and who never freaking remembers me even though I’ve been there like 85 thousand times.)