Category: Thai

ArizonaClosed in 2019Gone But Not ForgottenRated 23Thai

Mint Thai – Gilbert, Arizona (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

You might assume that because of my unabashed online promotion of culinary adventures, I would be the classic prostheletizer seeking to convert to the joys of more adventurous dining all lost and wayward souls who frequent chain restaurants. Alas, when traveling with colleagues who are either pedestrian about their dining preferences (they eat to live) or are wholly resistant to trying anything new or different, I tend to defer to their lifestyle choices. It beats listening to comments such as “yech, how can you possibly eat that?” and “that’s not in any of the food groups I know.” The offshoot is that I eat in more chain restaurants than you’ll ever hear me admit to (I don’t write about them for…

AlbuquerqueAsianChineseClosed in 2015Gone But Not ForgottenThai

Sengdao Bar-B-Q Asian Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Despite my (then) near eidetic memory and a sesquipedalian lexicon, it was my bumpkinly naivete my friends in Boston found most surprising (and amusing) about me.  By having absorbed Encyclopedia Britannica (before the internet and Wikipedia were a twinkle in Al Gore’s eyes), I had as much or more “book knowledge” about Boston as any of them did, but became wide-eyed and mesmerized at seeing all those sights and cultures which heretofore existed for me only on the printed page.  My friends delighted in introducing me to things you’d just never see in bucolic Peñasco, New Mexico.  They also did their best to shock me (though for sheer shock and Wes Craven movie fear-inducing value, nothing was as shocking as…

Las Vegas, NevadaRated 27Thai

Lotus of Siam – Las Vegas, Nevada

Gil Garduno

In the August, 2000 issue of Gourmet Magazine, multiple-time Pulitzer Prize award-winning writer Jonathan Gold called the Lotus of Siam restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada “the single best Thai restaurant in North America.”  Not a disparaging word was heard or a dissenting opinion offered among the cognoscenti save for those who argued that the word “Thai” should be removed from from Gold’s audacious proclamation.  Lotus of Siam is THAT good! In the decade plus since Gold’s assertion, every reputable critic from every credible publication has jumped on the bandwagon, essentially echoing or adding to to the validation of the greatness that is the Lotus of Siam.  The superlatives are similar on every review you’ll read of this vaunted restaurant; only…

ArizonaRated 23Thai

Malee’s Thai Bistro – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno

Many a time have I luxuriated in the pleasures of a memorable repast at a restaurant outside of New Mexico and found myself thinking “if only these tastes were available back home.”  I typically then fantasize about bringing those tastes to the Land of Enchantment myself.  Alas, lofty intentions, a profuse lack of culinary talents and the absence of the capital necessary to realize my fantasies subsume those dreams and I instead yen for future visits to restaurants whose incomparable tastes have captured my reality. In Deirdre Pain, I found someone through whom I can live vicariously.  An aficionado of Thai food, she became disillusioned with most Thai restaurants, many of which lacked wine lists and whose wait staff struggled mightily…

AlbuquerqueThai

Thai Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno

In my old haunt of Boston, television commercials proclaimed Wednesdays as Prince spaghetti day. They depicted spry youngsters dashing home excitedly for their weekly repast of pasta products made by the Prince Spaghetti company.  In Albuquerque, Thursdays were–until April 25th, 2008–green curry day at Thai Cuisine. Thursday was the day of the week in which patrons could  excitedly look forward to the restaurant’s Thai cuisine lunch buffet offering incomparable green curry among other incomparably delicious attractions. On that ignominious April day, Thai Cuisine stopped serving their daily buffet, citing food wastage as a concern.   Thai Cuisine’s buffet was reminiscent of a baseball team’s pitching rotation, meaning some of the restaurant’s best entrees took turns on the menu’s rotation, usually a…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2010Gone But Not ForgottenThai

Lotus Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Balance. The Diné, or Navajo, of America’s Four Corners Region have a word for it: “hózhó.” The word embodies the idea of striving for balance and harmony along with beauty and order. Every aspect of Diné life–whether spiritual or secular–is connected to hózhó, maintaining balance between the individual and the universe and living in harmony with nature and the Creator. Balance. America’s favorite everyman philosopher Homer J. Simpson might define it as “a donut in each hand.” Obviously politicians discussing the budget should definite it as something unachievable, an ephemeral concept, a meaningless and baseless promise uttered simply to mollify their constituency. The dictionary might define it as a state of equilibrium. Balance. The underlying foundation of Thai cuisine, going…

AlbuquerqueThai

Mai Thai Thai Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

When my buddy Bill Resnik invited me to try a new restaurant called Mai Thai, I immediately wondered if Albuquerque was experiencing a misguided retro renaissance to days gone by when kitschy Polynesian themed night clubs and restaurants were in vogue. For those of you too young to remember, in the 1960s, 70s and even early 80s, Americans held a huge fascination for the South Seas, an interest propelled by veterans returning from the Pacific theater after the second war to end all wars.  Presiding over the “Tiki” movement was an entrepreneur named Victor Bergeron who founded a popular Polynesian themed restaurant chain named Trader Vic’s.  His restaurants provided temporary departures into escapism replete with waterfalls, torches, carved figures and…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoThai

Tawan Thai Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Note: This review was written about a Tawan Thai Cuisine location in Rio Rancho that no longer exists. The original Tawan Thai at 200 Wyoming Blvd, S.E., also closed in late 2008. For Rio Rancho’s Thai cuisine aficionados the sky was bleak only briefly. The despair they felt after the closure of Hong Thai was replaced scant weeks later by elation at the August, 2007 launch of Tawan Thai Cuisine. With that launch, the sun began shining brightly as City of Vision residents could once again Thai one on. Tawan, the Thai word for sun, is quickly becoming a shining star (a sun) in the City of Vision’s restaurant scene. Ensconced in the nondescript Lujan Plaza, it is, for many…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2019Gone But Not ForgottenSushiThai

Jasmine Thai & Sushi – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Sometimes the most delicate and beautiful things in nature are spawned in conditions that are wholly antithetical to their survival. The delightfully fragrant jasmine flower, for example, is thought to have originated in the Himalayas, a mountainous region prone to extremely harsh weather.  The jasmine’s delicate star-shaped flowers yield a light and sweet fragrance tinged with a hint of the tropics and strongly evocative of the exotic locations in which the flower is most popular. The jasmine is as beloved among emperors, kings and sultans as it is among people of the common clay. Jasmine flowers are worn on the hair of women in Thailand where the flower symbolizes motherhood. Brewed and consumed daily in teas throughout Southeast Asia, jasmine…

AlbuquerqueClosed in 2008Gone But Not ForgottenThai

Thai Basil – Albuquerque, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Lemongrass, mint, ginger, lime, chile peppers and particularly Thai basil combine in congruent deliciousness to make Thai cuisine among the most popular ethnic cuisines in North America. As one of the most popular culinary herbs in the world, basil is a richly aromatic, slightly spicy ameliorant to many of the best dishes proffered at all Thai restaurants.  Also known as “hairy basil” and by its Thai name of “horapa”, it is used in salads, soups, curries and as a garnish. The aroma of Thai basil is stronger and sweeter than its Italian counterpart and it has a peppery flavor slightly reminiscent of star anise.  Vietnamese cooking also relies heavily on Thai basil.  It’s no wonder so many Thai restaurants across…

Closed in 2007Gone But Not ForgottenNew MexicoRio RanchoThai

Hong Thai – Rio Rancho, New Mexico (CLOSED)

Gil Garduno

Cloistered in the tiny, nondescript Lujan Plaza shopping center and away from the maddening traffic cavalcade that has become Rio Rancho Boulevard, Hong Thai operated for nearly a year (since April, 2005) before we knew it existed (our first visit was in March, 2006). We thought the shopping center’s southwest corner was still occupied by a mediocre Chinese restaurant. Boy, were we ever in for a treat. Hong Thai is superior in every way to its predecessor whose claim to fame seemed to be cramming throngs of non-discerning diners into a small space for a mediocre buffet of Americanized Chinese favorites (lots of fried, candied stuff that all tastes the same). Family-owned and operated, Hong Thai features cuisine from both…