Krung Thai – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Krung Thai Restaurant on Menaul just west of Wyoming

At 75 years of age, Grandma remains as energetic and feisty as ever though she’s quite unhappy that her well-intentioned and loving family have made her take Saturdays off. She’d just as soon work six days a week at the Krung Thai Restaurant on Menaul. Grandma’s not only an accomplished cook, she’s got several treasured family recipes locked in her vault of a memory. One of those recipes is for some of the very best Lao sausage in the Duke City.

Launched on New Year’s Eve in 2003, Krung Thai translates to “Thai City,” but the restaurant’s menu extends well beyond Thai cuisine. You’ll find Vietnamese and Chinese entrees, too, and you already know about the Lao sausage. Krung Thai is a family owned and operated gem resplendent with traditional Thai decor. The first thing you see when you walk into the restaurant is Suvannamaccha, a mermaid princess. Rivulets of water cascade down her body in a calming cadence. The bright orange-red colored walls are festooned with wall tapestries of ornately attired elephants, the national symbol of Thailand and a symbol of good luck.

Mermaid waterfall at Krung Thai entrance

A number of restaurants have held court at Krung Thai’s comfortable confines, diminutive digs which might accommodate fifty guests if the fire marshals aren’t watching. Seating is in personal space proximity. To optimists that means being able to see and inhale the aromas of the dishes destined for your neighbor’s tables. Those olfactory-arousing aromas may just trigger involuntary salivation. Dishes are presented exquisitely, an aspect of Thai culture for which great pride is taken.

The menu includes all the Thai standards with which Duke City diners have fallen in love as well as some items (such as a sauteed frog legs appetizer) not commonly found in the city. Entrees are segmented on the menu into Thai curry dishes, house specialties, stir-fried entrees and rice and noodle dishes. One of the restaurant’s best experiential aspects is being able to mix and match among cultures–a Lao appetizer, Vietnamese entree and Thai dessert, for example.

Lao Sausage, housemade on the premises

The sole Lao appetizer, of course, is Grandma’s Lao sausage which she makes on the premises. The sausage has a coarse texture, but a very delicate flavor that requires no saucy amelioration. Flecks of chili pepper flakes, scallions and lemongrass decorate the pork sausage which is sliced into bite-sized pieces. Grandma’s rendition of wondrous Lao sausage shows she’s not slowing down in the least.

Fried chicken wings are another popular appetizer, one we frequently order at Vietnamese and Thai restaurants because they’re generally prepared so much better than at American restaurants. The fried chicken wings at Krung Thai are large and meaty with a coarse breading. Bite into the crispy exterior and you’ll be rewarded with moist, tender and delicious chicken. You won’t need the sweet-tangy sauce accompanying the chicken wings.

Fried Chicken Wings

Thailand’s close geographical proximity to Vietnam has meant a culinary interchange over the generations that has resulted in cooks from both cultures being proficient in both cuisines. If the Vietnamese noodle bowl is any indication, you certainly need not fear ordering Vietnamese dishes at Krung Thai. Served in a swimming pool-sized bowl, this is a terrific dish redolent with freshness. A tangle of translucent rice noodles shares space with lettuce, cilantro, butterflied shrimp, pork skin, grilled pork, egg rolls, crushed peanuts and fish sauce. It’s a melange of flavors and textures you’ll enjoy.

Thai dishes are among the most diverse in the world, incorporating at least four elements into the flavor profile of each dish: salty, sweet, sour and piquant. Most Thai dishes are not considered fully satisfying unless they combine all four tastes. Thai curry dishes are exemplars of this diversity of flavors in one dish. So, too, are Thai soups. In her 2006 review for the Alibi, the fabulous critic Jenn Wohletz called Krung Thai’s Tom Kha the “best tureen of coconut-lemongrass soup I’ve ever eaten.”

Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Pork Skin, Shrimp, Crushed Peanuts, Lettuce, Pork, Egg Rolls and Fish Sauce

Tom Kha is an intensely aromatic and flavorful soup renowned for its rich and complex coconut-imbued broth and melange of flavors and seasonings. It arrives at your table in a silver tureen with a soup ladle for apportioning it (as if you could ever share any of this bounty). This aromatic elixir is redolent with the addictive aromas and flavors of lemongrass, galangal, Kaffir lime leaves, straw mushrooms, white onion and strips of tender white meat chicken. The creamy sweetness of the coconut is punctuated by the peppery pungency of the galangal, the tartness of whole Kaffir leaves and the citrus qualities of the lemongrass. It’s an absolutely delicious, heart-warming soup that will delight you.

Sharing a meal is so integral to the Thai culture that Thai people don’t exchange “how are you” greetings. Instead, they ask “have you eaten yet?” I should have been born Thai. Dispense with the small talk and pass the curry. There are few curries as satisfying as the Massamun Curry, a rich, satisfying dish that is Muslim in origin. Strips of chicken are simmered in a sweet curry paste along with potatoes, onions, bay leaves and crushed peanuts. It’s one of the sweetest of Thai curries, but you can have it served at your preferred level of heat (Thai hot for me). It’s a delicious dish.

Tom Kha, an outstanding Thai soup

While some critics decry Pad Thai as perhaps the most Americanized of all Thai dishes, the dish is one of the most historically significant of all Thai dishes–even though it’s only been around some seventy years or so. It’s true that all too often Pad Thai served in American restaurants is little more than a pile of noodles plated in a puddle of oil with cloying underpinnings. Made well, Pad Thai’s deliciousness reveals itself in bursts of savory and tart notes. Krung Thai’s rendition is a good one. The tangle of noodles, crushed peanuts, tamarind paste and chicken meld into a composite of ingredients which go so well together.

Sticky rice is a staple in parts of Thailand and forms the basis for one of the best, most popular desserts you’ll find at any Thai restaurant. The marriage of sweet coconut sticky rice and perfectly ripe mangoes is akin to harmony, melody and rhythm in music. When they work well together, they transport you to a better place. The very best mangoes with sticky rice we’ve found in Albuquerque is served at Thai Cuisine. Krung Thai’s version isn’t far behind.

Mangoes with sticky rice

As long as Grandma is helping out at Krung Thai, it will remain one of the most authentic Thai restaurants in the Duke City.

Krung Thai
7923 Menaul Blvd NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 292-9319
LATEST VISIT: 4 May 2013
# OF VISITS: 2
RATING: 20
BEST BET: Lao Sausage, Fried Chicken Wings, Tom Kha, Mangoes with Sticky Rice, Vietnamese Noodle Bowl

Pho Hoa – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Pho Hoa Vietnamese Restaurant on Fourth Street

Though it ended in 1975, the Vietnam war was still very fresh in the minds of Americans when I enlisted in the Air Force two years later. Many of my senior colleagues had served in Vietnam and regaled me with tales of their adventures. It wasn’t man’s inhumanity to man they took away from the experience, but the goodness of people brought together by exigent circumstances. It is very telling of the high character of my colleagues that despite the ravages of war, they had fallen in love with Vietnam: its people, culture and its food. Several of my friends sponsored Vietnamese families fleeing the beleaguered nation.

One of my friends told me the beauty of Vietnam was best seen in the bright colors of its flowers, the innocence of its children and the femininity of women attired in ao dai, the form-fitting silk tunic worn over pantaloons. Two of the elements which best exemplify the beauty of Vietnam in my friend’s estimation were fully on display during my inaugural visit to the Pho Hoa Vietnamese Restaurant on Fourth Street.

Monica and Lisa wearing ao dai

Attired in colorful ao dai which contours elegantly to their lithe bodies, Monica and Lisa, the delightful servers at Pho Hoa, seem to flow gracefully through the restaurant as they take and fill lunch orders. As my friend had described, the ao dail does accentuate the femininity and attractiveness of women who wear them. Physical pulchritude will only go so far, however. Monica and Lisa are also so friendly and attentive, they could well become as popular a draw to Pho Hoa as its cuisine.

The other element on display at Pho Hoa which embodies Vietnamese beauty is flowers. The word “Hoa” translates to English as flower. The top shelf on a room divider is replete with flowers, as bright and beautiful as nature can create. The restaurant itself is also bright and colorful with wasabi green and cranberry walls, hardwood floors and Vietnamese decorations festooning a very attractive restaurant.

Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

The menu is fairly typical of Vietnamese restaurants throughout the Duke City. There are nearly 80 items on the menu, not including beverages. Vegetarian items are plentiful. With so many items from which to select, you’re well advised to ask Lisa and Monica what they recommend. Lisa guided me toward Pho Hoa’s spring rolls, a fresh rice paper roll filled with vermicelli noodles, mint, lettuce, shrimp and pork. Those ingredients are visible through the translucent rice paper. The spring rolls are served with a peanut sauce topped with crushed peanuts. It’s not as cloying as some peanut sauces tend to be and serves as an excellent dip for very good spring rolls.

Morgain Davison, a long-time friend of this blog and mom-to-be, asked me to eat some pho for her since pho can’t be found where she now lives. Morgain, this Pho Tai (rare steak noodle soup) is for you; only sharing a swimming pool-sized bowl of this luxurious, aromatic elixir with you could possibly have made it better. One of the secrets of using rare beef in pho is to make sure the heat of the broth doesn’t fully cook the rare beef. It ensures the beefiness of the flavor. Throw in some wonderful fresh veggies with tangles of perfectly prepared noodles and you’ve got a nutritious and delicious soup as good as any you’ll find in Albuquerque.

Rare Beef Noodle Soup (#14)

SECOND VISIT – 3 MAY 2013: Whenever I want validation of my opinion on the authenticity and deliciousness of a new Vietnamese restaurant, I turn to my friend Hu Vuu who was born in Vietnam and whose mother owns and operates a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco. Hu has forgotten more about Vietnamese food than I’ll probably ever know. He accompanied me on my second visit along with our friends and colleagues Fancy Mortensen, Harold Lopez and Karen Ascoli, all three of whom have become very savvy on Vietnamese food courtesy of our friend Hu.

While my friends luxuriated on the comforting qualities of pho, my choice was spicy chicken lemongrass, one of the first of so many Vietnamese dishes to ensnare my affections. It’s a beautifully presented dish served on a triangular plate. Served on a large lettuce leaf is some of the highest quality, mostly white meat chicken you’ll find at any Asian restaurant. It’s tender and wholly devoid of any sinew or gristle. Lemongrass, the wondrous aromatically enticing herb, enlivens this dish as does chili, crushed peanuts, onions and julienne carrots and daikon. This may be the best rendition of chicken lemongrass in Albuquerque.

Spicy Chicken Lemongrass

The menu includes five banh mi, the wonderful Vietnamese sandwich which is finally starting to catch on in Albuquerque. Three meats–grilled pork, grilled beef, grilled chicken–are available as well as a vegetarian fried tofu sandwich and a fried egg sandwich. All sandwiches are served with pickled daikon, radish, carrots, cilantro, jalapeño and cucumber. The Banh Mi Trung Chien (fried egg sandwich) is the Vietnamese answer to the Egg McMuffin, only much better and certainly not just for breakfast. The canvas for this sandwich is an excellent nine-inch baguette with a characteristically crusty exterior. Eggs and pickled vegetables are much better than they sound, a true combination of contrasting flavors which go well together.

Pho Hoa is not just the only Vietnamese restaurant in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, it’s the only Vietnamese restaurant within miles of the heart of the North Valley. Launched in April, 2013, it has introduced many elements of the beauty of Vietnam to its guests.

Pho Hoa
6601 4th St NW Suite H
Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 369-1547
Web Site
LATEST VISIT: 3 May 2013
1st VISIT: 19 April 2013
# OF VISITS: 2
RATING: 21
COST: $$
BEST BET: Rare Beef Noodle Soup, Avocado Shake, Spring Rolls, Banh Mi, Spicy Chicken Lemongrass

Sai Gon Sandwich – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Saigon Sandwich, home to some of the best banh mi in Albuquerque

If ever there was a culinary Kobayashi Maru (for the non-Trekkies among you, that’s a no-win scenario), it might well be naming the best sandwich (or best food of any kind) in the world. Imagine the challenge. There are potentially hundreds of thousands of delicious candidates, many worthy of acclaim as the very best in their block, city, state or province…but the world’s an awfully big place. A lifetime might not be enough to sample but a few thousand sandwiches. Any sandwich you select would undoubtedly be disputed vehemently.

Surely, you say, no authoritative source exists which would possibly have the temerity, much less breadth of knowledge, to name just one sandwich as the very best in the planet. Such hubris would invite derision and debate. Perhaps then it’s appropriate that the most recent source to declare one sandwich as definitively the best in the world comes from the island nation in which was born the man (the Earl of Sandwich) for whom the ubiquitous sandwich is named. That source is The Guardian, one of the most respected periodicals in the United Kingdom (even though it doesn’t feature “Page 3″ girls).

Place your order at the counter and your meal will be ready in minutes

According to The Guardian, the “world’s best sandwich isn’t found in Rome, Copenhagen or even New York City, but on the streets of Vietnam.” The Guardian’s choice as best sandwich in the world is the banh mi, otherwise known as the Vietnamese sandwich. It’s almost ironic that perhaps no sandwich anywhere has such a humble origin and that unlike skyscraper-high Dagwood sandwiches, the banh mi tends to be modest in girth and sparse in its ingredients. Where the banh mi isn’t sparse is in its utter deliciousness.

Quite simply, a banh mi packs a lot of flavor into a relatively small (by American standards) package. Unlike its American counterpart, the banh mi focuses not on the profligate piling on cold-cuts and condiments, but on a balance of ingredients and flavors including pickled vegetables (daikon, shredded carrots), jalapeños, cilantro and thinner meats than adorn American sandwiches. The canvas for the ingredients is a long, thin baguette with its own balance of textures–a pillowy inside and crusty outside.

Vietnamese spring rolls with shrimp and pork; served with a peanut-chili sauce

It’s well known that pho is the most popular breakfast food in Vietnam, but according to my friend Huu Vu who grew up there, not all Vietnamese families could afford pho. With great fondness, he recalls having banh mi for breakfast on many mornings. Banh mi remains among his very favorite meals, but they’re not just for breakfast any more. Nor are they exclusively popular among Vietnamese expats. The New York Times indicates “the Vietnamese banh mi sandwich has taken New York by storm, elevating the once humble pork and pickled vegetable sandwich to heights of gastronomic chic.” Gambit, a New Orleans news magazine, calls the banh mi “New Orleans’ po-boy for the 21st century.”

It’s taken a bit longer for the banh mi to become mainstream in Albuquerque. While several Vietnamese restaurants throughout the Duke City have offered banh mi for years, the sandwich has yet to achieve the acclaim due “the best sandwich in the world.” Albuquerque The Magazine did list the banh mi at Banh Mi Coda as “one of the city’s “12 yummiest sandwiches” in its annual Food & Wine issue for 2012. My friend Ryan “Break The Chain” Scott would argue that Albuquerque’s banh mi comes from May Hong. The point is, the banh mi is starting to break through.

Banh Mi Cha Lua – Jambon, Pork Roll, Pate

In early 2013, the Duke City saw the launch of the city’s second banh mi shop when Sai Gon Sandwich opened in Franklin Plaza, a timeworn shopping center on the northeast corner of Juan Tabo and Central. The menu at the combination bakery, deli and tofu house befits the diminutive three-table restaurant, but as with other diminutive diners, Sai Gon Sandwich embodies an aphorism used by Food Network glitterati Guy Fieri: “little place, big flavors.” Besides, the restaurant does a brisk take-out business and delivers throughout the neighborhood.

Those big flavors can be found in ten different banh mi (including a vegetarian option) and oversized spring rolls. In a willpower-defeating refrigerator, you’ll find various Vietnamese desserts and snack foods (including tapioca puddings, sesame balls, rice puddings, rice cakes), Vietnamese coffees and so much more. All of the restaurant’s deli meats are homemade and can be purchased by the pound so you can make your own banh mi at home. Tofu and organic soy milk are also homemade. It goes without saying that the bread is fresh baked and homemade, too.

Banh Mi Heo Nuong – Grilled Pork

At two per order, the spring rolls are impressive not only for their girth, but for their flavor. Each spring roll comes with lettuce, cucumbers, mint and vermicelli noodles wrapped inside a translucent rice paper served with a peanut-chili sauce. The shrimp and pork spring roll is a must have. The thinly sliced pork is visible through the top layer of the rice paper, but the shrimp are embedded deeply among the condiments. The combination is terrific. So is the peanut sauce though the chili could be just a bit more piquant.

Each banh mi comes with pickled carrots and daikon, cucumbers, sliced jalapeños, cilantro and Vietnamese mayo on some of the best freshly baked baguettes in town. Each sandwich is just over nine-inches in length, but as the photos accompanying this essay show, they hardly resemble the overstuffed American sub sandwich. In Vietnamese, “banh mi” translates both as “bread” and the sandwich using that bread. It’s a great bread with a crusty, but not crumbly exterior and a soft, but not doughy interior. The balance of ingredients with bread which make for a great banh mi is as spot-on as a tightrope walker.

Banh Mi Dac Biet – Jambon, Headcheese, Pork Roll, Pate

During our inaugural visit, my Kim and I ordered three hand-crafted banh mi, consuming half of each one at the restaurant and taking the remaining halves home for later. Each banh mi is absolutely delicious, replete with a wondrous interplay of pickled vegetables, cured meats, condiments and aromatic herbs. Jalapeños are sparsely used, another example of how the sandwich emphasizes balance over heat. Expertise in the fine art of charcuterie is evident in each savory and sumptuous meat.

I don’t personally have the audacious nature to declare the banh mi as the Duke City’s best sandwich, but it’s certainly among a select few in that elite ballpark. Sai Gon Sandwich is a paragon of perfection when it comes to a sandwich that’s slowly, but inevitably taking America by storm.

Sai Gon Sandwich
162 Juan Tabo, N.E.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 275-4922
LATEST VISIT: 16 March 2013
# OF VISITS: 1
RATING: *
COST: $ – $$
BEST BET: Spring Rolls, Banh Mi

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Category Archives: Asian

Krung Thai – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Pho Hoa – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Sai Gon Sandwich – Albuquerque, New Mexico

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