Tag: Chicken Satay

AlbuquerqueNew MexicoRating: ExcellentThai

Thai Boran – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno11:34 AM

Many of us with a puerile sense of humor can probably recall giggling like silly school kids the first time we visited a Thai restaurant and perused a menu. We went straight into the gutter the first time we came across such foods as phat prik and fuktong curry. Even after learning that “phat prik” is actually a stir-fried chili dish and “fuktong curry” is a pumpkin curry, the sophomoric among us couldn’t order these dishes with a straight face. It gets even worse when we actually learned how to pronounce the names of Thai dishes. Not even Bob Newhart could order “cow pod guy” (chicken fried rice) or “cow pod moo” (pork fried rice) with his usual deadpan delivery. That’s probably why so many of us will place our order by number instead of endeavoring to pronounce words we find a bit salacious or humorous. Let’s face it, denizens of the fruited plain tend to find the names of some Thai dishes humorous because the way they’re spelled or pronounced is similar to English sexual references or swear words. Perhaps that’s why Thai restaurateurs tend to use clever word play, typically puns, to name their eateries. Instead of christening…

AlbuquerqueAsianNew MexicoRating: ExcellentThai

Hot Pink Thai Cuisine – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno5:36 PM

Black socks and sandals, mixing plaids and polka dots, middle-aged men wearing trousers up to their nipples, T-shirts that accentuate the “spare tire” look, fat guys wearing culottes… If there’s a fashion faux-pas out there, you can bet some of us XY-chromosome-enabled fashion Luddites have committed it and then some. When it comes to fashion, many of us are as clueless as a pirate wearing two eye patches. There is, however, one fashion statement we won’t make. Among the six to seven shirts hanging (wrinkles and all) in our closets, none will be the color pink. Nor will they be salmon, carnation, rose, Amaranth or any other shade of pink fashionistas invented in an effort to get us to wear pink. For men, the only pink thing that’s really cool (despite what we tell our wives and girlfriends about their pink “unmentionables”) is the Pink Panther. You know, the Pink Panther…the “one and only, truly original, Panther-pink (panther) from head to toe.” Men have a very special affinity for the “rinky-dink” Pink Panther. “He really is a groovy cat and what a gentleman, a scholar, what an acrobat!” He’s everything we want to be, but aren’t cool enough to pull…

AsianNew MexicoRating: ExcellentRio RanchoThai

Thai Cuisine – Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

New Mexican men can be so haughty.  (I don’t include New Mexican women in this categorization because they’re generally smarter.)  We laugh at what Californians, Arizonans and especially Texans call “chili.”  We pride ourselves on machismo, some of which is on display even when we eat out.  We never ask if the chile is hot.  We assume (and hope) it is so we can prove how tough we are.  We question the manhood of any New Mexican who prefers his chile “mild.”  Mild chile is for children and law enforcement officials in Uvalde, Texas.  Give us chile with the piquancy of napalm or volcanic lava.  Give us chile even Satan can’t eat. Yeah, right!  I’ve seen New Mexican men wheeze and sputter, their eyes watering with tears as they beg for sweet, merciful death as they try to eat Thai food…and that’s not even at the “Thai hot” level of heat.  Thai peppers provide another level of heat, one that makes New Mexican chile seem like bell peppers in comparison.  Consider that sacrilege if you will, but Thai peppers have kicked even my tail and I’m pretty heat tolerant.  I still order the “Thai heat” level at most restaurants.  Over…

AlbuquerqueAsianNew MexicoRating: Very GoodThai

Thai Heritage & Vegan – Albuquerque, New Mexico

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Who among us hasn’t learned at least one thing about Thai culinary heritage from The Big Bang Theory? In a 2011 episode, for example, we learned that according to Thai tradition the last morsel of food, the greng jie, goes to the most important person in the room. At least that’s what Sheldon tells Penny when she reaches for the last remaining dumpling. Thanking everyone for the honor, she devours the dumpling. Sheldon’s retort: “I’ve seen pictures of your mother. Keep eating.” Some of us learned that Thai food is meant to be eaten with forks not chop sticks though in Thailand, they don’t put the fork in their mouth. It’s simply a tool to put the food on a spoon which then goes into the mouth. We also learned that Sheldon, the quirky wunderkind with an obsessive compulsive tendencies orders mee krob and chicken satay with extra peanut sauce on Mondays. Every Monday! As an adventurous diner with polygamous culinary tendencies, the concept of ordering the same meal repeatedly is galling. When expressing my intolerance towards monogamous (monotonous?) diners to my Kim, she quickly knocked me off my high-horse, reminding me that whenever we dine at a Thai restaurant…

AsianDog FriendlyIdahoRating: N/R (Not Rated)ThaiUnited States

Jasmine Thai Cuisine – Twin Falls, Idaho

Gil Garduno10:09 AM

My sister and I joke that our hometown of Peñasco is the only place in the entire country that doesn’t have a McDonald’s or a Thai restaurant.  Thanks to our neighbors in the Picuris Pueblo, there’s a Subway just a few miles west of our home.  The McDonald’s closest to Peñasco is 25 miles away in Taos which also boasts of three Thai restaurants.  Driving twenty-five miles in the high mountain country is very different from driving 25 miles in Albuquerque where you might still be in the Duke City when driving that distance.  Driving from Peñasco to Taos involves precipitous curves, steep climbs and sometimes weather conditions that render the streets unsafe. Just how pervasive are Thai restaurants? There are some 20,000 Thai restaurants outside of Thailand, about half of them being in the United States and Canada. A humorous YouTube video actually purports to answer “Why Almost Every Town in America Has a Thai Restaurant, and goes on to declare “Thai restaurants: they’re as American as apple pie.”  You’ll have to watch the video for yourself to learn more about the ubiquity of Thai restaurants.  Suffice to say, Peñasco may be the last place under spacious skies to…