lotus of siam

las vegas, nv

website

lotus of siam is possibly the most famous thai restaurant in the united states. it's been featured many times on foodtv and other foodie shows as a chef favorite. it's not close to the strip and requires a car or cab if you're staying on the strip. but it's definitely worth it. saying that this is the best thai food i've ever had seems too limiting - in fact, this is one of the best meals that i've ever had. i can't remember exactly which dishes we ordered, only that we asked the waiter to guide us to the favorites. jenny, jenny's cousin, and i devoured the food so quickly that i only remembered to take a picture when the dessert showed up. i really can't wait to go back again. hopefully next time i take better notes and more pictures.

bangkok spoon

mountain view, ca

link to yelp

this is one of derek's favorite lunch spots near the office. he ordered the pad kee mow and i ordered the pad see ew. he he enjoys the thinner longer noodles that they use here, although i prefer thicker rice noodles, similar to ho fun in chinese restaurants. decor was very nice, prices were good, service was friendly and speedy. food was decent, although derek's was a little bit better because it was spicy. my tofu had a little bit of a char on it which i liked but others might not. overall, not a destination restaurant, but a good spot for some noodles if you're in the area.

indochine

palo alto, ca

website

derek and i like to be able to walk to restaurants. now that we no longer live on university avenue, we have fewer walkable choices. indochine is one of them. it offers thai & vietnamese cuisine. i'm always wary when a restaurant offers more than one cuisine - it usually means that they don't do either well. but we've ordered takeout from here a few times and they make a pretty good pad see ew with tofu.

one night, i was craving pho and we decided to walk over and try indochine in person. the pho was not good. the meat had clearly been cooked (and over-cooked) before it was added to the soup (real pho should have sliced raw beef placed in the soup just as you're about to dig in - the beef cooks in the hot soup). the broth was bland. very disappointing. we'll still get pad see ew here, but we'll trek over to madame tam on university when we want pho.

coriander gourmet thai

san francisco, ca

link to yelp

normally when i go to the westfield mall's food court, i stop by tina's favorite spot for korean food. but since we had just eaten kimchee fried rice at the ferry building, i decided to try the thai food. not good. the tofu was overcooked and dry. the green beans and the pad thai were bland. the food court at the westfield mall has many many better options.

marnee thai

san francisco, ca

website

wow. amazing thai food. i now understand why it is such an effort to get a table here. we went on a saturday night and it was completely packed. april and lennon had managed to get reservations for 5, but when we got there, we all had to squeeze into the very narrow entrance area and wait about a half hour past our reservation before we actually got seated. even then, c had to sit in the path between tables and kept getting jostled by the waitstaff.

but it was worth it. started with the delicious sticky spicy chicken wings (pictured) with a dark soy chili sauce. love love love the fried corn cakes (very indonesian). it's been so long i forgot what we ordered for our entrees, but i remember being very impressed. however i can't forget the dessert - roti with ice cream. sounds strange, i know, but it's sensational. will definitely be back in the outer sunset soon to try this spot again.

osha thai

cow hollow, sf

website

i first visited this restaurant in 2008, before the recession hit. back in the "good ol' days" when the company i worked for could afford to fly everyone who started at the company in 2005 to san francisco for a weekend of food, fun, and lectures. tina was already living in SF back then and she took a bunch of us 05ers to this thai restaurant near her apartment.

amazing pumpkin curry. i still remember the first few bites that i took of this dish. the perfect amount of pumpkin flavor, chunks of perfectly cooked pumpkin, the perfect amount of spice. like someone took thanksgiving and turned it up a couple of notches. comfort curry. you wouldn't expect to find such comforting food in this space-age neon-bright thai restaurant, but there it is. we still order the pumpkin curry all the time, but now we eat it in tina's comfortable apartment instead. even better.

thai tom

seattle, wa

link to yelp

the best thai food i've ever had. no one else (that i know of) makes thai food like thai tom. back in undergrad, we used to line up outside the tiny restaurant, waiting for a chance to sit at the bar and get splashed with hot oil. the restaurant was so small that you were seated only a foot or so away from the chef's stir-frying frenzy. ryan informed me that the restaurant recently had a run-in with the department of health over some health code violations. but that certainly didn't stop anyone from eating there. including us.

since there was no way we were going to be able to fit 4 adults, 2 children, and a newborn baby into the restaurant, we decided to order takeout. we all ordered our favorites - mine is the tofu pad thai, cindy's is the penang curry, and ryan's is the swimming rama. all delicious. chris ordered the pad see iew, which was pretty good. pictured is my pad thai with fried tofu. it's an incredible balance of sweet, spicy, and savory. the vegetables magically caramelize in the cooking process. amazing. i wish that all thai restaurants could cook like this. i wish i could cook like this. i wish thai tom had a branch in new york. you seattleites are so lucky.

obao

new york, ny

link to yelp

finally felt well enough to go back to work, which meant that i could finally try the recently opened obao. it's one of michael huynh's many restaurants - he also runs baoguette. i was happy to hear that a branch of the empire sits just a block away from my office. obao took over the old bunchberries space so there's some casual seating in front near the window but more standard seating in the back.

the food tends to be a twist on standard asian dishes. for example, the appetizer pork belly is served with traditional char siu sauce (although it ended up being more pork than belly.) eric joined me for lunch and as usual, i liked the dish that he chose better - the spicy radish noodles with shrimp, oyster, egg, chives, and bean sprouts. it was obao's version of the popular cantonese dish - stir-fried luo buo gao - very good. my pad see ew was pretty good. the twist was supposed to be the use of bulgogi, but it tasted like normal thai-style beef to me. still, very good and reasonably priced for midtown east. i will definitely be back.

bodhi tree

new york, ny

link to yelp

walking from wevill to evill, derek and i were hungry and tired. we decided that we were going to eat on this block, 3rd ave between 10th and 11th, because we just couldn't walk anymore. there were three options - expensive japanese, expensive asian fusion, and moderately priced thai. the menu at bodhi tree had some unique items (the pumpkin caught my eye) and derek happened to be craving thai food. so thai it was.

a lot of fried food on the menu. we went with the crispy duck in pumpkin peanut sauce. very good. the fried fish had a great sauce, but was actually breaded and fried filets rather than the crispy whole fish that we were expecting. i would recommend this restaurant if you're in the area and craving thai. we might go back and try some of the other dishes - there's a $7 lunch special that looks very promising.