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| - Not bad.
We moved to AZ from Bangkok and my wife is Thai and a superb cook to boot, so we're kind of a tough crowd as far as Thai food goes. Most of the Thai food we've had in Arizona has been absolutely dreadful. This wasn't that bad, but it's not all that special either.
When we saw the Yelp! reviews of this new restaurant we were anxious to check it out. Lao food is also the food of Issan, as northeastern Thailand is called (where the people are mostly ethnically Lao or Khmer).
Anyway, Lao/Issan food is kind of like the soul food of Thailand - down home, earthy, super spicy and very delicious. Also very hard to find anywhere in the States outside of L.A. or Vegas.
We scanned the menu for a long time searching for the Lao/Issan component but that did not appear to exist. We asked the waitress - who couldn't speak Thai by the way - where the Lao food was and she said it was "all mixed in." Uhmmm... okie dokie. Basically, it's all 100% Thai food. (As was every single other thing in the restaurant). Not that there's anything wrong with that, but we were kind of geared up for some nice spicy Lao food. That wasn't going to happen.
The menu is a pretty standard Thai-American menu. Sadly, there wasn't even one of the classic Lao/Issan dishes. Just the usual stuff.
We opted for the Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) and Yam Woon Sen, both traditional Thai dishes. Both were okay, by American standards, not particularly spicy, even though we had ordered them that way. Neither dish had fresh chilis. The Yam Woon Sen was more of a laab with woon sen noodles but it was alright. The Drunken noodles were okay. Again, not nearly as spicy as they should be.
That little four-jar condiment tray isn't some Lao-Thai innovation, that's a "kreung prung," a standard Thai noodle shop item that's found on every table in Thailand. It's supposed to supplement the fresh chilis in a dish, not supplant them. The dishes need to have fresh chilis cooked in them as well, not just crushed dried chilis added on top.
The real problem is that honest-to-goodness Thai food just isn't acceptable to Americans - too salty, too sour, too fishy, too spicy - so it can only survive in communities like LA or Vegas where there is enough of a Thai population to support it with exclusively Thai patrons.
Anyway, big portions, although a tad expensive with virtually everything on the menu over $10. If you're hungry and in the neighborhood it's okay, but I wouldn't make a special trip.
If you really want to have traditional Thai food, your best bet is to get invited to one of the Thai temples on a festival day, when all the older Thai women bring home-cooked food.
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