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| - *This is a tribute to Misti Y.*
I just HAD to go to Pan Asian before my Texas vacation, so I steered myself here which made me also have to go back to Patisserie Manon and buy every flavor of macaron to take on the plane back to the French mama.
The owners of Pan Asian are super sweet. Chef Lisa has a great name, doesn't she? I was the only one there, and I told them my friend Misti recommended them so highly that I drove from the other side of town!
Some things Chef Lisa and her husband said:
"Misti sure has a lot of friends!"
"Misti just ate here yesterday!"
...and when I ordered the massaman curry with fried tofu, "Misti prefers her massaman with steamed tofu."
So I smiled and giggled, and enjoyed that Misti is like the fabric of the restaurant (well, there are brick floors but you know what I mean).
The massaman was unlike any massaman I ever had. I am used to thick, dark, and sweet coconut-milk based sauce. This sauce was savory, almost buttery, and thin. I am not sure how I feel about the butter instead of the coconut flavor. However, it was CHOCK full of big chunks of veggies (potatoes, red peppers, green peppers, carrots, onions), crisp peanuts, ripe avocado, and then of course, the tofu.
The spice was right on. I told them I was going to Thailand and Cambodia for my honeymoon and wanted to keep up with the heat. My nose ran, always a good sign. Lisa's husband told me he lived in Cambodia, and Lisa told me about her travels in Phuket. The lunch special came with a canned drink, which I found out after I got Thai iced tea, so I ended up with 2 drinks. However, I got my can of coke served with a straw, and for anyone who knows I drink soda through a straw, that is pretty cool.
I definitely want to come back and try other dishes. The atmosphere is pretty and clean, the owners warm, the food spicy and tasty. And even if Misti isn't physically there, she is definitely "there"!
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