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| - I'm too old for Plaid Eatery. And I'm not saying that to sound like a jackass. But this is a place whose only website is a poorly designed profile on MySpace, so, well, you make the call.
When I ventured in here, I got stinkeye from the three tables of college-aged hipsters sitting there (what is it about hipsters giving everyone who isn't a hipster stinkeye? Get over yourselves already.) The venue itself reminded me of these college town pizza bars I visited up in Corvallis, Oregon years back. Except Plaid isn't a pizza bar. Or in Corvallis. It's a world-fusion mishmash veggie-friendly restaurant in Tempe. Or something like that.
I was served by the owner himself, who was the sole server of the evening for several tables and was a very nice guy but he seemed very nervous and I wasn't sure why. His nervousness proceeded to permeate my mind and that kind of made me feel nervous.
Like, why was he nervous? And now, like, why am I nervous? It's like some psychoanalytical flu virus. I became slightly uneasy.
Anyway, the entree menu is really random: spicy Singapore noodles, Jamaican Jerk chicken, Bombay cauliflower curry, Plaid Thai noodles, all with options of chicken or tofu. The flavors are so extremely varying from one dish to another that you sit there and debate about whether any of them could actually be good. I was a little dubious about how the food was going to be, but I went with the scheme anyway and opted for the spicy Singapore noodles with chicken, which the owner assured me was very good.
In the interim I paid a visit to the graffiti-strewn bathroom and then looked around Plaid as a whole. Bar to the side, 2nd-hand couches in the middle, conga drums just sitting there. The leather seat of my own booth was pretty worn down and when I'd lean forward, it would lean forward with me. I don't think that's supposed to happen. I then proceeded to thumb through an old edition of the Phoenix New Times because it seemed appropriate. .
My bowl of noodles and a 1/2 pint of AmberBock greeted me at my table soon after. The noodles were decent, and there was giant mass of them, but they weren't remotely spicy. I could taste the curry powder but that was about it. I then walked across the room to get some Sriracha to kick the noodles up a little, which to me made them more palatable. The owner then came by my table to ask how I liked the food. I didn't know how to respond. I wanted to say "This is awesome stuff" but it wasn't awesome stuff so I settled for "good, thanks".
That all said, I'm probably far from the target demographic for Plaid. I mean, places I thought were amazing when I went to college would probably be met with a different reaction had I gone to them for the first time at my age now. But I could easily see how this joint could be a student favorite.
Now I'm not saying Plaid is a bad place. It's extremely vegetarian-friendly where every dish can be made with tofu instead of meat, so that's a big plus for the soy product-inclined, and the owner is a very friendly guy and my meal plus 1/2 pint together equaled $9 and change. Wallet friendly, especially to kids on a student budget.
But this place was kind of awkward. I felt kind of awkward. Which is, well, kind of awkward, because that's not at all what I was expecting when I was heading over here.
3 stars. Would be a worth a return journey if I lived close and was a junior at ASU.
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