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| - The short: Tasty Thai, very friendly service, and a clean, well-lit, comfortable, and quiet strip mall space.
The long:
La's Thai is just south of the gas station on the southeast corner of Hayden and McDowell, and there's plenty of parking in front and behind the complex, with a handy backdoor if you're in the back. We were greeted by some very friendly young women and told to pick a table--plenty to choose from at 7 pm on a Saturday as there were just a couple of tables taken and a couple of people ordering takeout (more came in as the night went on). Decor is a little generic, but comfortable and interesting, with a few of the tables sporting some pretty woven cloths and some carved wood art on the walls.
We had the fresh rolls, satay, stuffed chicken wings, Pad Thai at medium heat, Panang curry at medium heat, and white sticky rice with mango (purple rice was an option, but our server said she favored white, so we went with that). The fresh rolls were going to be my step-daughter's entree, but she's allergic to cucumbers, and I was a bonehead and forgot to ask if the rolls used them--of course they did, and our server offered to take them away and bring something else for her. We decided to just have her eat the satay as her entree while the rest of us used the fresh rolls as our app. We ordered a Thai tea, iced tea, and young coconut drink (it came in a tall can that served two) to drink. All the beverages were tasty.
All the apps came together, including the spring rolls kiddo had ordered as her entree, which was fine because we switched her meal around, anyway. Everything was very good, although I was a little baffled by the big scoops of either cabbage, lettuce, or both that accompanied every dish except for the stuffed wings and Panang curry. I initially wondered if the stuff was a garnish, but there was way too much of it. It was fine with the satay, and we ate bites of cabbage with the chicken and the delicious peanut sauce it came with, although that sauce strangely started to congeal a little bit as the meal went on. That didn't affect its flavor, though. The satay chicken was wonderful--tender and moist, slightly sweet and aromatic with spices. The lettuce scoop didn't make sense with the fresh rolls, which were already stuffed with greens. The peanut sauce that came with the spring rolls was even better than the satay's, and yay, it stayed completely liquid! Neither of the peanut sauces were sweet (I swear some places use Jif peanut butter), and they had that nice umami flavor with a slightly sour edge that I love in Thai peanut sauce. The fresh rolls were, indeed, fresh--lettuce, pops of flavorful herbs, glass noodles, crunchy chopped cucumber, and fresh, chewy wrappers. We were divided on the stuffed wings. An interesting idea--a dense pork filling in boned, fried, full-size wings (not drummettes!). It was well cooked and the chicken skin had a nice crisp to it, but the filling, and thus the whole dish, was just underwhelming.
I liked the Pad Thai, although it was lighter on veggies than I'm used to; but it's exactly as described in the menu: "Small rice noodles stir-fried with shrimp, chicken, egg, green onion, bean sprouts and peanuts." La's is a very noodle-centric dish, but the noodles were perfectly cooked--not gummy, clumpy, oily--a good chew without being undercooked, and loose so each noodle came up separately. The proteins were also perfectly cooked--not dry and over cooked like a lot of Pad Thais I've had. As for the heat--I couldn't find it, so it was more mild than medium. I think the Panang curry got all my chili.
The curry was thick, rich, and packed with peanut flavor, again without being too sweet, and overall tasty. The veggies were cooked well with just some crunch to them, and the chicken was again tender and moist. It came with a big side of rice--plenty to make at least two servings of food.
We all loved the sticky rice with mango. Such a beautifully simple dish--a generous serving of sweet rice coated with coconut cream and two big hunks of sweet, fresh yellow mango; this was one of the best versions we've had--every component just right.
Overall, while there are plenty of good Thai spots in the area, I wouldn't pass La's Thai if I were in the area.
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