As you might have guessed, Rosalie and I enjoy eating out. We eat out about three times a week which I calculate is about 15% of the 21 weekly meals. And we enjoy finding new restaurants.
Our latest is SATHA THAI KITCHEN, a small establishment at 1161 Irving Blvd, across the street from Ralphs just past Newport. It's a little tricky getting into their parking spaces because of a hair raising left turn off Irvine, but it's more than worth it. I think they have six tables seating about 25 patrons total.
The food is more than excellent. Last evening we went again even after being there for lunch a few days before. They have an extensive menu and the dishes are freshly prepared in a small kitchen just off the dining room.
We decided to start with their fresh spring rolls with shrimp. There are three rolls which they cut into six pieces because there only were the two of us. It came with a dark, flavorable dish of dipping sauce. Wonderful. We also ordered hot green tea, green tea so we could sleep at night.
For our entrees, Rosalie selected the Pad Thai (pan fried noodles with chicken, egg, chili powder, bean sprouts, green onion and fresh ground peanuts). Apparently this is the national dish of Thailand with as many variations as Indian curry. Of course, I dipped my chopsticks into it for a taste and it was outstanding. I make Pad Thai at home but this was soooo much better. I will try to emulate it, but doubt if I can.
My entree choice was Papaya Salad (asterisk-- Hot and Spicy). Incidentally, the server always asks if you want it hot, or what degree of hot. Rosalie likes hers spicy but not hot while I like mine "medium" hot. My salad came, beautifully presented on the plate, and was hot and spicy as ordered. This again is a traditional dish which usually is served very hot and spicy. Some restaurants warn you against this salad because they don't think non-Thai pallets are attuned to this degree of hotness! I enjoyed every bite. No, I wouldn't even try this at home.
Lastly we did something we almost never do. We ordered dessert on the advice of our server. Flavored sticky rice with sliced mango. Wow. We were told the mangos came from Mexico because Mexico and Thailand are on the same latitude so growing conditions are similar. Well they must be because the mango was perfectly sweet. And the sticky rice was prepared with strawberry juice so it was strawberry colored. Now, sticky rice (Googled) is "sticky". It is a special rice grown for just this consistency. Ours was covered with a whipped coconut milk dressing. Again, WOW.
Rosalie and I highly recommend the SATHA THAI KITCHEN. Great for lunch with a seperate lunch menu ($7.50 for any of the 20 selections served with egg roll, soup or salad and rice...a bargain.) Dinner selections also are moderately priced and their menu lists 91 choices. Only note is that because the place is small, and parking limited,plan on going early.
Eat on, my friends...
