Thursday, October 10, 2002 :::
 

All Thai'd Up
By Holly B
Hi there. I am starting my first column on Vegetarian and Vegan restaurants, or regular restaurants with vegetarian options. In the intrest of full disclosure, I am not a complete vegetarian, nor am I a professional food critic. I just thought it would be a nice addition to Co-Options to let people know about the places in and around town to find some good grub. So, here goes, with my apologies to Cliff Bostock.
Thai Chili (Authentic Thai Cuisine) is a largish-sized restaurant right around the corner from Vegan Way (to be reviewed later) on the corner of Briarcliff and Lavista Roads. It is in the conviently-named Briarvista Shopping center. "Wayne" and I went there on a blustery beautiful friday afternoon not too long ago. We we all ready for some long-delayed Vegan Way vittles. As we pulled into the adjoining lot he suddenly suggested we try Thai Chili. I am glad he did, as I'd only been there once before, for dinner, and it was still pretty new to me. The decor has many nicely laid-out glass topped tables with small candles on them. They were already lit, thought it was only lunchtime.
Unobtrusive, and forgettable music played in the background and the walls boasted, if you can call it that, some art on the walls depicting scenes from Thailand of old. It came accross, we both agreed, as rather impersonal. I wonder if anything worth making Art for had happened in the last century in Thailand. Oh well, we were here for the food, not the art. The young waiter took about ten minutes to get us some water and menus, though the place was only about a quarter full, and there seemed to be plenty of waitstaff on hand. When we looked at the lunch menu, sadly, only 4 out of 19 dishes were Vegeterian, and only 2 were Vegan. There were for the Vegans, the Spicy Veggies (mixed veggies and tofu with Thai chili sauce) with a level 2 "pepper" heat index. There was also Panang Curry with Tofu.This was a 1 "pepper" meal. The other dishes were a Fried Rice with Veggies and a Spicy Fried Rice with Veggies. Both of which had egg in the dish.
The waiter did bring Wayne's Thai Coffee in a rapid pace, unlike some of the other service we got that afternoon. This coffee drink, which is also available as a black tea drink is just regular coffee (or tea) with coconut milk and a heaping helping of (gasp!) real white sugar. As I don't drink coffee, I took his word that it was good. I do know one or two of those Thai Iced Teas will knock your socks off. Our fast service on the coffee was strange conpared to the appetizer we'd ordered coming mere moments before the soup. We'd ordered, not knowing soup was coming, (and then leaving, in Wayne's case) some Fried Tofu from the appetizers list. I'd had it before at Thai Soon (in Dallas, Texas) and loved it. As he'd not had any before, and in the spirit of adventure, off we went. Six thick pieces of triangle-cut tofu were marinated in a slightly nutty something before being fried to a delicate crisp. They were served with the ever-present chili sauce with crushed peanuts on top. This sauce is sweet and a bit hot and has a kiss of spices that just makes you want to put it on everything. I did, actually, save the rest to add to my rice with my masaman dish, it's that good.
Neither one of us had read the part on the menu that says the dishes all come with soup. So it was rather a surprise when two bowls of Tom-Kha-Kai soup showed up. As we'd tried to tell the waiter that Wayne was a vegetarian, and could he have another kind...?...the hostess came and politely took his soup away. She bought back a nice bowl of nothing in exchange. (I ate my soup, a sliced chicken in coconut milk broth with mushrooms and a drizzle of chili oil on top, very tasty) This struck me as odd that he would get no offer of other soup in return, as the Tofu and Veggie soup on the menu is $.70 cheaper then the Tom-Kha-Kai. This wasn't offered as an option, or an "upgrade" to him, so that was a bit dissapointing.
Wayne had ordered the Panang Curry (2 "peppers") for his meal, though, and it was very good. The panang is a green curry with coconut milk, green bell peppers and basil leaves. There was almost an over-abundance of tofu in this dish, though, since there was so much, it was easy to sop up the curry sauce which was just poured over the food. I had a bit of it, and really liked the sauteed basil leaves that were well done. They were cooked enough to be wilted properly, without being tough or rubbery. I liked it all right, and agreed with him about the amount of tofu given, thought that probably was because we'd ordered the Tofu appetizer to split earlier.
I ordered the Masaman Curry, (1 "pepper") which normally comes with chicken, but I asked for tofu instead. The waiter asked the kitchen about it, and they agreed to the substitution. This dish comes with a light and spicy creamy curry (red curry) with pieces of cashew nuts liberally mixed in. The masaman, (which I must confess, is 2nd only behind a good plate of Pad Thai, in my book) came with a helping of four nice slices of avocado with all the crunchy cashew nuts. Most places I've had masaman only offer two slices or the green stuff, so this was a nice bonus. I didn't feel resentful at all when Wayne asked for a slice this time. I had ordered this after asking about the deceptively named "Spicy Veggie Chicken". It turns out that this was not a chicken-substitute dish made from seitan or good old t.v.p. but really vegetables with spicy chicken. I don't belive this was malicious on the part of the Thai Chili staff, but I do think it would be serving the public better to rename it. This is mostly because it took at bit of work to confirm with the server what it was acutally made of.
Lunchtime prices vary from $2.75 for the Egg Roll to $10.75 for the Salmon Curry. The dinner menu has eight vegeterian items to choose from, six of which are vegan, as well as seafood, beef and chicken items for those not so strict about their diets. Dinner prices go from $8.25 (Veggie and Tofu Delight) to $18.95 (Red Snapper Ginger). Here's the skinny on Thai Chili: 2169 Briarcliff Road, Atlanta GA 30329 Ph#: 404*315*6750 Web: www.thaichilicusine.com They do have free delivery with a $10 minimum order and are open for Lunch 11-2:30 M-F and Dinner Monday through Thursday & Sunday 5-10 PM and Friday/Saturday 5-11 pm.
Overall, despite simplistic decor, and some spotty service, I definately recommend Thai Chili at dinner. You've got more variety to choose from, if nothing else. Oh, and I promised Tom he could be my very own "Wayne". So, Mr. W., we're off to Vegan Way around the corner. See you next month!

::: posted by Grendy at 10/10/2002 12:31:00 AM