Thursday, March 9th - Sanamluang Cafe

Out of all the Thai restaurants in LA this has always been my favorite. Though I have to admit I haven't been going that often in the last couple of years (might it have something to do with the 30 minute street parking until 8 pm on Hollywood Blvd?)

I keep this restaurant as one of my contacts on my mobile. You're wondering if I'm that much of a foodie? Well, yes I am but that's not the reason. The reason is because when you call information not one operator knows how to spell the name of this restaurant - and you know that I don't either.

So Mr. Taste of Thai hosts a dinner here tonight and I was surprised to learn that I already know seven of the nine participants. 2 people decided just to do their own thing, one person was late, so six of us decided to eat family style and we ordered like we were about to start a month long fast. My picks are the fried shrimp cakes and the pork fried rice. I really want to order my favorite dish (the name escapes me right now) which is ground chicken meat with chili and mint served with rice and chili vinegar sauce but another diner is going to order the same dish but with shrimp (turns out I should have ordered the chicken version because the shrimp version is completely different.)

Some of the other good picks: Steamed chicken over rice (one of my faves this night - so simple yet so delicious - just steamed chix served over yummy rice with a spicy hoisin like sauce and a slightly flavored chicken broth); General Noodles - Soup (egg noodles with roast pork, roast duck, shrimp, and ground pork, with greens and beans sprouts and you get a choice of dry or soup); Pad See Ewe which was fabulous (I had this dish last week at Chan Dara and it was so sweet it tasted like cotton candy - blech!); Duck Salad; and Roast Pork with Egg Noodle - Dry (the guy who ordered this took 90% of the noodles and the guy sitting next to him to the other 10% so I took the greens and the fried shallots on the bottom of the bowl - it was excellent - went really well with the steamed chicken.)

Didn't try: Roast Pork over Rice (essentially Chinese Char Siew with a bottle of Red Dye No. 40 poured over it and then placed on a bed of rice); Beef Salad; and Pad Thai. I hate Pad Thai.

Normally, I love noodles so much that the inside joke between Stubborn Gourmet T and I is that I'm hillbilly Thai. Once, after having eating noodle soup for breakfast four days in a row in New York, Maestro Gourmet N declared that I was a Noodle Whore. Well, guess what? He was right! But I hate Pad Thai.

Drink of the day: Red Syrup with Cream (bubblegum flavored pink syrup with about a cup of half and half - my fat ass thanks me.)

Affirmation of the day: This dog is a perfect idea in Divine Mind and now expresses God's perfect idea of a perfect dog (said about a certain Teutonic dog who inisists on waking me up every ten minutes when she's hungry.)