White Meat's Dark Side

Bai Tong - Thai (4 Stars)
http://www.baitongrestaurant.com

I had been craving sushi and used my handy-dandy G1 phone application to find a sushi restaurant near where I had been shopping. It turns out Miyabi, the very well reviewed restaurant I had chosen for lunch, wasn't open on Sundays and apparently only recently opened on Saturdays as flyers in the windows said "Now open all day Saturday!" Much to my dismay, I took another look through the strip mall and decided on an old standby for me: Thai.

Once inside, I was surprised at the number of awards (including being Zagat rated) and newspaper articles framed on the walls. I suddenly ratcheted up my expectations and decided to order an appetizer, a soup, and an entree from their over 60 menu items. Fortunately, Bai Tong did not disappoint.

The first recommended item I ordered was from their appetizer menu: Gai Hor Bai Toey. Their online menu actually reads: "All we can say is, if you don't like this one we will give you money back. This is our favorite at all time." So really, how can you go wrong? Well, unfortunately, it did not mention it was dark meat chicken (which I just can't stomach for some reason). Though beautifully prepared in grilled herb leaves, two bites was all I could tolerate. The sauce was a sweet, slightly smoky soy-based glaze and was delicious. If you don't mind the dark meat, this really would be a wonderful appetizer.

Next arrived the Tom Kah Gai which is quite probably my favorite soup ever. The top of the soup was actually a bit frothy which is something I had not seen before. The "broth" itself was hot (thanks to the chilies) and sour (thanks to the lemongrass, galanga root, and lime juice and leaves) and had a creamy, luxurious consistency that I've come to love with coconut milk based soups. The chicken was plentiful and there were quite a few mushrooms (no button mushrooms here, sorry, Ryan) swimming under the cilantro and scallions. I simply could not get enough of the soup and barely had any left to doggy bag.

Finally, I ordered my absolute favorite Thai dish: Green Curry, with chicken of course. As always, I asked for them to add "extra mixed vegetables" so it came with the basic bamboo shoots, basil, and red bell pepper along with cabbage, carrots, and mushrooms. I later asked how spicy this dish was prepared and I was told "zero stars, no spice". This was actually quite spicy, so be forewarned if you don't like to sweat or get the sniffles while in public. Of course, I could hardly offer up a fuss when the silky broth kept me seriously interested in finishing the bowl.

The Green Curry and Tom Kah Gai were easily some of the best I've had and I will definitely be back soon.