Silk Thai offers freshest ingredients
DINING OUT
Silk Thai Cuisine, the restaurant with the clever name on Beach
Boulevard in the extensive Newland Center, has a menu filled with the
smoothest of sauces that run the gambit from fire-engine hot to
baby-bottle warm.
At Silk Thai, the servers are so friendly you feel as if this
place is your home with your private chef. In fact, when five
Buddhist monks came in to eat, the whole kitchen came out to discuss
their order.
The menu lends guidance with asterisks for spicy, tiny hearts for
less than 14 grams of fat and V for vegan with no dairy, egg, fish or
chicken broth. They cook with 100% pure canola oil, no MSG and with
vegetables so fresh you they must have a garden out back. Our
selection began with five Thai Spring Rolls (v $4.95) with the
crispest film wrapped around a filling of transparent glass noodles,
strands of cabbage and carrots with a smooth thin red/orange dipping
sauce. Pick up with care as they are oven hot, prepared when ordered
and delicious. They, like every order, are served on large platters
family style.
My entre Paht Kee Mow/drunken noodles (v $8.50) was stir-fried
with wide rice noodles, al dente green bell pepper pieces, crispy
bean sprouts, onions, chiles and sweet basil -- with the traditional
contrast of sweet and spicy, soft textured and a wondrous sauce like
none I’d tasted before. It had a pungent, verdant taste, latent with
spice and subdued heat. It was a huge serving, one that kept luring
me to eat more.
Stir-fries contain a tablespoon of cholesterol-free canola oil,
and my friend’s choice was Paht Pak vegetables ($6.95) with big
pieces of cabbage, bean sprouts, carrot, baby corn, broccoli,
tomatoes and onions with a sauce so delicious the absence of meat
isn’t noticeable. Freshness of ingredients and those sauces really
put Silk Thai at the top of the list.
Silk Thai has three women chefs Panee Thammavagsa, Salee and
Nongyow who all cook by co-owner Jennifer Jardine’s mother’s recipes.
They have recently returned to Thailand where they will collect new
recipes. The most recently added dish which he recommends is Duck
Curry with no skin or bones, is oven-roasted and served with a red
curry.
If, like me, you can’t leave a restaurant without dessert, try the
homemade coconut ice cream ($2.95) an icy, creamy double-scoop with
big pieces of fresh coconut or the equally satisfying tall glass of
iced Thai Coffee ($1.75).
* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have
comments or suggestions, call (562) 493-5062 or e-mail
hbindy@latimes.com.
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