Thai Pepper spices things up

Doug Tabbert

You are greeted by a five-foot tall statue of a Thai woman in a

prayerful pose as you enter the narrow New York-style restaurant. In

fact, there are dolls and small photographs of Thai community life,

as well as miniature wooden carvings of dragons and elephants. There

is even a table offering wares and clothing from the Asian nation for

a modest price. All these nonedible omens foretold of an authentic,

palate-pleasing lunch.

I chose pot stickers for an appetizer ($3.95), a thoroughly

delicious decision indeed. The boiled dumplings of ground pork were

enveloped in a thin flour-based blanket and topped with garlic and

cilantro. I dipped all of these doughy gems, more than half a dozen,

into a sweet sauce.

Since there are 86 items on the menu, the laminated pictures of

various dishes help immensely. I pointed at the Pad Prig King --

chicken with green beans -- one of 17 lunch ($4.25) and dinner

($7.45) specials. The lunch comes with a Thai salad, a fried wonton

and steamed or fried rice. Dinner comes with shrimp fried rice, an

egg roll and salad.

I went with the rice bowl, really a rice plate ($3.50) with a

spicy level of seven on a scale of one to 10. The homemade sauce was

comprised of roughly 15 ingredients, which had me perspiring enough

to know that this was Thai food, but not enough to slow me down.

I doubt you could go wrong with any of the six house specials, all

less than $8, which include barbecued pork spare ribs, Mongolian beef

and garlic curry shrimp.

The small eatery makes a point of conveying, “We use canola oil

because we care for your heart.” Care for your sensitive taste buds

is manifested not only in the quasi empirical scale of spiciness, but

also by a menu key, which stars the particularly spicy dishes, such

as yellow curry chicken and pok tak, a hot and sour seafood soup.

The mint leaves chicken, several types of curry and chicken or

beef satay all had distinct and compelling photographs. The yum nua,

or spicy beef salad ($6.25), looks yummy with slices of grilled beef

and tomatoes atop cucumber and lettuce in a tasty lime sauce. The

chefs are willing to experiment and are happy to alter any entree

into a vegetarian one.

Thai Pepper’s slogan is, “small enough to know you, big enough to

serve you.” The efficient restaurant, which will be four years old in

December, stir fries up food that shows it wants to get to know you

better.

* DOUG TABBERT is the Independent restaurant critic.