Duangrat's

[DonRocks]

Cruise ship, tour bus, Four Sisters ... they all come to mind when dining at Duangrat's.

There is so much here not to offend that it's offensive. Sweet and spicy lie together in the same bed, like a stale twenty-year-old marriage where the husband and wife lie apart and in opposition to one another.

Everything is so safe, and so dull at the same time. There is nothing wrong with the food, but there is no depth or soul in the sauce, and this cannot be written for a brochure.

The strengths of Duangrat's are its welcoming interior and friendly, professional staff. These are every bit as essential now as they were seventeen years ago, when the cicadas emerged from the ground, Washingtonian in hand, fearing the Thai food as if it were the plague.

There is a beautiful Buddhist allegory to describe A Single Day in the universe, and it goes something like this:

On the summit of the highest mountain in the world, a lone bird appears in the horizon, approaching with a silk scarf in her talons. As she crosses the peak of the mountain, she swoops down and lightly brushes the scarf against the earth, and then flies away into the distance. One thousand years later the bird comes again, passing over the mountaintop with her scarf and brushing it lightly, and then leaving not to return again for another millenium. Each and every thousand years the bird returns, and eventually the mountain is worn down to the level of the sea.

At that point A Single Day has passed in the life of the universe, and given that perspective of time, it will be another ten years before I feel the need to return to Duangrat's.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[John W.]

Rocks, are you on the sauce?

[morela]

Try grocery shopping one day.

It's a sobering experience and the carts make fine weapons.

[hannnah]

"So this cicada walks into a Thai restaurant holding a copy of the Washingtonian..." is a great opening line for a joke. Trouble is, I can't imagine what the rest of it would be.

[JPW]

Thoughts from the blue -

A kalpa - the passage of one iteration of the world from birth until death was derived from traditional Indian cosmology as 4,320,000 years.

At various points the Buddha gave what in comparison to modern scientific estimates is an incredibly accurate age of the universe by adding up all the iterations of existence (each kalpa) arriving at an age of 37 billion years.

See ya..

[hillvalley]

Rocks, are you on the sauce?

I was thinking the same thing.

[sara]

Well it's about damn time! How long ago did I originally post asking if anyone had been there lately-- I think it was February?!?

Don, thanks for being the brave one. I chickened out. But Rabieng, their sister restaurant, is still worth a try, despite that relationship. Go for brunch.

[Mark Sommelier]

Well it's about damn time! How long ago did I originally post asking if anyone had been there lately-- I think it was February?!?

Don, thanks for being the brave one. I chickened out. But Rabieng, their sister restaurant, is still worth a try, despite that relationship. Go for brunch.

Thanks to you both, Sara and Rocks.

10 years ago, I had the best "Thai" meal of my life at Duangrats.

6 years ago, I had the best soft-shell crabs of my life at Rabieng.

That's all.

[cakewench]

I like Rabieng a lot. And the associated market next door.

Duangrats... hm. I had REALLY nice fish there, once upon a time.