Thai Corner

[jscarbor]

I've been pretty down on thai food lately. It seems all the thai restaurants in Houston are pretty much the same, insomuch the menu's are almost identical. Sure a few do something a little different like the great eggplant/basil dish at erawan or the soups at kanamwan but alas they pretty much all run together. I've had the pleasure of dining at Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas where you have a northern thai pork stew that is awesome, or the soft shell crispy fried shrimp, not to mention the crispy rice and sour sausage. I also was lucky enough to drag some friends in Chicago to Spoon Thai where I had the one bite salad, the best Laarb (pork neck meat) I've ever had and banana blossum salad that was to die for. Why can't houston do thai like this? Thai Corner on Bellaire behind Sinh Sinh isn't much different than any of the others in Houston really but they do a couple dishes that I don't think I have seen. One is a very simple sounding dish of water spinach in this spicey sauce. It is so simple yet really amazing. The other was a mango salad with crunchy fish in a lime chile dressing. This dish wasn't the tables favorite even though I likes it. But what was really great is that they are doing some different dishes at this tiny little thai joint. We had some nice laab along with an avg fish in chile sauce dish and some thai jerky that was accompanied by a great little sauce as well as satay which was good, just like every other thai joint in town.

[jscarbor]

I know it is impossible to compare a restaurant to another based on a buffet but I had the buffet at Vung Thai on the loop yesterday and could not have been more disapointed. It was just plain boring. They had two at best decent soups and I guess something they were trying to pass off as pad thai that was nearly inedible with tofo and another crappy tofu dish. Thats it! I've had a regular dish here once and it was good but this buffet sucked so much I don't think I can go back.

[jscarbor]

Thai Corner brought me back to the semelessly boring Thai food you get everywhere in houston (read nit noi, thai corner, kanamwan, ...) and Vieng Thai on Long Point will keep me going. On the legs of 1 dish (Larb) I can wholeheartedly rec this place. I have gathered a few friends and will give it a try with 3-4 other people in the next few days. That way we can get 7-8 dishes. Wooohoo!

[jscarbor]

OK Maybe we need to change the title of this thread to Vieng Thai has the best Thai in town?

Anyway, I hooked up with a buddy of mine who also invited about a million other people (OK it was only 10) for a lunch at Vieng Thai a couple weeks ago. Hey, the more the merrier, especially for thai, right? It was great, but we did compromise a little because of the number we had in are party. Everyone (really it was me) decided it would be better if I ordered as long as I included this or that, which was fine even if it precluded me from ordering one or two funky things.

Heres what we had, sa far as I can remember:

Appetizers

Tod Mun Plaa Deep fried fish cakes served with cucumber and ground peanuts relish. These look like little square disks which were failry odd but the taste of the fish was pretty mild and the relish was very nice. Middle of the road dish.

We had a sausage but I forget which one, it was good but not very memorable.

Soups

Tom Kha Gui

This was a very good version of this soup. Was it better than Kanamwan's (one of the better dishes at Kan)? Maybe, it was certainly less salty. Very good dish.

We had another soup but it wasn't Tom Yum, but was similar. t was ok, I would have preffered to have the Tom Yum but this sounded a little different.

Salads

Sum Tum

This famous papaya salad with garlic, tomatoes, chilies with lime based dressing comes in two styles. Central Thai Style with dried shrimps and peanuts or Northeastern Thai/Laotian Style with salted crab. Very good dish that was a little funky for some at the table because of the dried shrimp is my guess. Top tier dish

Laarb

Ground meat with lime juice, chili, scallion, red onion, cilantro and mint might be the best dish here? Its a more wet version than some but not soupy.

Curry

Peneang Curry was very nice, could have used a bit more spice but we were a large group and peneng is generally fairly mild. This was also a top ties dish.

We also had tiger cry which was very pleasant if not a pretty plain dish.

I think we had a few more dishes but I can't think of them right now. But Vieng is at the top of my thai list and with the BYOB policy it makes it pretty much untouchable as far as going anywhere else for Thai.

My Personal Thai ratings no look like:

1. Vieng Thai

2. Thai Corner

3. Kanamwan

4. Erawan

5. Vung Thia (except the awful buffet)

6. Thai Racha

Bottom Thias

1. Nit Noi

2. Thai Spice

3. Sawadee

[eagleton_g]

Try Paddy Thai. Small family owned place. Very authentic.

[Kerr.]

Thanks, jscarbor.

I'll be going by Vieng Thai for dinner pretty soon. I went there about 2 years ago just for something quick and have meant to go back ever since. Your reports got me fired up to go back again. Kanomwan has long been my favorite in town, but we'll give Vieng a try soon.

[jscarbor]

Its been 10 years since I last ate there and I remember it being solid.

Try Paddy Thai. Small family owned place. Very authentic.

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[jscarbor]

I noticed Vieng Thai about a year ago after eating at El Hildeguence nest door, I thought oit was brand new then. It surprises me it has been around that long.

Thanks, jscarbor.

I'll be going by Vieng Thai for dinner pretty soon.  I went there about 2 years ago just for something quick and have meant to go back ever since.  Your reports got me fired up to go back again.  Kanomwan has long been my favorite in town, but we'll give Vieng a try soon.

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