Mike’s Food for Thought – The Thai Cuisine

This week The Thai Cuisine Restaurant, 501 S. Meadow St, Ithaca. They are across Rte 13 from Wegmans.

Dinner,Open Sun-Thurs. 5-9:30, Fri and Sat 5-10. Lunch, Open Mon- Sat 11:30AM-2:30PM, Sunday Brunch 11:30AM -2:30PM. They accept all major credit cards. 273-2031.

My friend and I had a wonderful meal there. I had the GAENG KUA POHN-LA-MAI which is a fruit curry. Your choice of meat simmered in a curry of pineapple, apple, grapes, raisins, cashew and Thai Basil. It was served with a bowl of jasmine rice and pickled cabbage. I rarely eat curry but this was absolutely delicious. My friend had PRIEW WAN which is a Thai sweet and sour. Tender pork, sauteed bell peppers, tomatoes, pineapple, cucumbers, and onion in a house sweetand sour sauce. That too was very tasty and came with Jasmine rice. The menu is extensive and they have entrees of noodles, fried rice, stir fry, curry,and a category called Mom’s Favorites wich had quite a few duck dishes. Another nice feature is there vegetarian menu, which includes a lot of dishes made with tofu.

The menu included 4 or 5 soups such as Thai hot sour soup, chicken in a coconut/galangal broth and a shrimp, mussels, scallop and clam soup. Four different Thai salads were intriguing. Things such as spicy seafood salad and spicy chicken or beef salad had ingredients such as lime dressing, ground chili peppers,mint leaves and coriander. At their Sunday brunch you can sample small dishes of items on the menu for just $2.49. Two people could sample 10 different dishes for only $24.90. That sounds like a fun way to try a variety of Thai dishes.

If you have never had Thai food and you like Chinese food, Give it a try. It’s quite a bit different but in some ways it is similiar. I find Thai foods to be very flavorful. They do not fry items as much, so to me it’s a healthier type of food. Sriracha is found on every table to give customers the option to make the dishes spicier. They had a large variety of appetizers too. Things such as chicken tenders marinated in spices and coconut milk in a peanut sauce, and seasoned ground pork wrapped in rice paper with a carrot sauce, fish fritters and a tempura style squid served with a sweet chili suace.

Visit their website, www.ithacathaicuisine.com and look over the menu. They have a lot of delicious sounding food.The wine list was nice and a glass was only $5.00 to $6.00. I was too full for dessert but they had some interesting items such as mango ice cream and a Thai custard. They are also offering a 22nd anniversary menu. You can  choose from assortment of menu items at a reduced price. Check it out. It’s really good food.