Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Thai-licious

During my assignment trying Toledo’s Thai restaurants, I learned a few things -— that I am completely inept with a pair of chopsticks; that chasing rice around the plate with a fork is silly (I do as the Thais do now, and use the fork to push my rice onto the spoon); and that the delicious heap of slippery and spicy noodles known as pad thai on offer in Toledo’s Thai eateries is as good (or better) than the stuff available in take-out boxes in New York City and Los Angeles (I know because I’ve tried them). Here, TCP offers a guide to the restaurants that give the noodle dish (and other Thai specialties) a good name.

Bangkok Cafe
3401 Woodville Rd., Northwood
419-697-7979
jasmine-bangkokcafe.com
Mon. thru Fri. 11 am – 9 pm; Sat. thru Sun. 12 pm – 9 pm
Bangkok Cafe’s owner, Toi Suwannathada, doesn’t like to keep secrets. She guides her customers around the adjoining Thai grocery store and shows them the best ingredients for pad thai (“right now, there’s no secret, you have the internet”) and divulges the Thai’s stay-slim secret (“som tum salad — women like it a lot”). Her restaurant is cozy and low-key, and if you come in the evening hours you can enjoy the privilege of being served their divine nam tok (a deliciously cold beef and cilantro salad) by her 9-year-old daughter, and sometime-server, U-Sa.

Jasmine Thai Cuisine and Japanese Steak House
5834 Monroe St., Sylvania
419-882-4347
jasmine-bangkokcafe.com
Tues., Wed., & Sun. 5 pm – 9 pm;
Thurs., Fri. & Sat. 5 pm – 10:30 pm
The juxtaposition of the simplicity of Japanese food with its subtle spices and the “stronger the better” approach of Thai cuisine makes this strip-mall spot an Asian experience in extremes. The contradiction works, with standouts like drunken noodles and mango and pineapple curry (owner Terry Vayavong’s recommendations) being served in a slick interior of Asian-style wooden booths and hanging lanterns. Under the same ownership as Bangkok Cafe, the exterior at the Major Magic Plaza is deceptively humble — inside, the atmosphere is the most upscale Thai experience available in the area.

Bangkok Kitchen
582 W. Dussel Dr., Maumee
419-897-7777
Facebook page: Bangkok Kitchen
Mon. thru Thurs. 11 am – 9 pm; Fri. 11 am to 10 pm; Sat. noon – 10 pm; Sun. 5 – 9 pm
“Pad thai is the signature,” says Bangkok Kitchen co-owner Bill Sonjeow. “If you do good pad thai, you probably make pretty good Thai food.” Sonjeow should know — his family has been devoted to the restaurant business since their days in Thailand, and the pad thai at the Maumee location he’s run for 10 years meets his benchmark test for Thai cuisine. It’s served in the classic way, with a mound of crushed peanuts, a pile of bean sprouts, and egg and green onion laced between the noodles. Contain yourself long enough to add a squirt of lime, and ask for an imported Thai beer to wash it all down.

O.K. Wok
3165 Navarre Ave., Oregon
419-698-1842
Mon. thru Fri. 11 am to 9 pm; Sat. & Sun. noon to 9 pm.
When this Thai and Chinese eatery closed for three months during a relocation from the shuttered Woodville Mall, its customers called non-stop asking when it would re-open. The first week at their new location, they were still taking orders for pad thai and pad se-ew an hour and a half after closing time. O.K. Wok serves Thai food in a fast-food setting, with casual seating and plenty of takeout business. Owners Kenny Isranuchip and Oranuj Kwanyajai know many of their regulars’ orders by heart, and in true mom-and-pop fashion they and their son, Arpechad, do the cooking.

Thai Pan  
4011 Secor Rd., Toledo
419-475-3743
Facebook page: Thai Pan Toledo
Mon. thru Thurs. 11 am – 2 pm and 4:30 – 9 pm;
Fri, 11 am – 9:30 pm; Sat. 12 pm – 9 pm
In the newly-remodeled dining room of Thai Pan (formerly Darla’s Thai Pan), owner Ron Sritongkul explains his penchant for spicy food evident in his range of options for customers — mild (an arena a food wimp like me sticks with), medium, hot, extra hot, superhot, Thai hot, Thai medium hot, and suicide. He’s been challenged to a suicide-level dinner by only seven customers so far (“If I don’t sweat the food is no good for me”, Ron admits),  battles he’s presumably won. He creates the heat with fresh and dried “bird” chilies from Thailand, but his list of delicious curry and noodle dishes can be ordered with as little or as much spice as you can handle.

Rose Thai
5333 Monroe St., Toledo
419-841-8467
Mon. thru Thurs. 11:30 am – 9:30 pm; Fri. 11:30 am – 10:30 pm; Sat. 4 – 10:30 pm; Sun. 4 – 9 pm
Ornate masks and headpieces used in traditional Thai dances hang from the walls, and a small room in front serves as a kind of shrine to Thai culture and ceremony. The setting is quiet, and the food is homemade by the owner’s daughter Salinee Kerdlarp. Their Thai curries arrive in portions big enough to split, but the home-made coconut ice cream sprinkled with nuts will be difficult to share.

Tasty Thai
1515 S. Byrne Rd., Toledo
419-724-4105
Mon. thru Thurs. 11 am – 9 pm; Fri. & Sat. 11 am – 10 pm; Sun. 5 – 9 pm
Owner Lake Piuk’s Chinese-Thai parents watch over the restaurant from imposing and regal-looking portraits hanging on the restaurant’s wall and printed on the menu. It’s an intimate touch in this casual eatery with an interior made up of wooden booths. The restaurant has detailed photos of every dish, on the menu and highlighted on the illuminated sign hanging behind the counter, so diners can see what their order of panang curry will look like before it arrives.

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