The Thai is back

As I noted before, I'm gradually adding Thai food back into my life. So last Saturday evening, AV and I headed to Sala Thai near his place to get back in the saddle once again.

Note to self and readers: at 8PM on a Saturday night, Sala is HOPPING. Really. We've always gone earlier, so I've never seen it in all its glory. So it was loud and packed, but still the food came quickly, the servers were friendly, and the edibles were tasty as ever.

AV went with the chicken basil, which comes with mushrooms, peppers, chili, basil, and rice. The portions were huge, providing AV with lunch the next day as well. Two meals for $12? Not terrible.

Lots of sauce-- bonus

My choice was the papaya salad, of course. Again, the portion was huge, and it was basically a substantial tangle of shredded papaya. The odd green bean thread, cherry tomato, piece of iceberg lettuce or cashew piece gave a bit of interest, but since the sauce here is so mild I wish there were a better ratio of "other stuff" to papaya. Still good, though, and did I mention it was huge?

Plenty of papaya

And that was that. We paid and headed off to get ice cream (naturally) to cool our tingly mouths. A solid three Offset Spatula evening indeed.

Sala Thai
1718 Second Avenue, between 89th and 90th streets
212-410-5557

Another dumpling run at Sala Thai

After a relatively un-relaxing weekend, AV and I were looking for a low-key dinner. And naturally, said dinner had to be Thai. And, of course, include dumplings. God bless AV for humoring my ridiculous, insatiable, and everlasting cravings. Off to Sala Thai we skipped for some veggie dumplings and papaya salad.

Things proceeded much the same way they did on our previous visit. AV began the evening with a diet coke, which came in a cool tall glass but was almost entirely flat. Demerit.

But then the dumplings redeemed. These dumplings are green and slippery and craveable. Their filling isn't the typical chopped-veggie filling; it's long strands of some green vegetable. The dipping sauce was pretty spicy this time around but still delightful.

Lovely little parcels

The innards

After we split the dumplings, our entrees arrived. AV had strayed from his habitual pad see-ew to try the drunken noodle with chicken. It was a good choice-- I tried a few of the veggies, which were delish. And the noodles are so satisfying. Who doesn't like noodles?

Meat 'n' veg 'n' noodles 'n' steam

I went with the papaya salad (obvi), which was a manageable portion (not a daunting tower of papaya, as it was last time). Sala makes a damn tasty version of the salad, and the plate is lined with a bed of lettuce, which I like-- it adds a bit of crunchiness and heft to the dish. For some reason the tiny cherry tomatoes in the mixture were sort of mushy and gross, but everything else was top-notch.

Slawwwwww

And there you have it-- craving assuaged. For now, that is. When you're itching for Thai and want a no-fuss meal, Sala Thai fits the bill. Therefore, it keeps its solid three Offset Spatula rating.

Sala Thai
1718 Second Avenue, between 89th and 90th streets
212-410-5557

Dumplings & more at Sala Thai

On Saturday, AV and I were searching for-- what else?-- veggie dumplings. We were in his neck of the woods, so we decided to try Sala Thai, one of the Thai joints in his neighborhood.

We arrived around 8 and were seated immediately, which is a huge bonus on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, the dining room at Sala was very, very loud-- conversation, even at a near-shouting level, was difficult. The room was also intensely nondescript, if that even can be possible, like a slightly shabby hotel dining room or a downtrodden airport restaurant. So while we enjoyed the food (read on), I'd definitely recommend Sala for take-out rather than a dine-in experience.

So, on to the food. To start, of course, we had the veggie dumplings (or Gu Choi, according to the menu). When these tiny parcels arrived, AV expressed apprehension-- once again, they weren't the tiny, tan-skinned dumplings we were looking for. But wait! We tried them, and the thin green skins gave way to savory innards packed full of green veggies. The filling was mostly long strands of some sort of emerald vegetable-- bok choy, maybe?-- but was very tasty. The dipping sauce was soy-based and slightly spicy. Overall, these were a winner, definitely craveable if not necessarily traditional.

Beautiful jewel tone

For his entree, AV got the pad thai with shrimp. It was served in a really cool wok-like serving dish and was an ample portion, with noodles, shrimp, diced smoked tofu, and all the rest of the traditional pad thai accoutrements. AV pronounced it a solid version of the Thai classic.

Not bad pad

My selection was the papaya salad. It may not look it in the picture, but this salad was HUGE. Fortunately, papaya salad isn't especially filling, because I plowed through the entire thing. Go me! This was a better-than-average salad, with crunchy iceberg lettuce as the base, an ample mound of shredded papaya, bits of lime, cherry-tomato halves, crumbled peanut, and a soupy dressing covering it all. Tasty and a good value as well.

So much papaya!!

So overall, we definitely enjoyed the food. As I mentioned before, the ambiance was so-so, and the service wasn't great-- while I was finishing my salad, a waiter came by and cleared all the remaining dishes, thereby making me feel like a fat pig by sending the message that I should have stopped eating already. (Note to self: I probably should have.) So if I end up craving those dumplings again, I suspect we'll order in. That way we'll get three-Offset-Spatula food in more comfortable and friendly surroundings.

Sala Thai
1718 Second Avenue, between 89th and 90th streets
212-410-5557