Thai Food to Go from Em Thai #2

Ooops! I thought today was the 5th! Sorry for the delay with today's post. Happy Eating!

I think I've written before that Thai food is especially popular in my house. I tend to get the same things over and over, but in an effort to expand my palette and offer you, good readers, something new, I ordered a couple of dishes I've never gotten from my favorite place in Carroll Gardens, Em Thai (278 Smith St., between Sackett St. & Degraw St., 718-843-0511)

I started out with the Jeeb Pukk, steamed veggie dumplings with garlic soy sauce. They were OK; a little underwhelming and slightly bland. All of the other appetizers I've had here were much better (fish cakes, dumplings with peanut sauce, curry puffs), so I was a bit disappointed.



We ordered two entrees, one of which was the Pad Lemongrass with duck, finely chopped lemongrass, ginger, carrot, scallions, red onions & cashew nuts in a lemongrass sauce and served with jasmine rice. This was so delicious. The thin slices of crispy, potent lemongrass add a lovely astringent quality to this dish, which is quite heavy with the plentiful slices of tasty duck.



The other entree we ordered was Pad Ginger with mock duck, which is surprisingly "meaty" and even replicates the bumpy "skin" of real duck. This dish comes with red and green bell peppers, oyster mushrooms, carrots, baby corn and more ginger and lemongrass, but has a distinctly different taste than the other dish. This was mellower, with the flavors of the vegetables shining through and the ginger and lemongrass more subtle. It, too, was delicious, and went perfectly over jasmine rice.



It's a good, solid place for eating in (the restaurant has a simple, clean feel with interesting coral-like plastic configurations decroating the walls) or for take-out. Reliable, fast and affordable too!