Dinner at Mai

There's a somewhat under-the-radar Pan-Asian restaurant on Atlantic Avenue that goes by the name of Mai (497 Atlantic Ave., between Nevins St. & 3rd Avenue, 718-797-3880). It's simply decorated inside, but it's the peaceful garden that's the big draw, along with the fresh and not-your-usual-Pad-Thai dishes. We ordered take-out from there recently and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

We started with a classic appetizer of Chicken Satay. The meat was tender, slightly juicy and just a bit charred and the peanut sauce was thick with pieces of peanut. It's one of my favorites.



For my entree, I chose to get the Bun Tao, a glass noodle dish with vegetarian duck, shitake mushroom and asian greens sauteed in a ginger sauce. It was delicious. I love veggie duck, and Mai does it the best. It's not greasy, more like baked and a bit crunchy, and there were plentiful slices of mushroom. The greens were crispy, not boiled to death and the sauce was sharp, astringent and light.



My boyfriend got an order of Mee Rojak, a Malaysian style egg noodle with steamed vegetables & tofu in peanut lime sauce. The sauce is more like a curry, and a bit spicy. The noodles were thick and a bit chewy, but in a good way, the veggies nicely cooked and there was a perfectly cooked egg on the side. Very tasty.



I really like Mai. The food is fresh, quality and different from the standard Thai/Pan-Asian places around. Definitely go when the weather is good to sit in the beautiful back garden!

Dinner from Wild Ginger

After an evening of shopping with my mom and my sister, we were hungry and in need of sustenance. Both of them are vegetarian so when we got out of the subway, we headed straight for Wild Ginger (112 Smith Street, Between Dean St. & Pacific St., 718-858-3880) to get some takeout. The space is really nice though, and I'd like to go back to have dinner there. It's very tastefully decorated, dark and cozy with dark mirrors that make the space feel twice as big as it is. Within minutes we were on our way home with dinner.

I chose the Satay Tempeh, cubes of tempeh grilled in a satay sauce. It was really good, but I was a little disappointed as I was expecting a peanutty satay sauce - instead this was slightly BBQ flavored.



My mom ordered the Hijiki Salad - marinated black seaweed with edamame peas. Slightly salty, peppered with edamame - it was a lovely dish.



She also got the Tofu Salad because it was described as being made with beets. That was just a little misleading. Little strings of shaved beet sat atop big, pale chunks of tofu and mixed greens. It was good, if on the plain side. A citrus-ginger dressing came with.



We got an order of the Cold Noodles for my step-dad, which are made with green-tea noodles and topped with a sesame sauce. This, too, was on the light side, subtle and a bit disappointing if you were hoping for a more peanutty crunch. Not that it was bad; it was very good, but not your typical cold noodle flavor.



We love our appetizers, so my mom also got an order of Shumai stuffed with spinach. These cute little green packages were very tender and tasty, especially dipped into the soy sauce that accompanied them.



I ordered the Singapore-Style Mei Fun noodles, cuz, how can you resist that name? Thin, angel-hair noodles in a slightly curry-flavored sauce, with nicely cooked strips of tofu and slices of mushroom and bell peppers were tasty and quite filling. I ate half of the dish and it looked like I had barely made a dent!



My sister got the Vegetable Yaki Udon, sans tofu, as it's her favorite but she hates tofu. This was the best dish of them all as far as I was concerned. It was the most flavorful and had lots of different veggies (peppers, cabbage, mushrooms) packed in.



So, a big Thumbs Up to Wild Ginger. I'd definitely go back here for dinner sometime as the food was good and the space was lovely to be in.

Dinner at Ghang Thai Kitchen

So Ghang Thai Kitchen (204 Smith St., between Baltic & Butler, 718-222-5598) opened about three years ago, and will soon be opening another branch on Court St., but I'd never been until last night. We were scheduled to see a movie at the Cobble Hill theater, and coming from the nearby Bergen St. subway stop, Ghang Thai offered proximity and speed. It also offered decent food, but it's not going to replace my favorites (Em Thai & Teeda Thai) any time soon.

We started with the Curry Puffs, happy to see them being served, as I've only seen them at Em Thai where they're one of my favorite appetizers. They were crispier, a little more cooked and a darker brown than I'm used to, as well as smaller. They had a nice curry flavor, but fell apart as you ate them. And while chock full of peas, there wasn't much else inside.



We also split an order of the Tofu & Veggie Pad Thai. I know, this is like, the dumbest thing to order, but I also think that it can be a pretty good measure of what the food is like at a New York Thai restaurant. Ghang's version didn't have any chopped peanuts on top, no lime wedges and it only had four chunks of tofu. It wasn't greasy, but had a slightly mushy quality to it. Again, it was fine, but it didn't match up to the Pad Thai at my two neighborhood favorites.



Not sure how the second, nearby location is going to fare amidst the glut of Thai places in Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill. I guess only time will tell.

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!

Thai from Cafe Chili

I hate it when you leave your regular, go-to places with the hopes of discovering something new and exciting only to come away frustrated and disappointed. That's what happened the other night when I ordered Thai food and decided to try a new place. Cafe Chili (172 Court St., between Congress & Amity, 718-260-0066) used to be Siam Garden which was a lovely spot my family & I used to dine at when I was in High School. It underwent a radical change a few years ago, and I have to say that I was sorely disappointed with my meal. I initially tried to order from Joya, but after getting a busy signal on 5 attempts and then having it ring for 3 minutes, I scrapped that idea. Anyone know if Joya even delivers?

So yeah, this meal was so blah. I started out with the Cilantro Corn Fritters because I'd never heard of them and they sounded interesting. What came were three mushy, doughy & greasy balls, with some kernels of corn and absolutely no taste or evidence of cilantro whatsoever. Ugh.



I also ordered the Crispy Vegetable Spring Rolls. These were at least somewhat flavorful with shredded carrots and cabbage, but they were also totally oily.



I decided to get the Tofu Pad Thai since it's such a classic dish, I wanted to see how they prepared it. It turned out to be a bit bland, and the chunks of tofu, while plentiful, were dry and rubbery. Major bummer.



My boyfriend chose Panang Curry with Chicken which is described as Coconut Milk, Steamed Mixed Vegetables & Kaffir Lime. It was flavorful and on the spicy side, even though I asked for mild, and the "mixed vegetables" were only red & green bell peppers. The portion also seemed pretty small (the photo shows it in it's entirety).



All in all, a major let-down. I even checked out the reviews on Yelp which all say, except for one, that the food was pretty mediocre. With a number of better options in the neighborhood, I just don't see going back there.

Thai from Teeda Thai

My boyfriend and I probably order Thai food once every two weeks, and this last time we decided to mix things up a bit and try a different place. Teeda Thai (218 Columbia Street, between Union and Sackett Streets, 718-643-2737) is an unassuming little restaurant on Columbia Street that makes quite good food and is a nice alternative to the other spots in the neighborhood.

We started with one of my favorite dishes, the Fish Cakes. Their texture might not appeal to all, as they are slightly rubbery, but I love these savory and yummy treats, as well as the slightly fire-y sauce that comes on the side, a vinaigrette with red pepper flakes, chopped peanuts, cucumber and red onions.



We also got an order of my second favorite Thai appetizer, Chicken Satay. I just LOVE peanut sauce, and this one is creamy and thick and delicious. Four skewers of perfectly grilled chicken come in an order, and are a great classic starter.



As our main dish we split an order of Pad Thai with Tofu. Teeda Thai makes a really good Pad Thai, with fresh and crunchy bean sprouts, thin slices of red cabbage and carrots, and lots of chunks of Tofu. The sauce is light, flavorful and slightly sweet, with chopped peanuts and plenty of noodles - perfection!



While it seems that most of their business is take-out, it's also pleasant to eat in the restaurant. It's warm and quiet there, and it's nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of Smith and Court Streets sometimes.

Thai Food to Go from Em Thai

There's nothing like ordering in and sitting down to a beat 'em up Chinese crime drama, I mean "Crime Story" at the end of a long day. Out came the menu book and Em Thai Kitchen was chosen for tonight's meal (278 Smith St. at Sackett St., 718-843-0505, www.emthaikitchen.com). I really like this place, and favor it above the other Thai places in the neighborhood.



These are the Curry Puffs, one of the may Appetizers listed on the menu. I've never had Curry Puffs anywhere else and they're amazing. The outside is a crisp, doughy container for the delicious curry with ground chicken, peas and potatoes. It comes with the classic Cucumber Chutney Sauce that's a perfect light accompaniment to the compact Puff.



My new favorite food of recent months is the Fish Cake. I love the chewy consistency and the spicy, peanut-y sauce adds a tangy zing. Five to an order - I ate one before taking the picture, I couldn't resist!



I'm kind of a creature of habit, and end up getting the same thing when getting Thai food (usually it's Phad Thai or Pad See Ew with Shrimp or Tofu). I decided to try something new and ordered the Pad See Ew with Moc Duck. I'm always amazed when fake meat is done well and actually tastes like the thing it's imitating. This Moc Duck was great. It definitely had the grain-y undertone to it, but had a nice texture, almost tender like real Duck Meat, and was remarkably full of flavor. I was impressed. The Pad See Ew also comes with loads of Chinese Broccoli and mushrooms, and is definitely one of my favorite dishes from Em Thai.



We also got the Pineapple Curry, which comes with a side of Jasmine Rice, and is loaded down with chunks of Pineapple, peas, carrots, zucchini and bell peppers in a coconut milk curry sauce. You can get it hot if you'd like, but I prefer it to be on the more milder side.

A most delicious meal!


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