[CH] Vegas Thai Hot Spot
David Cook (zeb@austin.rr.com)
Tue, 21 Nov 2000 08:28:24 -0600
Coming out of my usual lurking mode, I thought I should report on a great
hot spot we hit this weekend while we were in Vegas. It was Lotus of Siam in
the Commercial Center on East Sahara, a location blessedly far from the din
and crowds of the casinos -- well, not too far since we had to take a taxi
to get there, just spiritually far enough in the cult of El Grande.
I admit going to this place based on a review in that high-falutin' magazine
Gourmet (not that I would ever buy the magazine but another list mentioned
it) where the reviewer supposedly called it "one of the best Thai
restaurants in the US." Now, if I were a Thai restauranteur that would sound
like fightin' words, so I knew we had to check it out. Well, I haven't
exactly eaten at every Thai restaurant in the U.S. but it was certainly up
there as one of the two best I've ever eaten at (the other was Rabieng
outside DC). My wife and I had several dishes we'd never seen on a menu
before (a crispy fried rice appetizer and a catfish and egg curry), along
with a fiery tom kai kha (sp?) soup and papaya salad, which was just the
thing for burning out the cold my wife had. A big plus was they had no
hesitation making things appropriately hot.
The biggest disappointment was that our efforts to convince the owner to
move to Texas failed miserably.
David Cook
PS. Christmas candy alert! A fried brought in a box of Gummi chiles made by
the Haribo folks. Little gummis shaped like red chiles with green stems and
a surprising amount of heat for a mainstream candy. Pretty addictive.