Monday, November 23. Thai Chili. How do the Thai restaurants on the North Shore make it? We have eight of them, which is clearly too many. With the exception of the across-the-street neighbors Thai Thai and Thai Spice, they seem to be sparsely populated when I go. On the other hand, the food is usually not just good, but outstanding at all of them. I'd say we have better Thai cooking on the North Shore than on the South Shore.
Tonight, the Marys dismissed me to the dinner of my choice, because they weren't eating and weren't coming. (They're always dismissing me.) I returned to the Thai Chili, where I had a terrific lunch a couple of weeks ago. This is the longest-running Thai restaurant over here, although it's so well hidden that it's less well known than the others. It's also excellent.
Thai restaurants serve portions so large that I've come to the conclusion that any appetizer is over the top. I ordered just the jungle curry with pork from the young woman who served me. Her English was not very good, which probably explains why the dish came out with chicken instead of pork. But that's no big deal, and her service was otherwise flawless.
Jungle curry is really a soup, made with more different vegetables than in most Thai dishes. Its flavor is unlike those of the other Thai curries. Nor does it resemble Indian or Chinese curry, except in the general detail that the sauce includes a blend of aromatic spices. This one also had a good bit of red pepper, because I asked for it that way. Delicious, and hot enough to make my eyes water.
Despite the appeal of such food, the entire crowd (okay, it's a Monday night) consisted of me and a couple across the room. How can anyone eat at the nearby Outback, Cane's, or Bonefish Grill when there's food like this at these prices?
Mary Ann is finished with her floors, which are now finished. (Whaa...?) I have been asking her to do a load of wine glasses in advance of Thanksgiving, or let me do it. She says she will after she fills the dishwasher completely, runs it, and empties it. This sounds like Thanksgiving morning to me.
Thai Chili. Covington: 1102 N. US 190 985-809-0180. Thai.
