Monday, October 18. Thai Spice, A New Necessity. When Jude is in town, certain meals are mandatory. We must have sushi, just the two of us. (The Marys don't touch the stuff.) He and I go to the Acme for grilled oysters and gumbo. And to Pizza Man. Impastato's, maybe.
A new addition to this list is a Thai lunch. Jude didn't eat Thai food before leaving for California two years ago. We go to one of the two Thai restaurants across Causeway Boulevard from one another. Thai Thai last time. Thai Spice's turn now.
The little restaurant was busier than I've ever seen it, with only two open tables. We started with Thai Singha beer. Jude can now drink legally. He says that my suggestion to him of the Czech beer Pilsner Urquell has worked well. Not only does he like its light style, but it impresses those around him when he orders that instead of, say, Coors. Style is everything in California.
Fried dumplings. The ones here are deep-fried, not pan-fried like the pot stickers that were Jude's first exotic food favorite when he was in his single digits. Good anyway, with a dipping sauce with a little sweetness.
I had a plate of glass noodles with pork and vegetables (above). Pad woon sen--yeah, that's the name of it. It wasn't as good as usual; the noodles were overcooked. The kitchen here is small and overwhelmed with all this business on a Monday night. Jude's dish of chicken with stir-fried Thai garlic sauce was much better.
We talked about the usual shallow matters that men discuss. He couldn't wait to get home and back on his computer to see what was going on. I need to get back on mine, too. The plot in Harry Chapin's song "Cat's Cradle" came to mind.
Thai Spice. Covington: 1531 US 190. 985-809-6483.
