Wild Papaya And The Perfect Curry

I am continually amazed at how much I have learned about the restaurant industry from writing a food blog for nearly three years. Of course, it seems obvious that if you study something for that length of time, you would naturally pick up a few things along the way, but that honestly wasn't why I started Exploring Food My Way. One of the two most important lessons I've learned so far is that despite your server being the primary point of contact with a restaurant when choose to dine out, slow or "off" service can be caused by far more than just the server's lack of experience or enthusiasm. Knowing when to legitimately gripe about service takes time to develop.

The other important lesson I've taken away from this experience is the extreme volatility of the food service industry as a whole. Servers, cooks, chefs, heck, even the restaurant itself can be there one day and gone the next. I know a server who in one year worked in thirteen different restaurants. That isn't to say that there aren't some longtime stalwarts that have been around for forty, fifty, or even one hundred years (restaurants, not servers). These are clearly the exception to this generalization.

Back in February of this year, fellow photographer and camera salesman extraordinaire Dan at Campus Camera, upon finding out that I write restaurant reviews advised me about a restaurant that was serving up great food, Shorty's Subs and Salads. Even better, the restaurant was just down the road from the camera store. I didn't have time to try it that day, but I returned with a few days to find the restaurant oddly dark at a time when it should have been open. Between the time Dan had told me of the restaurant and a short while later, they had closed up shop.

Fast forward eight months later, I happened to be driving down Main Street in Kent when I drove by the old Shorty's location only to discover something had opened up in its place. Curious, I pulled in to discover Wild Papaya Thai Cuisine. My attention firmly gotten, I noted that it was roughly 5:30 on a Sunday evening and I was suddenly hungry ... for Thai food. I parked my car and approached the main door:


Wild Papaya Thai Cuisine was located at 1665 East Main Street, Kent, OH 44240 and can be reached at 330-677-0916. Parking was in the large lot in front of the building. You can check out their web presence by visiting their website or their Facebook page.

Since I never managed to eat a meal at Shorty's, I was unfamiliar with how the interior looked before Wild Papaya took over, but I have to say that the decor was quite contemporary with a bit of traditional Thai art thrown in for good measure. When I arrived, I was one of only two tables that were occupied. I'm happy to say that within thirty minutes, another six or seven tables were seated.

My server left me with the rather sizable menu in order to take care of recent arrivals at the hostess stand:








As I looked through the menu, I saw a lot of the usual suspects: Pad Thai, Tom Yum Goong, Chicken Satay, just to name three. But I also saw some dishes that were more indicative of a serious commitment to stay true to traditional Thai cuisine. While the menu also listed several Chinese dishes (to be more accurate, I should call them Americanized Chinese), the Thai dishes looked far more interesting. I decided to start out my meal with the Tom-Sum (papaya salad):


Staying with the traditional version of this salad, tonight's dish was made with green papaya which had yet to ripen. Thus, the fruit wasn't particularly sweet (think green tomatoes versus ripe tomatoes). The papaya had been shredded thinly along with carrots and had been dressed in a dressing of nuoc cham -- typically a mixture of lime, fish sauce, chile, cilantro, sugar, and rice wine vinegar. This combination of flavors gave the papaya "slaw" the qualities of sweet, salty, spicy, and acidic. All of the flavors were nicely balanced and the spiciness of the chile was quite subtle, yet still present.

The two yellow hunks of meat placed on top of the salad were chicken that was hot, juicy, and nicely grilled. I could tell based on the flavor of the chicken that this was the same protein used for the satay appetizer. The salad was actually quite large and could definitely be split among two or three diners. My only complaint was that two pieces of chicken seemed a bit light for the amount of salad on the plate. A third piece would have rounded this salad out to the point where one person could eat it for their entire meal.

As I was contemplating what to order for my entree, my server helpfully suggested the Siam Duck. She indicated that it was one of the cooks specialties. While I was a little leery of the $17 price tag, I decided to go ahead and trust her suggestion. A few minutes after finishing my papaya salad, this appeared at my table:


Accompanying my entree was a bowl of Brown Rice:


Before I talk about the Siam Duck, I would just like to go on record as saying I really appreciate an Asian restaurant having both steamed white AND brown rice available for diners. While I certainly don't mind white rice, I know that brown rice is slightly better for me and knowing that it is available, I will always order it over the white. To make it even more enticing, Wild Papaya gave me the choice of either to accompany my meal at no extra charge.

Anyone who has ever watched me evaluate a meal for the blog knows that I rarely dig into a dish thoughtlessly. If the protein has a sauce on it, I taste it. I tend to taste components of the entree before taking the all-inclusive bite. I had been hesitant to order an expensive entree (one of the most expensive on the menu), but upon getting my first taste of the yellow curry, my taste buds exploded with nervous energy signalling the "YUM!" center in my brain. I suddenly realized I was in for a epicurean roller coaster ride.

The sauce was complex, sweet and salty with a hint of vinegar to balance it out. While the menu listed the dish as being served at "one chile pepper" which meant hot, I asked for the dish to be served at "two chile peppers" meaning hot and spicy. While I certainly could've handled much more heat, the spice level was a nearly perfect match for the extraordinary savoriness of the sauce. Honestly, gentle reader, you could have put that sauce over a leather boot and it would've been good.

The duck, which had been clearly finished in the deep fryer due to the crispiness of the skin, was moist and juicy and the skin was crispy without being greasy. Because duck has a thick layer of subcutaneous fat, it must be rendered off during the cooking process or else the result is chewy, rather unpleasant fat that is often better removed than consumed. Tonight's duck wasn't the best I had ever eaten, but I would say it was deftly prepared and tasted very good. Combined with the yellow curry, it was an absolute home run. The broccoli, while steamed, was a bit on the lukewarm side and while the squash and zucchini were softened from the steaming process, the carrots were crunchy to the point of being noticeable.

Those minor quibbles aside, whatever I didn't finish at the restaurant (which was about half), I took home with me and eagerly consumed the next day for lunch. While not as good cold as it was hot, just the thought of the curry sauce accompanying the Siam Duck made my mouth water like the unwitting subject of a Pavlovian experiment.

Dinner tonight at Wild Papaya Thai Cuisine wasn't inexpensive at roughly $28 for my meal with water and tax. That being said, I had enough food for two complete meals at $14 each which isn't bad if you are watching your wallet and need a place to split dinner for two. While this might be a tad on the pricey side for your typical Kent State student, it also means that the place won't be overrun with college students looking for food on the cheap.

Needless to say, I recommend that you give Wild Papaya Thai Cuisine a visit to try out the Tom-Sum and Siam Duck for yourself. I currently live on the west side of Akron and I would be more than willing to drive the thirty minutes each way just to have another dinner there. Of course, now that I have tasted this amazingly wonderful curry, in order to try other items from the menu I will undoubtedly have to bring friends with me when I return; hopefully they'll be willing to trade a bite of heaven from my plate for a bite of theirs.

An Aromatic Flower At Thai Orchid

If you have been a longtime reader of my blog, perhaps you will recall the little drama I experienced at last year's dinner during my trip to Columbus for the annual Ohio Linuxfest. It seemed that of all the restaurants I could pick in Columbus for a post-convention meal, it would have to be the same one where an ex-girlfriend ("K") from high school had been sitting with her husband at the very table next to us. The breakup hadn't exactly been easy and while I have always felt bad about what happened, when I saw her again I didn't have the cahones to be an adult and admit who I was and that I was very sorry.

It turns out that the Internet isn't all that big of a place after all. Upon learning that I am now writing a food blog from a mutual third friend, "K" decided to search for my blog and upon finding it and with my recently added conveniently organized alphabetical list of restaurants that I've reviewed, it was only a matter of time until she understandably clicked on my review for Old Bag of Nails Pub since it was one of her favorites, too. Within a few minutes, "K" sent me a Facebook message with the title, "K read your review on Old Bag of Nails in Worthington." I know there wasn't anyone around to confirm this when I got the message, but I could feel the blood drain from my face.

While she could have worded her message in many ways, she did what I couldn't and took the high road. She was kind and gracious and through several messages back and forth, I think we both managed to finally get a sense of closure to the situation. I still can't excuse my bad behavior back in high school, but I think "K" finally understood the issues I was dealing with at the time. In fact, at her request, we have now become Facebook friends.

Tonight's dinner wasn't intentionally held at a different Columbus restaurant because I was trying to avoid "K," but simply because I wanted to cover a different restaurant this time. I knew if I had returned to Old Bag of Nails Pub, I would've ordered the fish and chips again and while I was certain they would've been delicious, that wouldn't exactly be expanding my culinary horizons for the purpose of the blog. So I picked another Columbus favorite I discovered during my days living there, Thai Orchid.

When I lived in Columbus, only one location existed for Thai Orchid at 7654 Sawmill Road, Dublin, OH 43017. While this location was still open and was indeed the one I went to tonight, they have since opened up a new location just a few miles away in Powell, Ohio. The phone number for tonight's location was 614-792-1112. Since the original location was located in a strip mall away from the main road (like so many restaurants and businesses in Columbus), there was a large parking lot with ample parking available.

Here was a shot of the storefront:


Since this meal would be shared with my cousin and my aunt, I waited outside in the cool air for them to pull up. To my utter surprise, an old college fraternity brother, Larry, and his wife pulled up to get take-out. Larry and I chatted for a bit and that was when I learned about the new location for the restaurant. He had said that the food suffered a bit at the original location when the new one opened, but it had now recovered. Shortly after Larry went in to get his food, my family arrived and we walked in to request a table.

After being sat, I began taking pictures of the menu (which seemed larger than I remembered it):








After chatting it over with my dinner companions, we decided to start out with a couple of appetizers. First up was the Mee Grob:


Composed of crispy rice noodles that had been coated in a sweet chili sauce, they were perched atop several small cooked shrimp and lengths of scallion. I've had this dish before (most recently at Ty Fun Thai Bistro in Tremont, Ohio). Both versions were very similar, but the one at Thai Orchid definitely had more shrimp than the one at Ty Fun, which was nice because everyone got to sample both the crispy noodles and seafood.

Our second appetizer was the chicken satay:


Grilled chicken on a skewer? Check. Peanut dipping sauce and sweet and sour vegetables in sauce? Check. Griddled white bread? Wait. Huh? Thai Orchid has always offered a version of this dish that was different from everyone else. While I don't know how authentic the griddled white bread was, it's the version that I remember eating as I discovered Thai food for the first time. Honestly, whenever I have chicken satay somewhere else, I always miss the bread. This time around, the chicken satay was excellent, the chicken being perfectly seasoned and grilled and both sauces providing a contrast between the heavier peanut sauce and the lighter sweet and sour sauce.

Our appetizers out of the way, I decided to have a bowl of the Tom Yung Goong soup, Thai Orchid's version always having been arguably one of the best I had ever eaten:


Loaded with freshly cooked shrimp, mushrooms, scallions, cilantro, onions, and tomatoes, the soup was better than average. That being said, it wasn't quite as good as my memory remembered it. While there was a definite zip from chili heat and zing from the lime juice, it just didn't grab my taste buds the way I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, I'd order this again in a heartbeat, but if this was the latest version the kitchen was preparing, then I can definitely say that I've now had better.

Deciding that a trifecta of shrimp dishes were to comprise my dinner tonight, I ordered the Gang Goong Sapparot for my entrée:


The bowl contained a tantalizing combination of shrimp, pineapple and green peppers cooked in a red curry and coconut sauce. I've never had to play the "convince my server I really want it spicy" game at Thai Orchid and by asking for it spicy, it actually came out quite spicy. I'd say "spicy" at Thai Orchid was equivalent to "Extra Thai Spicy" at other restaurants. Just something to keep in mind.

When you order your entrée, you have your choice of steamed or fried rice. Tonight I chose steamed rice:


Once I had received both my dinner and my rice, I used the supplied third plate to scoop a little of each onto it before digging in:


Other than the trip to the bathroom to clear my sinuses, this was a marvelous taste of Thailand. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and just slightly sweet. The acid from the pineapple balanced the sweetness from the shrimp and the coconut milk in the red curry. Finally, the spiciness of the red curry brought all of the classic Thai flavors together in my mouth: tangy, salty, hot and sweet.

Our meal finally concluded, my aunt graciously picked up the check for tonight's feast. Of course, I only discovered this after ordering some of Thai Orchid's delicious Pad Thai to go. It should be noted that all "to go" orders are discounted by 10%. Which, for my Pad Thai would only amount to a measly $1, but if your order was larger, clearly you'd save by eating the food someplace other than the restaurant.

I was pleased that my meal tonight brought back so many memories of eating here many years ago. It seemed that whether there was a dip in the quality after the opening of their second location or not, at least tonight the flavors were consistent, delicious, and worth seeking out. I highly suggest if you are in the mood for Thai food and you live in Columbus, check out Thai Orchid.

Sushi On The Dais At Cilantro Thai And Sushi

I had heard a lot of good things about a local addition to the local food scene in Akron, Cilantro Thai and Sushi Restaurant. While I knew it was downtown, I had never really bothered to find out where until today. I had been hanging out with some friends when the idea of eating dinner came up. Naturally, they turned to me for a suggestion and when I asked them what type of food they were eager to try, Thai food came into the conversation. When I mentioned that Cilantro had been on my "Place To Eat" list for a while, they quickly agreed that we should head there tonight for dinner.

Cilantro was located at 326 South Main Street, Akron, OH 44308 and can be reached at 330-434-2876. There was no parking available specifically for the restaurant, but there was plenty of available curbside parking and since we had gone on a Sunday, it was essentially free since the meters weren't being monitored. As it turned out, the restaurant was actually only a few blocks south of the stadium where the Akron Aeros play and just a few more blocks away from the Lock 3 Park area.

Here was a shot of the front entrance:


As you open the door, a rather annoying electronic beep could be heard. Once inside the main doors, the entrance to Cilantro was on the right. Another set of beeps was heard once those doors had been breached as well. The first thing I noticed once inside the restaurant was how expansive it was. It had a real art deco, early to mid 1930's feel to it and in the middle of the restaurant, was the sushi bar on a dais. What I didn't realize at the time I dined at Cilantro was that this was the location of the old Piatto restaurant (now Piatto Novo at the Sheraton in Cuyahoga Falls). While you could definitely seat yourself at the sushi bar for a more authentic sushi experience, today we were in the mood for the Thai portion of the menu.

Speaking of the menu, here were snapshots that I took:







As you can see from the photos above, it was a combination of about half Thai and half Japanese dishes. I liked the fact that the Japanese portion of the menu wasn't just sushi. I rarely eat just sushi for dinner anymore and like you will see in just a bit, I more often order a few choice pieces as an appetizer.

I decided to start my meal out with two orders of nigiri sushi, two pieces per order:


Here you have both hamachi (yellow tail) and unagi (barbecued eel). As with most sushi, it was artfully and simply presented and it was incredibly fresh and tasty. Even the vinegared rice (which is what sushi actually means in Japanese) tasted recently made. Both types of seafood had a clean taste to them and it was clear that whomever was running the sushi bar knew what good seafood should taste like. I did use just a tiny bit of wasabi with the hamachi, but other than a light dip in some soy sauce, I ate them as they were plated.

Having finished our appetizers, I eagerly awaited my main course, a green curry with chicken. Why eagerly awaited, gentle reader? When I ordered it, I asked for the range of spiciness at Cilantro. Our server informed us that the dishes could be made from zero (0) to five (5). When I asked if five really was the hottest level, my server hemmed and hawed a little bit before admitting that there really was an additional level of heat, "Thai spicy." As I'm sure any long time reader of my blog already knows, I have employed that term "Thai spicy," in numerous Thai restaurants only to find out that for true Thai spicy food, in the end I always have to add extra superlatives to the phrase such as "extra Thai hot" or "extra extra Thai spicy."

Our waitress today assured me that "Thai spicy" was the hottest the kitchen would make it and she had never seen anyone actually order it that spicy since she had started working there. Still skeptical I would get the food at the right spice level, I went ahead and ordered it "Thai spicy." I'm glad I did.

Here was a shot of the curry I received:


Two things bothered me when this was coming to our table. First, either the kitchen was sloppy or our server was a tad uncoordinated because there was sauce all over the rim of the plate. I have a feeling that because there wasn't anything between the ceramic plate and the ceramic bowl in which the curry had been plated, the bowl had slid around a bit too much between kitchen and table. Second, I was concerned because there didn't appear to be a lot of red flakes in the curry, usually a good sign that fresh Thai chillies had been used.

Not to be deterred, however, I spooned some of the curry over the inverted bowl of steamed rice I had received with my meal:


As I took those first few tentative bites, I tasted the green curry, the coconut milk, and the intense heat from the chillies. Apparently the lack of red flecks didn't mean a whole lot because this baby was on fire with chili heat. This was exactly what I was after and after I offered my dining companions a bite (they ordered their dishes at a two), they politely declined figuring that they wouldn't be able to taste anything else after trying my dish. The curry itself was quite tasty and the chicken was cooked through but still tender.

Having finished about half of my curry and rice, I boxed up the remainder for a spicy late night snack later that day. Between my sushi appetizers and my green curry chicken, the bill came to just over $22 with tax. Given that I would get two meals out of it, I think for this level and quality of food, it was definitely worth the price. Up until this point, when I had been jonesing for Thai food, I had been going to Siamone's Thai Pub over by Springfield Lake. Knowing that I have another Akron restaurant where I can get my "Thai spicy" fix (with the additional benefit that Cilantro's menu offered far more dishes than Siamone's) for Thai food and with the quality of the sushi I had received tonight, I highly recommend that you give Cilantro Thai and Sushi Restaurant a try. I know that I intend to return very soon for another great authentic meal.

Tremont Art Walk For Food And Fun

At the urging of my long-time friend Penny, I agreed to join her and several other friends at the Tremont Art Walk. Occurring the second Friday of the month from 6 PM until 10 PM (which, by the way, is coming up just two days from now!), the Walk is an opportunity for customers to wander from store to store, enjoying a glass of wine and finding just the right piece of clothing / art / knickknack to fill the artistic void we all seem to possess in our lives. The Walk is very free-form, and you are welcome to start at any point along Professor Avenue in the Tremont district of Cleveland.

Of course, when you get four foodies together, eventually it will have to be about food and tonight's route had us starting with food and ending with food. Because we had all agreed to meet up at the corner of Literary and Professor (home of Lolita, Lago, and Dante), we decided to walk a bit north to check out a rather new arrival to the Tremont area, A Cookie and A Cupcake.

Here was a shot of the exterior of the store:


My first exposure to ACAAC was back in late March when I attended the benefit put together to help out the Jarrett family defray some of the adoption costs for their soon-to-arrive daughter from China, Jewel. ACAAC had been one of the vendors handing out mini cupcakes in a wide assortment of flavors. My second exposure to ACAAC was at this year's Top Chef benefit dinner held back in June to raise funds for the St. John Medical Center. Once again, they were one of the featured dessert items and my compatriot Edsel and I polished a few of the mini-morsels at the end of our meal.

As I walked into the tiny area up front, I couldn't help but take a picture of the wide assortment of fresh cupcakes available today:


While they all looked good, the Espresso cupcake seemed to catch my eye:


Containing a caramel filling and topped with a buttercream frosting and a lone chocolate covered espresso bean, I knew I had to have one. I sat my cupcake down to Edsel's Signature cupcake and we each snapped a shot:


Yes, gentle reader, that does appear to be Cookie Monster, doesn't it? It seems that besides making delicious cupcakes, the baker / froster / owner also has a wonderful sense of humor, too.

Having paid for our cupcakes, we returned to the warm outside air to enjoy our spoils. As I greedily tore into my cupcake, I discovered that not only was the cupcake utterly delicious, but it was also incredibly moist. Before I knew it, my cupcake was gone. I'm certainly glad I only bought the one! Each cupcake was $2.50, making them quite reasonable if you are only buying a single cupcake, but preventing you from going hog wild and buying them by the baker's dozen.

After cleaning up, we proceeded to walk south on Professor Avenue, stopping in at retail stores and art galleries, slowly wiling away a lazy Friday evening. Oddly enough, when we reached the end of the Walk at the corner of Professor and Jefferson, it was nearly 8 PM, which was fortunate for us because I had made reservations at Ty Fun Thai Bistro.

I have written about Ty Fun before, where I had attended a dinner put together specifically for us by owner and chef, Sonny Tingpatana. Tonight would be the first time I had documented having a meal ordered from their standard menu. While it was a bit crowded at first (which was fantastic in this economy), after a short while most of the crowd dissipated leaving the four of us to have a conversation with no problems at a reasonable volume. Do note that Ty Fun, like so many other restaurants, aren't big believers in well lit dining rooms, so most of my pictures turned out darker than I would have liked.

First up was their rather long menu:








Thankfully there weren't any daily specials to ponder as I think most diner's heads were already swimming with so many choices to consider. Collectively we decided to get two appetizers to split and then each of us would order our own entrée.

The first appetizer we split was the Mee Grob:


This was a dish composed of cooked shrimp and crispy fried noodles tossed with a sweet chili sauce. While there were oodles of very tasty noodles, only three shrimp were to be found under that entire nest of fried and sauced goodness. Which meant that for our table of four, some went without. And while I loved the sweet chili flavor paired with this dish, it turned out to be mostly air for $7.

The other appetizer we ordered tonight was the Tod Mun Pla:


These were fish cakes that had been deep fried and served with a peanut-laden sauce that had a bit of chili kick to it. In contrast to our first appetizer, there was plenty to go around. This wasn't the best Tod Mun Pla I've ever had, but it still held its own.

Having finished our appetizers, we turned our attention to our next course, soup! Here was Ty Fun's version of Tom Kha Khi (also spelled Tom Kha Gai on some menus):


This was a delicate and refined version of this classic Thai soup. Studded with cooked chicken, mushrooms, onions, and baby corn, the coconut milk broth had just the right amount of spice from the chili oil that it gently caressed the back of my throat. Do be careful with this soup, however. While there were plenty of edible components to this dish, those in the know look for and set aside the Kaffir lime leaves, stalks of lemongrass, and ginger/galangal root. Are they poisonous? Certainly not, but they can present a choking hazard.

Our soups (and one salad) now out of the way, we proceeded to the main event, the entrées. Being in a noodle kind of mood and not wanting to get the somewhat traditional Pad Thai, I decided instead to go with the Pad Khi Mao:


Made with a wider rice noodle similar to fettuccine, the noodles had been stir-fried with various fresh vegetables and finished with Thai basil and a chili garlic sauce. Since I had eaten chicken in my soup, I chose the pork version of this dish (all the proteins are basically the same price). I find it interesting on Ty Fun's menu that dishes seem to hover either around $10 or $20. There doesn't seem to be much between. At $12, the Pad Khi Mao was definitely a good value as I had about half of my entrée left over when I was done.

The dish itself was good, but I missed the balance a little bit of sweetness would've added. A touch of honey or sweet chili sauce would've made this really good dish into a great one. That being said, the pork was tender, the vegetables were cooked nicely, and the noodles weren't overcooked. Definitely good qualities in a plate of Thai food.

Having paid our respective checks, we returned to the now cooler and darkened Cleveland skyline. As we rounded the corner to start to head back to our cars, we noticed that the Dim and Den Sum truck had parked itself in front of the Flying Monkey Pub and Chef Esterly was busy serving up their gourmet fare to hungry bar hoppers. We debated whether to attempt to split something from the truck, but each finally admitted that we just didn't have anymore room. So, an additional review of Dim and Den Sum will have to wait for another time.

If you happen to have the second Friday free of the month, I definitely urge you to check out the Tremont Art Walk. There were a lot of cool things to see, a lot of great art to appreciate, and a lot of tasty food to eat. And if you have a chance, check out both A Cookie and A Cupcake and Ty Fun Thai Bistro. You'll have a tasty experience at both venues.