And yet I have been guilty for a few years now of abandoning the subtle yet scintillating cuisine for the likes of artisan pizza and South Indian stews. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when somebody asked me what my favorite Thai restaurant was, that it hit me: I didn’t have one. Not only that, I couldn’t remember the last time I had ordered Panang curry or green papaya salad.
There must be something in the wind, since not long after an acquaintance mentioned a Thai place on Broadway that had escaped my attention for more than two years. I don’t know if Thai Curry will become my new favorite, but it’s a start at redemption.
Mine, not theirs.
In my defense, the restaurant is easy to miss. Once inside, the neutral-colored décor is forgettable. And the appetizer list offers little beyond other similar restaurants around town. There’s also a cheese roll with “curry flavored” cream cheese, but I draw the line at cream cheese — even if I am attempting atonement.
Diving deeper into the menu, though, some old favorites appeared. Thinking of it as an appetizer — admittedly, a pricy one at $30 — my equally neglectful dining companion and I landed on duck salad in lieu of yet another crispy calamari in a sweet sauce.
We weren’t disappointed. TC’s kitchen knows its way around duck. Crisp skin cloaked succulent meat, toasty cashews provided contrast and crunch, while a hit of lime balanced out the chili-induced heat. Ordered at a three on a scale of five, we could have gladly suffered just a tad more burn, but beware of adding the marinated chili that comes in a condiment container. That stuff is out to get you.
Thai curries, it should be mentioned, are soupier than, say, their Indian counterparts. There are six such dishes on TC’s menu, including a kabocha squash version begging to be tried another time.
Among them, the green curry — you have a choice of proteins ranging from beef and tofu to soft shell crab or more of that duck — is perhaps the most subtle. For starters, it’s not really green. The coconut milk base takes over from green chili paste in a quietly authoritative way. On reflection, the beautifully tailored vegetables, which included decoratively cut zucchini, diminutive eggplant and more, nearly stole the show from the sliced chicken breast we chose as our protein. Here, too, we could have used a little more heat than level three, but it does creep up on you.
Red curry appears on the lunch special menu, and it’s probably fine at the heat level it emerges from the kitchen if you don’t specify. I ordered this one with shrimp, and there was a decent abundance. There was also cubed pineapple, which I had failed to take note of, but I got over it by the bottom of the bowl. Fried rice with a whisper of egg and toasted garlic makes for a nice side option. Ignore the egg roll.
Curries, of course, are to be expected at a Thai restaurant, along with classic soups such as Tom Yum and Tom Kha. But scanning the menu for something unique, the entrée section offered tamarind sauce as an option for the by-now-usual array of vegetables and meats. This was new to me, and though it read as simple, the combination of fruity-puckery tamarind with fried, flour-dipped pork was a match made in some to-be-hoped-for heaven. Equally simple steamed vegetables helped elevate this dish to a plateau far above any stickily smothered sweet and sour you will have encountered before.
No number of Hail Mary equivalents for having neglected Thai food would be enough without an order of the ultimate palate-scouring plate that is green papaya salad. It’s been my undoing more than once in the past. Thai Curry offers the option of an E-San — or Esan/Isaan — version hailing from Northeastern Thailand, a region known for sticky rice and bold flavors. When I asked about it, I was told that it was “stinky” and I wouldn’t like it. Of course I had to order it.
The “stink” apparently comes from an anchovy-based fish sauce, and though it’s noticeable, it doesn’t overwhelm. A squeeze of lime helps even out the flavors of the basically bland-but-crunchy green papaya and the exquisitely incendiary chilies, all accompanied by shrimp and shredded carrot. Even for those not repenting, this is a good test of world cuisine credentials.
Are you up for it?
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