Eating in Sin City: Lotus of Siam

Our second dinner in Las Vegas this past April was a return to our favorite...Lotus of Siam. Argueably the best Thai restaurant in the US. We haven't been back since March of 2009 with Susan & Rich and were both excited and nervous to see if it still held that magic.

Calling for reservations three months in advance is the first hurdle...even with the new renovations and expanded space, this is a hard place to get into. They will only hold your spot for 5 minutes so don't be late!

We got there 15 minutes ahead of time and grabbed a drink at the bar while we waited. The bar is part of the renovations and definitely beats out having to wait outside in what's a sketchy strip mall at best that you're sure you've seen on either CSI or an episode of COPS.

We were seated at a little table for four right near the bar. The ambiance here isn't much to speak of - they make use of every available inch to get hungry diners tucked into boring wooden tables. But hey, who cares? It's all about the food! With a couple bottles of wine we dove right in and ordered for the table.

Appetizers:
Stuffed chicken wings (stuffed with ground pork, deep fried and served with sweet & sour dipping sauce). SO good!

Thai Salad (mixed vegetables, onions, boiled egg & peanut dressing). Boring? Yummy! 

Spicy Vegetable Soup (hotness level 5 - - and very funny to watch Mary try and eat this). I DARE you to try to soup with anything hotter than a four. Make sure you have someone video taping the experience - it's hysterical.

Nua Dad Deaw (Thai Style Beef Jerky) deep fried, marinated beef served with spicy dipping sauce. Really, really good ~ nice suggestion from our server.

Fried Chicken Dumplings. Classic.

For entrees we shared the Drunken Sea Bass; Pad Thai & Crispy Duck. These are some of the best dishes to be found in Vegas. Drunken anything at LoS is killer - try the bass, noodles or even soft shell crab.

The food was once again amazing - so full of flavor and so many different types of dishes to choose from. Service was fine - they offered suggestions for dishes to try that was appreciated and we didn't feel like we waited for anything.

This is a Must Go to place if you're in Vegas. Wear comfortable clothes ~ there's no scene to worry about. You don't need to be a fan of Thai food - it transcends any ethnic label and is just plain, awesome food.

Jenn's Rating: 94
Zagat: 28-15-23

Tru Thai, Warren NJ

I have been going to Tru Thai (http://www.truthai.net/) in Warren for lunch for the past few months because it's good and it's close to our L'Oreal, Berkeley Heights office. As a local place, it's really a great deal. Lunch runs about $15 for little salad (complimentary with every meal), appetizer and entree plus drink. And that includes tax and tip.

I usually get the spring rolls with duck sauce - always served piping hot and really crispy - and a noodle dish. Either Pad Thai, Lad Nar with chicken which is a wide rice noodle, chicken and broccoli in a brown gravy or the See Ew that's a rice noodle, stir fried and served with broccoli and egg in a soy bean sauce.

The place is always crowded, so get there before 12:15pm and don't worry, they can get you in and out fast with quick, efficient service and pleasant staff. If you're up in Warren, give it a try!

Siam Garden, Red Bank NJ

Alan and I had a really nice, laid back Saturday afternoon (which resulted in some pretty funky tan lines, but that's for another conversation) and after lounging away most of the day, thought it might be nice to top off so much R&R with dinner out. We talked about going back to one of the standbys (Yumi, Dish) or trying somewhere new and came down on the side of exploration. Typical for us, we can't ever remember what restaurants are in the area...so out comes the laptop and a search for BYO in Red Bank yields a few new options. One is Via 45 (Italian), another is Monticello (also Italian) and Siam Garden.


Siam Garden is right over the bridge in Red Bank and therefore an easy drive with ample parking. It's Thai which sounded like a nice option. With 7:30pm reservations and a gorgeous night, off we go. From the outside it was hard to picture what the restaurant would be like on the inside since it's the corner hub of a large shopping pavilion all in brick and very clean / new looking. Stepping inside however, it felt immediately like a Thai place. I'm saying that with having zero idea what it means to look Thai, but there were tons of statues, pictures, silk tapestries and the servers were wearing traditional Thai garb that gave an authentic vibe to the whole place. It was pretty crowded - a few open tables but mostly lots of diners already halfway into heaping dishes.


The web site said all the chefs are from Thailand...hopefully that would translate into a pleasant dining experience. We looked at the menu (pretty big, nice options) and decided to share three dishes - an appetizer, a noodle dish and an entry. For the appetizer we picked the dim sum festival that was steamed shrimp dumplings served in a bamboo steamer basket. There were nine of them tucked in there accompanied by two sauces; a spicy brown oyster style sauce and a vinegar with jalapenos in it. The dumplings themselves were a thin dumpling shell with a minced shrimp filling that was light and full of flavor. What made them really good were the sauces. I tried the tiniest bit of the brown sauce...full of flavor with quite a zing! It left a tingling sensation on my lips and a mild burn in my mouth. What was more intriguing was how great the vinegar tipping sauce complimented the dim sum...that little bit of tang just enhanced the dumplings wonderfully.


The waitress brought the next two dishes out at the same time...Phad Thai Kai Hor (noodles) with chicken and peanut served in a thin egg wrap and a Phad Toummitr Pak Kung which is stir fried vegetables and beef in an oyster sauce served with jasmine rice.


The stir fried beef & vegetables was good but not great. It was a nice selection of vegetables and the beef was tender but the oyster sauce was a little thin and a bit bland. It did go nicely with the rice.


The standout of the evening was the Phad Thai. I know this is the most popular dish in any Thai restaurant and a bit like ordering a plain cheese pizza when trying a new pizzeria but WOW, am I glad we gave it a go. The egg wrap was different, giving the dish a uniqueness and the noodles were perfection. The peanut flavor was subtle; the sauce rich but not heavy; the pieces of chicken plentiful and large and the overall taste was heavenly. Possibly the best Phad Thai I've ever had. I'm hoping Alan eats the leftovers tonight and tells me how it fares after a day or two in the fridge. But in any case, I know we'll go back and I know I'll be ordering that dish again!


Oh, and the entire bill before tip was $45...that dinner with a bottle of Kutch Pinot Noir made for a great, inexpensive, memorable meal. Next time anyone is in Red Bank, give this one a try.


Jenn's Rating: 87
Zagat: 24-22-22