{"id":253233,"date":"2018-05-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/from-the-streets-of-thailand\/"},"modified":"2018-05-18T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-18T07:00:00","slug":"from-the-streets-of-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/from-the-streets-of-thailand\/","title":{"rendered":"From the streets of Thailand"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Frank Sabatini Jr. | Restaurant Review<\/p>\n

Khwanta Osanai is exposing fans of Thai food to the street foods of Thailand in her debut restaurant, Soi 30th in North Park. If you\u2019re on the hunt for pad Thai and drunken noodles in their most pedestrian form, you\u2019ve (fortunately) come to the wrong place.<\/p>\n

\"From
Owner Khwanta Osanai (Foto por Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Osanai is from Thailand\u2019s northeastern Isaan Province, where fiery chilies grow at the drop of a seed. But her food isn\u2019t drastically spicy. Nor is it necessarily indicative of Isaan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMine is street food from all over Thailand. And I make it in my own style \u2014 not for American tastes,\u201d Osanai said, adding that she is proud of finally opening her own kitchen after working at other local Thai restaurants such as Plumeria and Sab-E-Lee.<\/p>\n

Certain standbys, however, play into the bill of fare. Tom kha soup boasted gobble-worthy leaves of fresh par-cooked cabbage and a worthy zing from kaffir lime leaves. Her spicy chicken wings struck a commendable balance of sweet and hot, although they hardly came close to five-alarm fire.<\/p>\n

Shrimp wraps and vegan egg rolls fall into the usual category of fried items, yet both were non-greasy and clean-tasting.<\/p>\n

Other starters include some rare finds such as Thai beef jerky; fried pork belly with creamy mint sauce; and one of the menu\u2019s few Isaan specialties: sausage made with pork and glass noodles.<\/p>\n

Visiting as a threesome, we proceeded to a trio of terrific entrees that included a newly introduced daily special called seafood pad pom kali. Rarely do you find dairy incorporated into Thai dishes, especially those involving green mussels, squid and shrimp.<\/p>\n

\"From
Shrimp wraps\u00a0(Foto por Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We couldn\u2019t see it, but Osanai told us half-and-half is folded into this sensational yellow-curry sauce, which also houses onions, bell peppers and herbaceous Thai parsley. Whipped eggs played an invisible role as well, adding comforting richness to the dish.<\/p>\n

My friends were thrilled to see \u201choly spicy basil\u201d on the menu, saying they came to love it while visiting Thailand and cited its scarcity in American-Thai restaurants.<\/p>\n

\"From
\u201cHoly spicy basil\u201d rice dish with minced chicken and a fried egg\u00a0(Foto por Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dish\u2019s cousin \u2014 spicy basil-fried rice \u2014 mixes together bite-size pieces of meat or seafood with rice, onions, peppers, basil and scrambled eggs. The \u201choly\u201d version separates the components on the plate. And the protein (chicken breast in our case) is finely minced like larb. In comparison, this offered more complexity and a greater exotic spirit.<\/p>\n

Khao soi is a Burmese-style soup that hides a couple of oven-tender drumsticks inside a tangle of egg noodles, bean sprouts, mustard greens, cilantro and green onions. The curry-based broth is semi-spicy, and the entire cast of ingredients is made for an outrageously delicious dish that you don\u2019t expect from a humble eatery with fast-casual service.<\/p>\n

\"From
Khao Soi noodles\u00a0(Foto por Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also memorable was the Kang Massaman I took home for later. Imagine beef stew with potatoes in classic brown gravy, but with coconut milk and micro bits of red chilies lurking in the recipe. It was nothing short of sensational.<\/p>\n

Osanai opened Soi 30th in September 2017 and chose a colorful, industrial motif featuring bold, animated imagery from Thai artists. The enlarged prints hang aesthetically against corrugated metal and resemble some of the pop art of the late 1950s from the U.S. and Europe.<\/p>\n

\"From
Seafood-rich pad pom kali is one of the daily specials.\u00a0(Foto por Frank Sabatini Jr.)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"FromSoi, which means \u201cstreet\u201d in Thailand, is a welcome addition to this stretch of 30th Street. It\u2019s exactly the kind of authentic Asian kitchen the neighborhood lacked. Sorry, but Underbelly II across the street doesn\u2019t count; it\u2019s a whimsical invention from a local restaurant group, and for better or worse, focuses on putting modern Japanese spins on ramen.<\/p>\n

For now at least, the food at Soi has stolen my palate.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Frank Sabatini Jr. is the author of \u201cSecret San Diego\u201d (ECW Press), and began his local writing career more than two decades ago as a staffer for the former San Diego Tribune. Reach him at fsabatini@san.rr.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Frank Sabatini Jr. | Restaurant Review Khwanta Osanai is exposing fans of Thai food to the street foods of Thailand in her debut restaurant, Soi 30th in North Park. If you\u2019re on the hunt for pad Thai and drunken noodles in their most pedestrian form, you\u2019ve (fortunately) come to the wrong place.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":253234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"From the streets of Thailand","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}