Time for Thai: Lao Thai Kitchen

I love Thai food.  My family is starting to come around, too.  Those nights where we used to order out from Panda, now we choose to pass on the orange chicken (so hard to do) and go for some curry, pad thai, and, in this case, Thai beef jerky.

The restaurant of choice for my family had been Thai Cuisine (on Charleston and Lamb) when we went with Thai takeout, but a friend had suggested Lao Thai Kitchen, so I broke tradition and went down to the restaurant to buy some grub for the family.  This restaurant is located on Nellis just north of Harris.  It's in the strip mall that is famous in our family for housing Game Repair for so many years.  Game Repair was the shiz, let's just put it that way.  You could buy used Nintendo games for cheap, and you could also turn to them for help when blowing violently through the game cartridge, slamming it multiple times into the system, or even using a Q-Tip with alcohol couldn't get Contra or RBI Baseball to work.

Even though we didn't eat at the restaurant, I liked what we saw during the 10 minutes of waiting for our food to be prepared.  The two ladies working as cashiers/waitresses were very friendly and pointed out some of their specialties.  They were going crazy over Landon (my 8-month old son), but then again, who doesn't?  They even scored us a free small order of chicken wings "because you ordered so much."  It was pretty funny.  I hope they knew that the four entrees and appetizer were not just for me and the wifey...

Another great thing about the restaurant is the buffet.  It is open for lunch and VERY reasonably priced (under $10).  I'm definitely going to have to try it sometime because even though I have loved the Thai food I have tried, I sometimes lack the courage to buy a whole order of something new in case it is too spicy or not my taste.  A buffet allows you to try new things without commitment issues.

As far as the food goes, I thought it was all solid.  I am not gonna say that it blew me away compared to other places I've tried (in Vegas as well as in Provo/SLC), but I think that it was up to that level.  Add in the fact that it was probably the cheapest of any Thai restaurant I have tried, and I am sure that I'll be back at the Lao Thai Kitchen sometime soon.

The Panang Curry: I have never met a curry that I didn't love, but this one had whole peanuts included in the mix, which was something new for me.  It had the sweet, savory, coconutty, basilly flavor that I crave with just enough spice right as it goes down.

 Pad Thai and Drunk Man Noodles:  These were our two noodle dishes we selected.  Of course pad thai is a must, and for me it is a good marker with which to judge any Thai restaurant.  The Lao Thai Kitchen's version was nothing spectacular, but it did not disappoint by any means.  The drunk man noodles were fabulous.  I had seen "drunken" noodles once on The Best Thing I Ever Ate and knew I had to try them.  The ones featured on the show were not from this restaurant, but I thought we would give the "drunk man" noodles a try--my guess is that they are pretty similar.  The dish was very different from pad thai, with wide, flat noodles, lots of peppers and mushrooms and plenty of spice.  I thought the dish had a very strong mushroom flavor which was unique but delicious.  If you aren't big into spicy food, make sure to order this one VERY mild, cuz we ordered it as a 3 (on a scale of 1-10) and it was too much for some to handle.  I would love to have this dish in front of me right now (Drool on keyboard).

Appetizers: Thai Beef Jerky and Chicken Wings.  I thought that both of these were great.  It was the first time that I had tried either from a Thai place.  The chicken wings were perfectly fried and juicy on the inside.  There seemed to be a little special spice on the wing itself, but the sweet/sour dipping sauce that came with them made them quite delectable.  The beef jerky was very unique.  The dish includes lots of strips of marinated beef which is fried just right so that it's still tender.  The spicy cilantro dipping sauce was my dad's favorite item from the whole meal, and it went great with the jerky or almost anything else we ordered.

My overall assessment is this: if you are looking for Thai food--especially on the northeast side of town--this is the place to go.  I am sure that you could find better stuff at some pricier, bigger name places in the city, but you will not be disappointed by this place.  At the same time, I don't think you'll find better bang for your buck anywhere else, especially if you go for the buffet.

Check them out.  Lao Thai Kitchen on Nellis between Harris and Washington.  HERE is a map if you need it.  I also found a GoogleDoc of the menu.  Take a look.

Leave me a comment with your experience.

Cheers!