THE GOSSIPING GOURMET:Thai Bros. casual setting is a Laguna favorite ...

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Updated: Thursday, July 5, 2007 10:22 PM PDT
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Those alphabetical brothers A and B Itti run the two best Thaijoints in town: A, at Laguna-Thai-By-the-Sea and B, at Thai Bros.We have chosen to review them in alphabetical order (for A, see theCoastline Pilot April 28, 2006, issue) so now it's B's turn.

If their cousin C, who lives in Bangkok, ever opens a restaurant inLaguna, you can be sure we'll review him next.

Located in the former home of Benny the Bum's diner and evenearlier, Shirley's Bagels, Lagunatics have been eating in this spotsince the '70s but never as well as now at Thai Bros.

It could be something from the "Appethaizer" list, this titlepresaging the appearance of the occasional fusion dish on the menu,such as the deep fried triangles, which are stuffed flour tortillaswith shrimp, fish and avocado, or the fried wontons stuffed withcream cheese and avocados.

More traditional are the "cutie pies," thin crispy pastry cupsfilled with delicate curried chicken; or the satés, grilled beefor chicken on a skewer that you can dip into their delicious peanutsauce.

We passed up our usual favorites for a nightly special: steamedchicken dumplings, which were the only disappointment of theevening. The bland ground chicken filling had neither seasoning norvegetables to give it flavor or texture even though the dippingsauce was so good, we saved it to use later in the meal.

The two most famous Thai soups are Tom Yum, a spicy broth withlemon grass and shrimp and Tom Kha, a coconut milk soup withchicken and cabbage.

Elle, who has visited Thailand many times, insists that (on thisparticular evening) the Tom Kha was the best she had ever tasted.There was a perfect marriage of flavors.

The soup was light with the richness of the coconut milk balancedby a refreshing jolt of lime. There was a perfect mouth feel andjust the right amount of heat, highlighted by a few fresh crunchyvegetables.

We chose two entrées from the "Specialties of the House" menusection. The fried duck had virtually no fat and the skin waswonderfully crunchy, even more so than Peking duck, but theflavorful twice-cooked meat was a bit dry. It was served on a bedof vegetables with a zippy, tomatoey dipping sauce.

The dipping sauce added a pungent accent and the vegetables weresimply but perfectly cooked. The Thai respect vegetables and treatthem with veneration.

Egg noodles with shrimp and vegetables in spicy Thai basil saucecertainly lives up to its name. In the words of Miss Hilton,"That's hot," but it was just right for our palates. The heat in noway masked the layers of flavor in the delicious and complex sauce.The slender noodles had the wonderful chewy texture of freshly madepasta with a bit of crispiness from the pan.

Stir-fried with vegetables and shrimp, we found the dishirresistible. Even though we were quite full, we just couldn't stopeating.

The regular menu features a selection of rice and noodle dishes,then a section of meats and poultry, followed by a choice of fishand seafood and five vegetarian dishes. There is also a number ofcurries.

Thai curries are not like Indian curries. They have their ownunique flavors: red, yellow and green being the most well-known,and all are fairly spicy. Chicken and potatoes are featured intheir yellow curry; pork, bamboo shoot and eggplant are in the red;and shrimp and vegetables in the green.

From the menu's large selection, some of our favorites include: theclassic Pad Thai noodles consisting of rice noodles with egg,sliced baked tofu and shrimp in a sweet and savory sauce tossedwith green onion and sprouts, then topped with ground peanuts.

Perfect Harmony is sliced chicken breast on a bed of stir-friedspinach drenched in their mouth-watering peanut sauce.

Three of the entrée sized salads sport a spicy lime dressing thatwe find addictive. It is light and hot with just a touch ofsweetness. You can have it on yum gai with chicken and nuts, yumnue with marinated grilled beef or yum yai with seafood and glassnoodles.

Terry's vegetarian brother loves their ginger tofu with mushrooms,onions, celery and carrots.

B's favorite is Pavillion rice, their special fried rice thatincludes just about everything in the kitchen: egg, onion, tomato,chicken, shrimp, pork and Chinese sausage.

Thai desserts, like other Asian desserts, are almost always anafterthought; usually ice cream, pudding or fruit. No pastry chefbeating butter cream in this kitchen.

However, when champagne mangoes are in season as they are now, theclassic Thai dessert of sliced mango and sticky rice is anot-to-be-missed treat.

This casual and inexpensive eatery with its consistent quality hasmade it a Laguna favorite.

Eating Thai in this town is as easy as ABC.

ELLE HARROW AND TERRY MARKOWITZ owned a la Carte for 20 years and can be reached at themarkos755@yahoo.com .