Friday, January 07, 2005 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

RESTAURANT REVIEW: The Thai House

Comfort Food: On a cold, damp night when macaroni and cheese won't do, the Tom Kha Gai at The Thai House hits the spot

The Thai House Restaurant has a subdued, serene interior that avoids kitschy touches. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

It was a cold, damp night (we've been having quite a few of those lately, no?), so when we came in out of the rain, what we really wanted was comfort food.

Tradition holds that that means stick-to-the-ribs stuff, like smothered steak with mashed potatoes and gravy or maybe macaroni and cheese; it seems there's something about chilly weather that dictates stick-to-the-hips food as well. What we had in mind, though, was something a little more interesting but no less comforting, a welcome example of the city's culinary diversity: a big bowl of Tom Kha Gai.

Tom Kha Gai -- which carries numerous spellings, owing to the differences in the Thai and western alphabets -- is a traditional Thai soup, simmered with lemon grass, kefir lime leaves, galanga and chunks of chicken, tempered with coconut milk and zipped up with chili peppers.

Our comfort-food quest led us to The Thai House Restaurant, a strip-mall spot in the Silverado Ranch area. The large Tom Kha Gai we shared ($8.95, or $5 for small) was, like baby bear's bed, just right. It was served in a hot pot, a vessel with a sort of moat configuration that surrounded a heat source. The hot pot lived up to its name, with the soup bubbling away on the table even as we removed bowl after bowl. The deep resonance of the mingled flavors and added heat from the chili peppers took the edge off the dampness, and suddenly, all was right with the world.

As it turned out, all was pretty much right with the Thai House as well. The menu is on the tame side, without much you wouldn't find at just about any other Thai restaurant in town -- well, except maybe for the Chinese selections, which include chop suey, chow mein and egg foo yung. We figure those are a nod to the weeknight-dinner neighborhood nature of the place, providing fodder to those for whom even Pad Thai is a little exotic.

Speaking of which: Since Pad Thai is to Thai cuisine what apple pie is to American, and since we tend to think the measure of a Thai restaurant can be found in it, we decided to revisit the dish. It's available at Thai House with chicken or pork ($8.95), beef or bay shrimp ($9.95) or jumbo shrimp or a combination ($11.95) -- which, actually, is a breadth of variety that's a little out of the ordinary -- and we opted for the jumbo-shrimp version. Sweet, firm crustaceans, and a lot of them, graced the mound of rice-noodle ribbons tossed with cooked egg and Chinese chives, sprinkled with chopped peanuts and accompanied by a mound of crunchy fresh bean sprouts.

And, while we're on the subject of apple pie: fried bananas ($4.95) were wrapped in spring-roll wrappers, touched with honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds for a nice nutty flavor note. These were the best fried bananas we've had in a while.

We were intrigued by the fusionistic Sweet and Sour Thai Style ($8.95 for chicken, which we had, or pork, or $11.95 for shrimp), wondering how much it would differ from the sweet-and-sour dishes listed among the Chinese entrees. Quite a bit, as it turned out, with a lighter coating and characteristic Thai flavors -- more piquant, and reminiscent of citrus. This was a very successful dish.

Less so the spring rolls ($5.95), which the menu trumpeted as "handmade on location" but which we found ordinary -- crisp-fried spring-roll wrappers stuffed with shredded vegetables.

The restaurant serves no alcohol, but that was fine with us, because hot green tea provides its own balm for the soul, as we were reminded as we sipped.

And so does Thai House -- especially on a chilly evening.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are unannounced and done anonymously at Review-Journal expense.