Thai Peacock
219 SW 9th Ave.,
228-2310.
11 am-10
pm Monday-Saturday Closed
Sundays
Inexpensive
Picks:
Mussaman curry; larb; Thai fish cake; yum pla
muk; Thai iced tea.
Nice
Touch: Free delivery downtown with $10 order.
During a four-year sojourn in Singapore, I got spoiled
by that country's staggering variety of spicy, fresh and
inexpensive food. Lunch there was a joy, a daily opportunity
to worship at the temple of my stomach. In most respects,
Portland is a nicer place to live than the tiny Asian police
state--except when hunger strikes. That's particularly true
downtown, where finding decent Asian chow is more difficult
than scoring a free parking spot.
Luckily for me, I recently spent a month working on a story
that took me past Thai Peacock nearly every day. The restaurant,
located at 219 SW 9th Ave., opened last August and anchors
one of downtown's most oddly shaped and eclectic blocks
(Rocco's pizza, Reading Frenzy and the headquarters of the
Powell's union are around the corner).
After dining in half a dozen times and hoovering some takeout
orders, I can happily report that the Peacock is the best
news to hit the mid-westside lunch scene for a long time.
Unlike the bird after which it is named, the restaurant's
aesthetics--bare pine, a couple of lonely textiles and some
nervous-looking aquarium fish--are spartan; the food, however,
is as rich and varied as the hues in a peacock's tail.
By an ongoing act of providence, the metro area boasts
nearly as many Thai restaurants as coffee shops these days.
One quick way of sorting the incredible from the insipid
is to compare the staples that show up on virtually every
menu, such as phad Thai, green curry and salad rolls. Here
the phad Thai ($5 for the vegetarian version, $5.50 with
chicken) is loaded with al dente broccoli, carrot, crunchy
sprouts and plenty of peanuts. It's refreshingly free of
the cloying sweetness (read: ketchup) and excessive cooking
oil that mar the dish at other places.
As for the salad rolls, the vermicelli noodles, tofu, sprouts
and greens are artfully combined and served at room temperature,
rather than cold as at some places, which kills the food's
flavors and makes the rice-paper wrapping soggy.
Thai Peacock's greatest strength, however, is curry. Whether
green, yellow, red or Penang, the curries here are eggplant-laden
bowls of heaven, or at least the gastronomic equivalent
of winning lottery tickets. At lesser Thai restaurants,
curry arrives at the table watery and with muddy flavoring
that makes distinguishing constituent tastes difficult.
At the Peacock, curries are dense and creamy, with the flavors
of basil, lemongrass, galangal, kafir leaf, lime and chili
distinctly slugging it out for primacy in the coconut milk.
Owners Nathawut Phansaithong and Matinee Thammikakun, both
alums of the Thai Orchid foodalopolis, say their curries
include 10 or more ingredients where other local Thai restaurants
use four or five. If the food takes a little longer here
than around the corner at Rocco's, it's because they're
working from scratch. The house recipes all come from Phansaithong's
mother, who flew over from Thailand to help the young couple
(23 and 26, respectively) get started.
One technique Mom taught them well was not to overdo the
protein. Whether squid, chicken or tofu, the weighty part
of each dish arrives at the table tender and moist. All
too often at other restaurants, food sits around the kitchen;
the meat gets leathery, the seafood turns to rubber.
If the Peacock excels at the basics, it does even better
at less mainstream dishes. The fish cakes ($6) dotted with
kafir leaves and topped with a sweet, hot cucumber sauce
are outstanding, light and just slightly chewy. The larb
($8.50, dinner only) is a salad heavy on mint, lime juice
and the key ingredient, a chalky, crunchy rice powder. If
you like seafood, the yum pla muk ($9, dinner only),
a spicy grilled squid, will wrap its tentacles around your
heart. My favorite, however, is the Mussaman curry. Often
disappointing around town, this dish, with chunks of firm
potato and carrots cavorting in a dense, spicy peanut sauce,
is a proper way to apologize to your tongue and innards
for all the bad meals you've ingested over the years.
In addition to the regular menu, there are usually three
or four daily specials. The Peacock Noodles, a melange of
thick flat rice noodles coated with a peanut sauce, green
onions and sprouts, is Thai comfort food, a tropical version
of mac and cheese.
As for liquids to wash your grub down, the Peacock serves
beer and will soon add wine. But to make your meal complete,
try a pint of the Thai iced tea, a faintly tobaccoey, orange-colored
brew that is thickened with condensed milk and is to the
dirty water that we call iced tea what the Peacock's curry
is to generic instant ramen.
It will always be a long way from Southwest Portland to
Singapore's food bazaars, but Thai Peacock is a step in
the right direction. And, as one dining companion noted,
"for a place where the food is so cheap, they have very
pretty plates."
- - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Willamette Week | originally
published April 5,
2000
|
