Thai Food

After work today, Sue and I went to a Thai restaurant in Faribault. After looking through the menu for a minute, the waiter asked what we were thinking about ordering. I said I was thinking about the pineapple fried rice. He said, “Might I recommend the Phad Thai?” “When I go to Thai restaurants, I sometimes try not to order Phad Thai, because it's what everyone gets.” “Well, our chef makes an excellent sauce, whereas fried rice, you can get at any Chinese buffet.” “Uhh, right. I'll think about that.”

What do you say to that? Asian restaurants in non-Asian areas are so different from Asian restaurants in areas with a high Asian population. “They assume you know nothing,” as Sue put it. I ended up ordering another dish; not fried rice or Phad Thai. It was good. But really, I wonder what the chef would have thought about his waiter comparing his fried rice to Joe Schmoe's Chinese Buffet fried rice. I really think the fried rice would have been better than that; I would give the food pretty good marks overall. Also, after I went through the usual “Yes, I really want TEN out of FIVE stars” routine, and he brought the food, he reminded me that if it wasn't hot enough, I could use “that.” He pointed at the condiment display on the table. I said “Yes, I know Siracha.” He said, “No, I meant that.” “This?” I said as I pointed to the jar of chili oil. “That's chili oil. That has fat. Siracha doesn't.” He didn't know what to say. I don't think he knew what either one was, though he seemed vaguely aware that chili oil was hotter (at least per ounce) than Siracha.