Snohomish Thai Kitchen needs pinch of pizzazz

SNOHOMISH -- Thai Kitchen, which opened about six weeks ago in this city's historic downtown, fits right in because its sisters are long-timers. A Thai Kitchen has been open in Bellevue for almost 30 years, another in Totem Lake for 12 years, and there's a third in Kenmore.

The Snohomish restaurant's interior has been redone to reflect the tropical colors of Thailand. An immense fish tank divides the dining room into smaller areas and the overall effect is very inviting.

During our Saturday dinner, owners Jack and Penny Chautavipata were our hosts and servers. They've put all our Thai favorites such as chicken satay ($7.95), fresh rolls ($6.50), garlic chicken ($8.95) and swimming rama ($7.95) on their menu.

I ordered the "Divine Massamum" curry ($7.95), which the menu said combines potatoes, peanuts and onions with beef, chicken or pork in a sweet red curry sauce. This is the traditional recipe for massaman curry. So I was confused when our server brought a bowl of sweet coconut broth with red pepper flakes very much like coconut chicken soup but with thin slices of beef. It tasted like the beef had been prepared separately from the broth because it wasn't a compatible combo, plus the flavors didn't blend.

Even more unusual than the odd flavor was our server's confidence that this was the correct dish. I didn't say anything, but I would have been very upset if the curry was my only dinner dish because it was wrong on several levels, making it very far from divine.

My friend and I decided to share a plate of chicken Phad Thai ($7.95) because it's our standing test dish for Thai restaurants. We asked for medium heat, and the kitchen got that right. The Phad Thai was served with the fresh bean sprouts, some sprigs of basil and carrot strings on the side, which reminded me of a pho noodle shop. I felt confused again, but put everything together on my plate. After a few bites, we decided the Phad Thai was all right but didn't have a wow factor.

My dinner partner had the cashew chicken ($8.95), which was made with lots of chunks of chicken, celery, onion, green bell pepper and plenty of cashews in a rich, tasty soy-based sauce. This was the best dish of our meal and we would order it again.

Although Thai Kitchen restaurants have been around for decades, our dinner was disappointing. Obviously, there are kinks in the Snohomish kitchen that need to be worked out, and some pizzazz needs to be vigorously stirred in, too.



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Contact Anna Poole at features@heraldnet.com.