If you’ve been looking for Yupa, stop looking. We found her.
Yupa McCall, owner of Yupa’s Thai Cuisine, formerly Supee’s Thai Kitchen on Colby Avenue in Everett, has been running her restaurant for about three months at its new location at 2925 Wetmore Ave. She’s concerned some of her regulars might have missed the move.
And Yupa’s is the kind of place that ought to have regulars. McCall immigrated from northern Thailand in 1989, started at the restaurant in 1998 and bought it in 2003. She’s your host, wait staff and keeper of recipes from the family restaurant in Thailand. With her from the start is her chef, Viengkeo Luangrath.
The new location, within walking distance of Comcast Arena, is modestly decorated in relaxing earth tones, with a small bar that serves beer and wine. But it’s the food that deserves a regular’s loyalty.
Yupa’s appetizers include Thai favorites, such as chicken and beef satay ($6.95) and steamed potstickers ($6.95), but my wife and I can’t pass up fresh rolls.
Fresh rolls prove that finger food need not be deep fried. Yupa’s rolls wrap translucent rice paper around chilled vermicelli noodles, cucumber, Thai basil, romaine lettuce, cilantro and a prawn or tofu cubes. Dribble some mildly spicy peanut sauce on top and eat your dinner salad with your fingers.
Not that I can’t find something nice to say about deep frying. Curry puffs ($5.95) pack a stuffing of chicken and curry-flavored potatoes in a fried pastry puff. House-made sweet-and-sour sauce and a small salad of cucumber slices in a vinegar dressing accompany.
We ordered neither soup nor salads in our recent visits, but the selection is tempting, including Tom Yum Gal ($6.95), a spicy and sour soup with chicken or tofu and lemon grass, lime leaves, galangal and mushrooms; or Yum Woon Sen ($7.95), a salad of clear noodles, shrimp, cucumber, onion, mint and cilantro with a lime dressing.
Pad Thai has become the Asian equivalent of comfort food for many, and Yupa’s doesn’t disappoint with its stir fry of seasoned rice noodles, egg, peanuts, green onions and bean sprouts ($7.95). But there’s so much more worthy of attention.
And you won’t have to wonder much about what you’re getting before you order. The menu shows a photo of practically every dish.
Any fan of the Thai peanut sauce that usually accompanies fresh rolls or chicken or beef satay, can satisfy their craving with Noodle Delight ($7.95), wide stir-fried rice noodles and spinach served with a choice of chicken, beef or tofu and topped with peanut sauce.
Chinese broccoli is a nice break from the standard greens with its thinner stalks, leafy greens and tiny yellow blossoms. In Yupa’s Pad Kana ($7.95), the broccoli and tofu are stir-fried in oyster sauce with enough crunch to vouch for the broccoli’s freshness.
Yupa’s does a great job with curries and provides a few surprises beyond chicken, beef and tofu.
I usually prefer pretty simple preparations of salmon. We’re fortunate in the Puget Sound area to be able to get our fill of fresh salmon that asks only for a little wood smoke or some lemon and dill. But here a decent salmon filet ($10.95) is steamed and accompanied by stir-fried red bell pepper slices, mushrooms and broccoli in a red curry and coconut milk sauce, topped with threads of lemon grass. The curry doesn’t overpower the salmon, and the spice mixture’s heat offers a contrast to the sweet flesh.
Red curry paste and coconut milk also are paired with matchsticks of bamboo shoot, Thai basil and chicken, beef, tofu or vegetables in Gaeng Deang ($8.95, $13.95 with prawns). This could become a standard order for me, a perfect curry.
A word about heat: Unless you specify a preference for something milder or hotter, the dishes are prepared at medium. And medium at Yupa’s is spot on for me; enough spice to leave my lips tingling and break a bead or two of perspiration on my brow but not overpower the flavors.
Yupa’s blends its own spice mixtures for curries and such, makes its own sauces and desserts and doesn’t try to get around the seasons by using canned or frozen produce. McCall said she makes a weekly trip to Seattle’s International District, and if she can’t find good quality produce in season, it’ll have to wait.
For dessert, we were interested in the mango sticky rice ($4.95). Unapologetically, McCall told us it wasn’t available; mango is out of season. We’d have to come back between April and July for the mangos. But we forgot all about the tropical fruit after ordering the unadorned sticky rice ($3). Awash in a puddle of coconut milk, the sweet black grains of sticky rice were nutty and chewy, a dessert that on its own could make me a regular.
Jon Bauer: 425-339-3425 or jbauer@heraldnet.com.
Yupa’s Thai Cuisine
2925 Wetmore Ave., Everett; 425-303-3487
Specialty: Thai
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday; 4 to 9 p.m., Saturday; closed Sunday
Price range: Reasonable, most items $6.95 to $13.95
Liquor: Beer and wine
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