Pad Thai for Beginners

I've never cooked a Pad Thai that I've really liked, and most of the places around here are so-so. I can do a passable green curry, but the noodle dish is outside of my ken. Oddly enough, my favorite Thai place was in Walla Walla Washington. It was run by a this friendly, kinda goofy farmer-looking guy and his Thai wife. He would wait tables and she would cook dishes. Very good. She would go to Seattle once every few weeks to get the special ingredients she wanted.

But I will try again with advice from this great tutorial on cooking your own - chez pin: Pad Thai for beginners. She's very specific and helpful. Perfect, and I agree with her sparkling wine or riesling pairing. If you're looking to try something you might look at Chateau St. Michelle's Eroica.

In hindsight, her tip about the super-hot wok seems obvious. My stove-top here is electric and might not get as hot as I want. I miss the gas unit I had before. Someday... Put that on my lifetime to-do list: Get the fires of Mt. Doom stove burner that can melt the pot if you're not careful...

On one family visit home I wanted to go out with my sister for dinner. She said, "Hey, I know this great Thai restaurant in the U district, so let's go there! " So we went, and along the way she told me that the last time she had gone with some friends, they couldn't find the place. Which would be fine, except they didn't remember the name. So they called information and asked if they could tell them how to get to this good Thai restaurant in the U district. The nonplussed operator pointed out that there were a lot of Thai places in the U district - and they were like, "Yeah, but this one is really good!" - "Oh, you mean Thai Tom?"

Yes!*

Thai Tom was busy. We were on the early side, so we managed to get a table, but by the time we sat down the line was out the door. Half an hour latter, people were standing in the street in the middle of winter waiting to put an order in for take out. The place was pretty small, with an open kitchen and the cook had three jet burners on full flame. He didn't even wash the pots - just wiped it out and started the next. Red hot woks with a 45 second cooking time. It was great. Somehow I've got to replicate that or my life will have no meaning.
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*I've thought about trying this trick elsewhere - just to see what they would recomend.