Thai Basil is the first Thai truck in what I will affectionately call the "Thai Stretch". I think there are three or four (we will find out) Thai carts almost in a row, with a Polish and a Middle Eastern truck thrown in to maintain some variety. I am looking forward to seeing which dishes each truck claims are their favorites, if they have different specialities and how it all compares and contrasts....
At Thai Basil when I asked the name of her favorite dish, the woman taking orders said that she liked pad thai, pad see ew and pad kee mao. Having had plenty of pad thai in my time, I decided to opt for something with which I was less familiar. I had eaten pad see ew on a number of occasions but had never tried pad kee mao. I asked her the difference - essentially it lay in the vegetables that came with the dish - pad kee mao added a few extras, including red bell peppers. Sold!
I gave my order and a few minutes later was handed a ginormous portion of steaming wide rice noodles, chicken and lovely veggies. Time to haul ass to get back to the office and devour it ALL!
It was delicious. The vegetables retained a nice crunch while still being cooked enough to be tender. The chicken was cooked perfectly - not overdone and chewy as can so often happen in a dish like this. The flavors of each ingredient came through and were finished off with a nice basil flavor, thanks to a perfect amount of fresh basil thrown in. My one mistake was being too ambitious about my ability to handle spiciness. When asked how spicy I wanted it, I requested medium -- and boy oh boy it was certainly a very robust medium. A little too much for me, but hey, I got to sweat it out a bit.
All in all a solidly delicious and satisfying meal - probably for two, but that didn't stop me from taking care of it by myself.....
Thai Basil:
Pad Kee Mao: $6.00 (+ tip!)
Accepts Credit Card
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