5 PLACES FOR...
Noodles!
January 10, 2007
ctnow.com
They say that winter is the best time of year to load up on carbohydrates. So here are five local places to get a plate of Asian noodles and go home feeling both sated and satisfied.
Lemon Grass
7 South Main Street, West Hartford
860-233-4405
Tofu Pad Thai, $8.25
A handful of Thai restaurants have opened in the West Hartford area within the past few years, including Siam Cuisine, Hot Basil, and East-West Grill. But before they all arrived on the scene, I went to Lemon Grass. Lemon Grass was where I first fell for Thai food.
The ambiance in Lemon Grass spells typical Asian restaurant. Waitstaff wear cloth-button uniformed shirts, non-Western music croons from the speakers, and sheets of plexiglass cover each faded turquoise tablecloth. The place has two seating areas, but they fill the main one first, and that section was half full last Friday night around 7. The waitress double-checked whether it was okay that my pad thai came with eggs, since her first reaction to my ordering the dish with tofu instead of shrimp was to wonder whether I was a vegan. (I'm not.) All the menu options at Lemon Grass are diet-adjustable. In that, it's consistent with the many pricier restaurants that surround it in West Hartford Center. But at Lemon Grass, it is still possible to get a decent entree for less than ten bucks.
Pad thai is a mild dish that includes rice noodles, peanuts, egg, scallions, and toppings such as shrimp, vegetables, or tofu. My tofu pad thai tasted bland, which could just reflect my increasing preference for spicier foods. But the diverse textures -- rough peanut shavings, gooey noodles, and spongy fried tofu squares -- filling the plate were warm and satisfying. The taste of peanut dominated, and the scrambled egg bits contributed subtle hints of flavor. The rice noodles were substantial but not heavy, and the tofu was fried but not too much so.
Lemon Grass' tofu pad thai is comfort food that won't make you feel guilty afterwards.
-- KIRA GOLDENBERG
Philippine Cuisine
838 Silver Lane, East Hartford
860-568-4267
Pancit Bihon, $6.99
It's not easy finding a restaurant that serves Filipino food in this part of the United States, so I was thrilled to discover a new take-out restaurant in the Hartford area serving the cuisine of my heritage. Open less than three months, Philippine Cuisine is located in a plaza on Silver Lane, with walls painted a cheery orange and decorated with images of island scenery. A lighted palm tree in the window signals customers in from the parking lot.
The aptly-named restaurant offers all the standard Filipino fare, including lumpia, adobo, siopao and halo-halo. It also serves my favorite noodle dish - pancit bihon. For Filipinos, pancit is a communal comfort food. It's been served at almost every Philippine gathering I've ever attended. Long, skinny rice noodles are lightly stir-fried with julienned carrots, garlic, Chinese cabbage, green beans, onions and a bit of soy sauce. My version of pancit bihon was topped with shrimp, but it can also be made with chicken or pork. Like most Filipino food, the flavors are fairly tame.
The warm, greasy noodles filled me up nicely for dinner, with plenty to spare for tomorrow's lunch.
-- MARIE SHANAHAN
York Street Noodle House
166 York Street, New Haven
203-776-9675
Crispy Noodle, Veggie, $5
Sharing the same side of the street as 168 York Street Café and Bangkok Garden, this small, Asian eatery can easily be overlooked. However, the cozy place is the perfect spot for a low-budget meal with that mom-and-pop feel.
After peering over an extensive menu with various noodle concoctions and sipping the complimentary tea, I decided on the Veggie Crispy Noodle- a bed of crispy noodles in a bowl of soup, topped with broccoli and other veggies.
Although the meal came in a bowl of soup, the soup's main purpose was to saturate the crispy noodles, making them soft and chewy. After only two bites, I was already pleased with my choice. The crispy noodles and veggies were quite flavorful, with just the right amount of spice too add a bit of zest without forcing me to chug water every two seconds.
- RENEE C. TRAYNOR
SIAM Cuisine
312 Park Road, West Hartford
(860) 233-7780
Vegetable Pad Thai, $6.95
Pad Thai is sort of like the hamburger and French fries of Thai cuisine (or, in the case of SIAM Cuisine on Park Road in West Hartford - Vietnamese cuisine). It's a staple, and therefore pretty tough to do poorly. Although SIAM's version didn't offer much in terms of variation on the theme of the dish, it certainly was very tasty.
I'm a vegetarian, so I went with the vegetable version, although it can be made to order with either shrimp, beef or chicken as well. The dish came loaded with an array of fresh veggies – carrots, broccoli, baby corn and scallions. And the heaping pile of bean sprouts smothered on top added a nice crunchiness to the whole thing. There was a strong hint of ginger to the dish as well, but not to the point of being overpowering, and I actually liked the spicy kick that it added. The chopped peanuts were tasty, too.
SIAM is a relatively small restaurant that features a view of Park Road from just about every seat through large plate glass windows. A small stage near the back provides a place for karaoke and live music on special nights.
-- DAVE MORAN
China Kitchen
827 Pine, Bristol
(860) 582-0300
Chicken Lo Mein, $2.50 for a pint
I hadn't eaten Chinese take-out for years until this summer. Seven months pregnant, I found myself craving chicken lo mein. New to the Plainville/Bristol neighborhood, the only Chinese restaurant I knew of was this little place tucked behind the 99 Restaurant in the Stop N' Shop parking lot.
Pregnancy cravings being as they are, there was no time to seek out other options. Ten minutes after ordering my noodles, I was in lo mein heaven (if such a place exists). I was fearful that my taste buds were out of whack, like the rest of me, so I went back -- multiple times -- and have never been disappointed with the noodles (or anything else on the menu, for that matter).
China Kitchen's chicken lo mein has great flavor -- the perfect blend of garlic, soy sauce and ginger. The ingredients are standard for lo mein dishes (water chestnuts, carrots, mushrooms, green onion), but the taste of the sauce is what makes this lo mein so good. Not too sweet, not too salty. My only complaint would be that the chicken lo mein is light on the chicken. But at this price, it is well worth the cash.
-- CHRISTINE W. TAYLOR
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