2008 Woodie Awards
Awaken Both Your Taste Buds and Senses at Thai Basil
Local Thai restaurant has very fresh and flavorful menu options for diners.
David Stelzmuller
Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Local
A good meal can awaken your senses. It can remind you that you are not a mindless robot, and it can key you into the fact that the sky is blue and life is good.
In a land dotted by strip malls, fast food eateries and so many trendy coffee shops you can literally exit one, walk across the street and enter another, finding culinary diamonds in the rough has become increasingly important for everyone.
Thai Basil, on Chapman Avenue and State College Boulevard, is just that type of restaurant, and a recent trip resulted in just that type of wake- up call.
For an appetizer, try the shrimp and chicken wontons. These small packets of minced meat tasting of ginger and mild onion were perfectly crisp without a trace of over-frying. Instead of the watery overstuffed dumplings you might find in wonton soup, these fried wontons had plenty of the crispy pastry wrappers, which may be the best part, to scoop up the sweet and sour sauce that is provided for dipping.
Though wontons are traditionally Chinese, the chili flavor in the sweet and sour sauce added an extra level of depth to an otherwise simple appetizer and helped it seem at home in a Thai restaurant.
As a side note for those allergic to peanuts, this restaurant uses Canola oil instead of peanut oil for frying, so feel free to order any non-peanut dishes without worry. The choices on the menu are numerous and each dish sounds better than the last.
There are salads, curries (extremely popular in central Thailand), soups, noodle dishes, house specialties and more.
Anyone unfamiliar with Thai cooking should feel free to ask their servers at Thai Basil for suggestions; they are both knowledgeable and very friendly. The chili mint chicken was a revelation in itself.
The name of the dish really gives it away, but does not do it justice.
The chicken is ground, dusted with chili powder, mixed with diced mint and jalapeños, and comes plated with a sauce that melds those flavors with a hint of sweetness.
In a land dotted by strip malls, fast food eateries and so many trendy coffee shops you can literally exit one, walk across the street and enter another, finding culinary diamonds in the rough has become increasingly important for everyone.
Thai Basil, on Chapman Avenue and State College Boulevard, is just that type of restaurant, and a recent trip resulted in just that type of wake- up call.
For an appetizer, try the shrimp and chicken wontons. These small packets of minced meat tasting of ginger and mild onion were perfectly crisp without a trace of over-frying. Instead of the watery overstuffed dumplings you might find in wonton soup, these fried wontons had plenty of the crispy pastry wrappers, which may be the best part, to scoop up the sweet and sour sauce that is provided for dipping.
Though wontons are traditionally Chinese, the chili flavor in the sweet and sour sauce added an extra level of depth to an otherwise simple appetizer and helped it seem at home in a Thai restaurant.
As a side note for those allergic to peanuts, this restaurant uses Canola oil instead of peanut oil for frying, so feel free to order any non-peanut dishes without worry. The choices on the menu are numerous and each dish sounds better than the last.
There are salads, curries (extremely popular in central Thailand), soups, noodle dishes, house specialties and more.
Anyone unfamiliar with Thai cooking should feel free to ask their servers at Thai Basil for suggestions; they are both knowledgeable and very friendly. The chili mint chicken was a revelation in itself.
The name of the dish really gives it away, but does not do it justice.
The chicken is ground, dusted with chili powder, mixed with diced mint and jalapeños, and comes plated with a sauce that melds those flavors with a hint of sweetness.
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