At some point Thai became the new Mexican and you couldn't swing a dead cat without upending a hot pot of Tom Kha Kai, but Thai-Riffic was the first (and for many years the sole) local option.
The wife got a wild hair for Thai on a recent Fuss free night out and neither of us felt like navigating the downtown 'scene' to hit our usual haunt, Thai Palace. Thai-Riffic was one of mom's favorites back in the day, but it'd been at least 20 years since my last visit. I should've been more appreciative of her efforts to expand my youthful culinary horizons, one of her few constructive impulses, but my interest in anything more challenging than pizza or burgers bloomed late.
I was immediately alienated by the startlingly bright lighting.
There were fixtures, but these did nothing to cut the glare from the array of clear incandescent bulbs. The resulting ambiance was redolent of Police Interrogation Room with an undercurrent of Hospital Operating Theater. The pleasantly throwback wood paneling fought valiantly but succumbed to the overwhelming wattage, as witness this diner photo from their Yelp page:
Not the vibe you'd expect any competent restaurantuer to embrace, and one easily corrected by installing a dimmer switch and investing in some frosted glass bulbs. Cutting the light pollution in half would make the dining room a thousand times more inviting.
I'll admit being more sensitive about this stuff than most, but there's really no excuse for a sit down restaurant to have worse lighting than your typical Carl's Jr. Hunger alone prevented me from recoiling back out into the the cool, dark evening.
Settling into our booth we ordered a hot pot of soup (the lemongrass/coconut milk/mushroom one, I never remember the name), fried rice with tofu, ginger beef ribs and Thai iced tea.
The soup and fried rice triggered another of my pet dining peeves, featuring GIANT CHUNKS of vegetables. The slabs of mushroom in the soup were too big for the spoons and the fried rice was more like sauteed vegetables with some rice added for bulk. Both tasted fine, and happily everything was cooked through (too often large chunks = underdone), but it's still lazy prepping and poor presentation.
The evening was very nearly redeemed by the spectacular ginger beef ribs. They had bone deep smoky flavor, chewy and totally satisfying. Devra was very lucky one survived to ride home with her leftovers.
Overall, not a success. The soup and rice were good, the ribs were excellent, but the prison yard lighting was inexcusable. Thai Palace retains its crown as 'our place' for Thai.
Although I'll definitely be back for those ribs, and it won't be another 20 years.
Take out, of course.
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