Robin and I had a 6:00 p.m. screening at the Silverdocs Festival held at the AFI theater in Silver Spring. We had read good reports of a tiny Thai restaurant across the street (8650 Colesville Road), Kao Thai, so of course we seized on the opportunity after the film was over.
Kao Thai was very busy at 7:45 p.m. on a Friday night. With seating for only twenty-two customers, the place was filled with people from the Discovery Channel, a young family with two small children and filmgoers like ourselves. The servers were efficient; the food kept coming out from the small kitchen; and the tables turned over and over.
Having eaten at most of the Thai restaurants in the metropolitan area, we thought that Kao Thai ranks very near the top. All of our food had fresh and complex tastes, not being overwhelmed by one strong ingredient. Each fork-full asked for another, and Robin even refused to share her main course with me after offering me a small initial taste.
We began with a shared green papaya salad ( Som Tum). Shredded papaya was combined with tomato, green pepper and peanuts in a chili lime juice sauce with a dash of Thai fish sauce and sugar. Buried in the salad were slivers of very hot Thai peppers.
Robin’s main course was Dragon Noodles, Kao Thai’s take-off on the traditional drunken noodle dish. Lo mein noodles were stir fried with string beans, tomato, green pepper in a garlic chili sauce along with several shrimp to make a supremely delicious combination.
My main was Pad Prik Khing, a Thai classic, which I was perfectly willing to share with Robin notwithstanding its incredible layered texture of tastes. I chose chicken as my “meat,” which was combined with string beans, tomato and kaffir lime in a roasted chili sauce.
Since Robin and I have decided to go “on the wagon” for a couple of weeks, we drank only water with our meal, which came to $30. Quite a dinner - can’t wait to go back with some friends.
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