This Weekend in Food

Twist was still kicking on Friday night, even though it was sickeningly cold out and in spite of the bad news about Pigall's. We had a few rounds of petite bites with a few rounds of drinks. The short and sweet version: the mango drink is delicious and so is the croque monsieur.

Saturday night I tried Thai Cafe on Ludlow for the first time. Don't confuse it with the Delight Thai Cafe in Montgomery, which appears to be closed forever and ever. The Thai Cafe in Clifton is an Asian restaurant dressed up in art-deco duds. I had the Pad Thai with tofu, which is sort of like getting ice cream. Even when it's mediocre, run-of-the-mill ice cream, it's still fantastic. The noodles were cooked just right, but it was all a bit greasier than I would have liked. The Thai Cafe was a cut above mediocre, and I'd recommend it to someone in the neighborhood for a movie or some shopping.

A source that I trust tells me that Ruthai's in Mount Lookout serves up the best Thai food in the city. Agree? Disagree? I haven't tried it myself, but it's on my hit list.

My Compliments to the Chef

So you’re at Twist on a Saturday night. You order a vanilla cocktail, and it arrives with a rim of cinnamon and actual vanilla bean pieces floating on top. You take a sip and think “Wow, that’s strong!” It’s delicious too, and as you sit enjoying your drink you glance over to the bar and see Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel himself chatting with a member of the wait staff. Do you:

Mind your own business and finish your extraordinarily potent cocktail

-or-

Set down your drink, march across the room, intrude on his conversation and introduce yourself?

Choose wisely, friends.

You shake his hand, say a few words about how much you enjoy his restaurants, and find yourself thinking, “What the hell am I doing?” And then, and this part is key, your mind grapples for some relevant question to ask and you hear yourself asking him if his restaurant group is splitting up.

“Oh, you know, I can’t really talk about that.” He politely sidesteps the question in his thick accent.

Now you are sure that you’ve run out of things to say. You babble something again about how wonderful his food is and scurry back to the comfort of your overstuffed chair and a really, really good drink.