Since moving to rather small town (in the opinion of this native southern Californian), my choices can be limited with it comes to ethnic food places. In Los Angeles and Orange County there is no shortage of Indian, Armenian, Thai or even Ethiopian restaurants if you’re willing to drive. In small towns it can be limited to maybe one or two places, if they even have any. So my quest here was to find a decent Thai restaurant. There are a handful of them and I’ve tried maybe about half and I must say that Bangkok Thai is by far my favorite, even in comparison to some Thai restaurants in larger metropolises.

Once I find a dish I like, and I mean really, really like, I rarely stray away from it. At times I feel like the appeal of a restaurant will diminish if I try something else and don’t like it. So the one thing I order time and time again is #25, the Nau Ong Bak, which is Thai style beef with sautéed mixed veggies and steamed rice along with a side of egg drop soup. The beef is sliced super thin and I cook very quickly is a hot wok. Although this place doesn’t have an open kitchen, you can see into it while ordering and see how things are getting made.

The two sides I order most often are the Bangkok Roll (left) and the Fried Wontons (right). The Bangkok Roll is filled with ground chicken, potatoes and onions then seasoned with curry spices. The Fried Wontons filled with ground pork and is the most traditional of the two. I really enjoy dipping them in the yellow sauce you see. I’m not quite sure what’s in it but it has a very delicate balance between sweet and sour and may have a apple cider vinegar base to it. Whatever it is, it’s quite delicious and does a great job at complimenting the fried sides.