Tag Archives: Thai restaurant

Thai Heat on a Cold Night

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Temperature-hot and spicy-hot bowls perfect for a frigid winter night

Once upon a not-very-long-time ago, a restaurant called Chy Thai occupied the storefront at 2720 Canyon Boulevard in Boulder. At some point this year, the restaurant became Aloy Thai Cuisine. Not only the address but the phone number is unchanged and the menu is identical or very similar, so I have no idea whether it remained under the same ownership. We never got there under the previous name, but my husband and I were in the mood for Thai food last night. It was cold, and we’ve discovered, as have so many others, that spicy cuisines that cool people off in the tropics warm them up in wintry climes.

The restaurant is simply decorated — walls of different colors with a collection of baskets on one, a piece of palm frond art on another. Few of the tables were occupied, but delivery orders kept moving out the door. The kitchen has to accommodate eat-in and take-out, so food might take longer to be served than the low occupancy would suggest, but when it came out, it was hot. The menu features the standard Thai repertoire, as served in America, and both dishes we ordered filled our tummies, warmed our bones and didn’t do much damage to the wallet.

Tom Yum Noodle Soup gave off an aroma like Campbell’s tomato soup but was laden with thick, spaghetti-like noodles, bean sprouts, green onions and a choice of chicken, beef, pork, tofus shrimp or mixed seafood is a spicy red broth. I selected tofu.

Panang curry, this one with chicken, comes in a thick, vegetable-studded coconut soup. A choice of white or brown rice is served on the side.

Price check: In the evening, appetizers, $2-$7; soups, $8-$13; salad, $8 and $9; stir, fires, curries, noodle dishes and rich-based entrées, $11-$25 (all come in three prices, depending on whether they are ordered with meat/chicken/tofu, shrimp/mixed seafood or fish; desserts, $5.

Urbanspoon has not yet made the transition to Aloy Thai, so here is the Chy Thai info, which as I noted is largely the same:
Chy Thai Cuisine on Urbanspoon

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“Bestes” Thai in Estes

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Small restaurant serves big-flavor Asian dishes at small prices

The Thai Kitchen & Bar boasts that it is the “best Thai restaurant in town.” Since there is only one other, whose specialty is pho, it has a 50 percent chance of ranking itself properly. With ongoing service from the time it unlocks it door until it closes, the Thai Kitchen services continuously, which is great for us, because we usually stop in town after hiking, snowshoeing or skiing. The to-go menu and the website have slightly different hours, but they are essentially from late morning to well into the evening. Only two tables were occupied when we arrived in mid-afternoon, then several other parties came in, ate quickly and departed. When we left, there were again just two other tables occupied.

Located in a simple, low-slung building off the Elkhorn Avenue main drag through Estes Park, the Thai Kitchen serves a range of appetizers, soups, Thai curries, stir-fries, noodle dishes and rice — mostly from Southeast Asia but also with powerful influences from China and India, like Southeast Asia itself  — plus some Nepali and Tibetan dishes for good measure. Many of the same  ingredients appear in different dishes, assembled with mix-and-match inventiveness.

Within Thai Kitchen's simple building is a simple dining room, adorned with some Asian art, Buddhist symbols and Himalayan panoramas.

Steamed dumplings, called different things in different countries. Similar -- not identical, but similar.

"Chat samosa", crisp dumplings to begin with, lose some of their crispness when smothered in a spicy mix of onions, tomatoes, yogurt, mint and tamarind sauce.

Satay is made with long, even strips of chicken on skewers with a piquant chili sauce and a particularly chunky peanut sauce.

Huge bowl of a fully loaded seafood soup called 'tom tom talay,' flavoered wtih galangal, lime leaves and lemongrass.

The broad-noodle-based dish called 'Kee-Mao Bah Mee" is a stir-fry of vegetables and a protein of choice with a "special sauce" livened to desired spiciness with chili sauce.

Tikka masala asvailable with chikcen, pork, beef or tofu (same price) with a green basil floating island.

Price check: Appetizers, $3.50-$3.95; soups, $4.95-$7.95; entrées, most $7.95-$10.95 at lunch, $.9.95-$12.95 at dinner; other South Asian specialties $8.95-$12.95 at all times; desserts, $3-$3.95.
Thai Kitchen on Urbanspoon

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NaRaYa Combines Thai & Japanese Dishes

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New name for former Siamese Plate location that still serves Thai and Japanese food

 The Siamese Plate on Folsom Avenue was the first Thai restaurant that I ever visited in Boulder. For years, it was line-out-the-door popular. With cross-fertilization between it and the sushi restaurant downstairs, guests could order sushi upstairs and pad thai downstairs. It was, for a time, so successful that it spawned the Siamese Plate On The  Go that at one point had locations in North Boulder and also Louisville. I don’t know who owned these businesses or what happened to them, but they are all gone.

NaRaYa Thai & Sushi opened late last year in the former Siamese Plate space. The sunken tables are gone, the sink-into couch seating is gone and a sushi bar is in place in back, but Thai is the dominant gene. NaRaYa continues the tradition of offering both Thai and Japanese dishes. The name “Naraya” is well suited for the present incarnation, because it is is the name of both a Thai deity and a Japanese prefecture.  The old sushi space below seems dark, which IMO is no loss since their sushi was mediocre. 

Chicken satay with peanut sauce on the side, found in every Thai restaurant in the West.

Thai basil stir fry of vegetables and tofu.

Chicken curry encircled with steamed broccoli flowerettes.

My husband and I ordered only from the Thai menu, but we saw other diners creating mix-and-match meals from both cuisines. Although I wasn’t knocked out by the food, it was tasty, the service was pleasant and out window table conjured up pleasant memories of my early years in Boulder, when the Siamese Plate ruled. I’m very glad that NaRaYa is in business, and I was happy to see a decent number of diners. The owners, Ratiya Edfors, originally from Chiangmai in northern Thailand, and Pranom Kiatreungwattana, originally from Nonthaburi not for from the Golf of Thailand, both came to the United States as graduate students. Now, these two women are partners in this pleasant Boulder restaurant — Edfors as execuctive chef and “PK”  in charge of the business end.

Price check: On the Thai menu at dinner, appetizers, $4.95-$6.75 (plus $11.75 for a combo platter); soups, $6.55-$8.25; salads, $6.55-$8.75; $9.25-$12.50.

NaRaYa on Urbanspoon

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