Siamese Basil Thai - Norcross - Atlanta Georgia

You can find Siamese Basil Thai at 6034 S Norcross Tucker Rd, Norcross, GA 30093 - this is on the eastern side of Norcross Tucker Rd as it spans between Pleasantdale Rd and Jimmy Carter Blvd. It lies on the northern end of a small shopping center - there's parking out front and to the side but know that it can be a bit limited. I'm not sure how this became part of Norcross - it must be on the very edge of the city boundary.

This is one of two Thai restaurants in the area that is quite well known, having occupied this location for many years - the other is Thai Restaurant of Norcross across the street and further south about a block, which I've heard is one of the oldest Thai restaurants in Atlanta. We usually eat at Thai Restaurant of Norcross (regulars, eating there since the late 90's) but decided to change things up a bit as it has been many, many years since we hit Siamese Basil Thai. This neighborhood is a bit sketch at night, with many pedestrians (some of them quite buzzed) wandering around and crossing the streets in dark clothing - think Buford Highway from 20 years ago in towards Northeast Plaza. There are many small shops and restaurants feeding into many nearby apartment buildings - it's that type of vibe. It's also only a few miles from my neighborhood so I've explored these areas a bit.

The interior of Siamese Basil is a mix of attempted elegance and restaurant function - maybe a bit dated in today's trendy industrial restaurant modern notion. There are chest high walls crenelated to provide views to booths and tables on a checkerboard-tiled floor. Menus are multiple pages with some attempt at color photography for a few representative dishes. Prices range from $4 apps to $15 signature dishes with most in the $10-11 range for your basics.

 Since I had been a while we started with shrimp basil rolls with a classic peanut sauce - I thought these were good and a bit unusual to see in a Thai restaurant, being more of a Vietnamese dish. We went from there to a spicy basil chicken, a veg fried rice and a chicken pad thai. I thought all were good and slightly different compared to Thai Restaurant of Norcross - I'd certainly come here again if that option was limited.

Service was very good with the guy at the front very personable as was the attending server. I've since eaten here for lunch with a separate menu that was quite reasonable and included Sushi and Japanese Bento.

(also posted to Yelp)

Thai Tom Kha Gai - Chicken Coconut Soup

One of my neighbors posted in our local network group that she had some leftover goodies from making Thai food, specifically Fresh Thai chiles, Galangal, Lemongrass and Kaffir leaves. I raised my hand and received them from her and then did a little shopping to buy what I needed - luckily I was only missing a few dollars worth of ingredients to make Tom Kha Gai soup. If  you haven't had this soup, it's a delicious, slightly spicy coconut soup that usually has mushrooms and chicken. It's nice because of the contrasts of the citrus (lime, lemongrass and kaffir (lime) leaves) to the fat in the coconut milk to the heat. The acids in the citrus immediately get your mouth watering and the soup is very satisfying, perhaps more in winter but I like it year round.

Ingredients

The recipe I have I garnered a few years ago online - unfortunately I didn't add a link so I'm not sure who to attribute it to - I found it while thinking about a similar soup we made at my last cooking job at Indigo Coastal Grill (as I recall we offered a Thai inspired seafood stew that used something similar to this recipe only with seafood instead of chicken - we did take some shortcuts like using sambal paste instead of chiles but I think this recipe is more authentic). I've made some adjustments to the original recipe but the basics are there - for authenticity you should search for and find: either dried thai chiles or or fresh red thai chiles; galangal (Thai ginger), kaffir lime leaves, coconut sugar (trust me on this) and some good fish sauce (I have and use Three Crabs as my preferred brand - it's cheap and very flavorful). You can substitute much of these ingredients with something more local but every substitution will take you further from the authentic flavors. Everything on this list can be found at our local farmers markets (Buford Highway Farmers Market has everything but Your Dekalb Farmers Market has most of the items)

Clockwise: kaffir leaves, lemongrass, sliced galangal, red Thai chillies minced, button mushrooms, lime juice

Left-to-Right: fish sauce, coconut oil, 2 cans coconut milk, coconut sugar (chicken stock in back)

Thai Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Soup)

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 tablespoon organic coconut oil
• 1/8 teaspoon Thai dried chiles, finely ground or 3 fresh red thai chiles finely chopped) - add more of the fresh if you like the heat but a little goes a long way
• 1 cup organic low sodium chicken stock
• 2 cans full fat coconut milk
• 2 inch piece of Galangal (Thai Ginger, you can use regular ginger but this is more accurate in flavor), skin on and thinly sliced
• 2 stalks lemon grass, sliced diagonally into 3-4 pieces and slightly bruised/flattened with butt of a knife (just the white part)
• 8 fresh kaffir lime leaves
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 chicken breasts, very thinly sliced (think about what will fit in your soup spoons)
• 1.5 cup white button mushrooms, sliced (or a can of straw mushrooms)
• 2 fresh limes, juice only
• 1/2 tablespoon coconut sugar (honey will work too, but coconut sugar will taste the most authentic)
• fresh cilantro and scallions for serving (garnish)

Instructions

1. Melt the coconut oil in a soup or stock pot over medium-high heat or in a wok, then add the ground/chopped chiles and stir for 1-2 minutes until you can smell the chiles.
2. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to boil. Add the chicken stock, galangal, lemon grass, kaffir leaves, fish sauce, and chicken and simmer for 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through (why you slice them thin).
3. Add the mushrooms, lime juice, and coconut sugar and simmer for another 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender but not mushy.
4. Serve into four bowls with fresh cilantro and scallions sprinkled on top as a garnish.

Notes

As I've already noted, the roots and herbs used add a lot to this dish - I'm pretty heavy handed in their use - the bad thing is that most are inedible so you have to fish around them in the bowl. Some people do a fine julienne so they can be eaten but I don't believe that's typical in Thailand. I also add more lime than I think most people are used to but I do love lime. I'll sometimes add extra chiles if I want it hotter (for instance, during winter months).

Juice of two limes

You want to have everything ready to go before you start cooking (in French cuisine it's called "mise en place" - to put in place or everything in it's place). This is a fast dish that's mostly assembly instead of something you cook over a length of time - this contributes to the freshness of the soup. You will also want to stand over this dish and not walk away as it's easy to overcook things or allow the coconut milk to boil over.

For the coconut sugar - it comes in a cylinder-shaped cake. Carefully open the tied end under the outer rapper an push some of the sugar out of the bag on your cutting board. Carefully shave off enough for the recipe with your chef knife.

Shaved coconut sugar

You should end up with something that looks similar to this.

 Bowl of Homemade Tom Kha Gai

Let me know if you have any comments or questions.

-- John

Penang Malaysian and Thai - Chamblee Atlanta Georgia

You can find Penang at 4897 Buford Hwy Ste 113, Chamblee, GA 30341 in the shopping center just south of the crux of Buford Highway and Chamblee Tucker Rd, Southeastern quadrant. This shopping center is anchored by the venerable Hoa Binh Supermarket - Penang is on the end close to the market. The shopping center also contains a handful of restaurants worth trying, including Pho Bac, Harmony Vegetarian Chinese and J's Mini Hot Pot. There's a lot of available parking, but these restaurants (and the market) do get quite busy so you may have to park around the corner.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Penang. This is one of the first Malaysian/Thai restaurants that I discovered in Atlanta - it's been around for a very long time. I first tried the food here while still in the restaurant business - we used to make periodic stops at Hoa Binh as it was the first Asian market close to the restaurant in town and one of the only places around where you could find authentic ingredients for (at the time) little known Asian dishes - stuff like fresh lemongrass, jars of sambal and shrimp paste come to mind. The food here is of good quality and to my tastes fairly authentic. The problem I've had here in the past is with the service. I've sat forever waiting for someone to take my order, experienced long wait times for food and once had to hunt someone down to fill our water glasses. I had eaten here many times and basically called it quits as there are many more options available now with better service.

On this occasion my regular Buford Highway Restaurant Crawl group had Penang as the location - this was on a Wednesday night at 8:00 PM. So I decided to give Penang another try as it had been several years. The restaurant only had a handful of tables so we were immediately seated. I'm happy to report that things seemed to have changed in regards to service as it was quite good. Our orders were taken quickly and our server quite attentive. But how about the food?

There were only three of of on this night so we ordered three entrees and an appetizer. Instead of getting the classic Roti Canai we opted for the Shrimp Puff - this is minced shrimp in puff pastry wrapped with bacon - tasty but slightly greasy. Someone ordered a very competent Chicken Pad Thai which was good but slighty sweet. Another dish we ordered was a Beef Rendang - I thought it a bit heavy on the cinnamon and cloves and slightly greasy but otherwise good - I think the others liked it quite a bit. I ordered a vegetable curry that I thought quite good - spicy and very savory (it was my favorite dish).

So in all we had a very good time with good service and I look forward to coming to Penang again - next time I'll focus more on the traditional Malaysian dishes as they looked quite unusual and very tasty - especially the seafood options.

(also posted to Yelp)
 

Red Snapper Seafood Restaurant - Cheshire Bridge

You can find the Red Snapper Seafood Restaurant at 2100 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30324 - this is a two-story brick building that looks like it would house some insurance or realty company and not a restaurant. Parking is a bit weird and constrained - the lot in front of the entry gets filled up quickly - there's some additional spaces in the back but I'm not sure if they're supposed to be used or not - it may be a weekend thing (meaning if you take up all the spaces during regular business hours you may be at risk).

I've visited this restaurant many, many years ago - it's unclear to me if it had the same owner. I've always made fun of the name due to the unsavory location along Cheshire Bridge Rd, better known for strip clubs than restaurants - "Red Snapper" seemed to fit a different context, no? In any case, I don't have much of a memory of my previous visit. What got me thinking about this place again was  Jim Stacy's Get Delicious program where he featured the restaurant. I basically liked everything I heard - from Jim's dad extolling the fried shrimp on the traditional fried seafood platter to the interview of owners Jimmy and Somporn Veeranarong, Thai ex-pats that have brought a unique approach to seafood and Cajun cooking. After that I've been eager to try the ginger snapper, gumbo and fried shrimp and Red Snapper did not disappoint!

The exterior as mentioned in red brick with a wrought-iron railing, "The Red Snapper" in neon and a dark red awning with the address "2100" in white. It's a bit reminiscent of some of the restaurants you see in the NOLA Quarter. The interior has an cozy traditional bar (the only part of the restaurant that was familiar to me) and a dark dining room with traditional finishes, cloth napkins and tablecloths - it's not at all what you would expect. I started things off with a Moscow Mule, served in an appropriate metal cup. The menu has seafood, steak and chicken with combinations along with the traditional mix. I opted for the gumbo which I thought quite good if not exactly traditional - this is a peppery gumbo which I loved - don't expect the traditional sassafras earthiness you'd find in Louisiana.

We ordered various fried items - all were quite good. The batter here is more like a beer batter with the expansive breading found in tempura cooking - much lighter than you might expect. My Ginger Snapper was just delicious - everything from the tartness of the fish to the perfectly cooked sauteed shrimp makes this one of my favorite seafood dishes in Atlanta. In all we had a great time and everyone got their fill. I think this place is very solid with a few standouts - well worth trying.

-- John

(also posted to Yelp)