Gastronomique: Battle Thai Part I
There are two categories of Thai restaurants, nowadays: the lounge-y kind, with black clad petite waiters and waitresses, ambient music with a techno beat, sleek furniture. The traditional kind, also known as kitschy, with wooden sculptures, convoluted gilded frames hanging on the walls, and waiters outfitted in bright pink or electric blue silks. In the first category, one could find the Castro Thai Chef, the Mission Baku. In the latter, Surya, Thep Phanom, or Manora. Such a chiasm, such a generational disrepancy calls for SFist's Food Face-Off #5: Battle Thai.
In the lounge category: Osha Thai Noodle, a two year old place in the Mission, which we'll talk about today; in the classic category: you'll have to wait until next week. Osha has two other outposts, downtown and in SOMA.
We went first to Osha, a place we really wanted to like, as we had tried to eat there the night our kid was born. We ended up skipping dinner, and haven't been back in almost two years. It has not changed much, decor and vibe-wise. The same ever-changing lightings effects, the same see-through curtains all around the room, the same walls painted in large pastel stains representing a tropical folliage. On our weekend visit, the place was very loud and super busy, mostly a young urban professional crowd, a lot of large parties sharing food, and otherwise couples, gay and straight, on dates. We really liked the energy of the place.
The menu has a sense of humor: on their wine list, they have an Austrian 2003 Schwarzenegger Gröper Belttightener, that is not available because it has sold out. We quote: This is an only-in-California varietal. From imported Austrian rootstock this muscular, rich, somewhat conservative Gröper made a surprise entry into the domestic market with substantial funding. We’ll be curious to see how this controversial “Austrian Oak” grabs you. Snarky! They had also sold out of the Hush gewurtzaminer we wanted, and of the Indian shiraz that tempted our curiosity.
We don't mind being entertained, but food and service-wise, we found the place a bit sloppy. It was not bad, but not up to snuff. The appetizers we shared were quite okay: a thai samosa ($7) which was filled with an onion/potato/pumpkin/spice puree; a lamb satay ($9) that had four skewers with a marinated lamb nicely charred and a peanut sauce that was rather smooth and creamy (as opposed to the peanut-butterish chunky kind). Then a soft-shell crab and green apple salad ($13) sounded like a good idea, but the soft-shell crab was cold. It was not soggy or anything, but it was surprising that it had kept some crispness. The apple worked nicely with the red and green onions, cilantro leaves, and sansho leaves.
From there, it was a bit downhill: the honey roasted duck ($14) could have been excellent, but it was plated on a cold dish, and maybe was not brought as soon as prepared, so it was barely lukewarm. The pumpkin curry was served with shrimp while we had ordered pork (the place is loud, the waiter heard "prawn"). The pumpkin in the curry was undercooked, and the sauce was overwhelmingly sweet. There were only a few basil leaves (also: bamboo shoots, red pepper strips, grated carrot fries), not enough to counter the cloying sugary flavor. Overall, too much sweetness marred almost all the dishes we tried; we are responsible for the poor selection to some extent, but it seems as if the kitchen is really trying hard to accomodate the Americanized palate of its clientele.
The brown rice ($2.50; coconut rice, jasmine rice are the other choices) that we ordered for the curry came much much later, after we had decided to pack the leftovers and go so we could microwave the duck and make some rice ourselves the day after. Just after we conveyed that decision to the waiter, we were brought some kind of sauce for the duck. We did not know we were missing it, most of the bird was gone already, and it was a rather awkward moment.
Our total for two was $71, for the food and a single $7 glass of wine, which we found rather spendy for Thai food. We did not yet know that we could get a 15% coupon off the Web site (not valid on weekends). A caveat: we visited Osha only once.
Osha Thai Restaurant
819 Valencia St. SF, CA 94110
Phone: 415.826.7738
Fax: 415.826.9583
Open from 11 am to midnight daily.