Gastronomique: Battle Thai Part II
A short PSA: yesterday we (aka. SFist Sam) investigated the food of Provence. Since no one has done more for the PR of the Provence area than Peter Mayle -- except maybe for those guys Cezanne and Van Gogh -- we have to mention he will be signing his new book, Confessions of a French Baker, Saturday at noon at the Ferry Building's Sur La Table. The French baker is the one prominently featured in A Year in Provence, of course. Mayle will also be at a ticketed event tonight at the Clay, tomorrow in Danville, and Saturday at 6pm in Sebastopol (cf. info at the very bottom of this post). As it is about food in France, we will review the book, hopefully next week, as we only received it today.
Last week, we started our epic "battle Thai," with a lackluster visit to Osha Thai. We usually give at least two visits to a restaurant, but we were not particularly in the mood to go back there. We instead opted to visit Marnee Thai. We had checked out Thai Chef, a block away from the original Marnee, and at the time really felt we should see how the reference in the neighborhood fares against the new young guns.
We ended up going to the inner sunset location of Marnee Thai, on 9th and Irving. It opened there four or five years ago, and the interior shows the patina of time: a few mirrors on the walls, some Thai artifacts, and, for soothing prosperity probably, a Chinese painting of fat carps. One feels comfortable bringing a family in there, as it is not a very formal or hipper-than-thou atmosphere.
We started with a roasted duck salad, generous on the duck meat, a few wedges of iceberg lettuce, cilantro, green onions, red onions, mint, chili oil and rice vinegar, all tossed together. The chef had a heavy hand on the salt, but it was very edible nonetheless. The duck was still warm and the nice fatty skin kept its light crisp; all the ingredients crunched with freshness.
We continued with the bbq chicken ($8.95). The whole chicken had been marinated in what we would describe as a thai pesto, ie., a garlic and thai basil rub. It then had been nicely caramelized on the outside, chock-full of flavor. The pungent garlic, while satisfying on the spot, kept haunting our breath like a zombie later on. Nonetheless, it was a nice way to prepare the chicken, and a very generous portion, too.
The best dish we had was the hor mok. This was a red snapper filet served in a thai curry mousse on a bed of cabbage and wilted basil. There was so much basil we thought it was spinach at a first glance. The balance between the coconutty and the spicy was exactly right. A dollop of cream on top provided a respite from the full flavors below. We are not exactly sure if this version of hor mok was traditional or fusiony, but it was excellent either way.
Our total for two ended up at $30, without drink, but including jasmine rice ($1 each). Great food and good value; that is enough to win our Battle: Thai in a landslide.
Marnee Thai
1243 9th Avenue @Irving
731-9999
Peter Mayle readings:
Paris Through Expatriate Eyes at Clay Theatre, 2261 Fillmore St. Tonight, 6 p.m.
Friday, November 4 at Rakestraw Books, 409 Railroad Ave., Danville.
Saturday, November 5, noon at Sur La Table, Ferry Building.
Saturday, November 5, 6 p.m., Copperfield's, 138 Main Street, Sebastopol.
Sunday, November 6, 3 p.m., Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera.