I tried a Thai place last night in Pacific Rim Plaza (the one across the street from SF market). A thai coworker of smillers who is very picky had recommended a place there. There are two, though, and I guessed the wrong one. So I have to go back, but the one we ate at (I think it was called TQ noodle thai? can anyone remember who was there?) was good. There were all Thai families eating there and we got everything medium spicy but it was quite hot! The pork larb was good, but I've had better at Vientianne (which I have to judge everything against) and the red tofu curry was tasty and not too thick with coconut and the fried fish was just ok (I thought we were getting a whole one but it was chunks). The people who run it are very nice.
Then I went over to SF market again and tried to buy a fresh durian (which the most stoned thai teenagers in the world in the line behind me were trying to warn me against) and I had to put it back because it was 32 bucks! When I was there the other day the lady told me five dollars but she meant five dollars a pound. Oops. They also have frozen black silky chickens there. I want to make one. Read about them here.
12 comments:
What's up with Vientianne? There is a fence around it and the parking lot next door.
gbomb
It's moving but I have my doubts about how it will end up. Someone (I think Heather?) from midtown monthly talked to them and they said they were moving I think close to the Nugget, maybe? But they were all iffy about when they'd reopen. I'm worried.
I tried one of those blue-black chickens a while ago and I really couldn't hang with it. It was just too psychologically challenging, but at the time I didn't know anything about them or what to do with them, I just sorta bought it at random and went for it. Maybe if I tried it again with some guidance from someone in the know I could take it. I seemed to remember there was something almost medicinal about it, oh and the color just kinda freaked me out too, I guess. But then, I couldn't hang with durian either. Now I want to try that again too. I saw Bourdain suck it down like it was nothing, so I figure I could try it again. But then again, I've also seen him eat warthog ass, so...
JD
I don't like the part of West Sac by the Nugget. It's too clean, unless you keep going south and end up in the creepy backwater sloughs.
gbomb
looks like you're supposed to slow cook it, so maybe that would be better. and maybe if you eat it in a dark room
I'm pretty sure I saw the black chickens fresh at vinh phat last time I was there. I could be full of shit though. A place in Providence sold them live (they killed and cleaned it for you after you marked it for death), but all I ever got there was a guinea hen and a pigeon. Do you know if there are any live poultry places in Sac? It seems like there must be. With the durian, maybe start out by just buying a frozen lobe. It's a lot cheaper, and I've heard the freezing doesn't hurt it much.
Ben
I thought when you wrote $5 for a durian you made a mistake. Dang, I should've got one of those for the Peep Off.
2,000 Peeps = 1 durian
There's a weird durian candy. Some parts taste great and some parts you just want to spit out. All in the same piece.
Maybe I'll give Bill and Karen a durian for their wedding.
I saw the frozen durians but I wasn't sure if the quality was OK, plus I was totally holding up the line. That's a good question about the live poultry market, I don't know. Does anyone know where I can get merguez in Sac? Does Morants make it? I know ADK said that Taylors was going to start carrying it frozen, but I don't think they have it yet.
Those durians don't come cheap. When you do decide to throw down the dough and buy one, you need to let it sit around your house, stinking up the place until it splits open a little, naturally, that is when they are ripe. Then you cut it open and disect the lobes. I was shocked when you said $5 for a durian, because here they are so expensive, I'm glad to know the Californians of the south are not being ripped off anymore than you guys are.
Ella
Ben writes:
Do you know if there are any live poultry places in Sac? It seems like there must be.
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If you're willing to make a 45 minute drive to Stockton there's a great live poultry market at the corner of San Joaquin and Lafayette.
I used to walk by there on my way to the library when I was in gradeschool to stop and marvel at all the chickens hanging by their feet on the Conveyor Belt of Death. It was a neat sight. You can buy freshly kilt whole chickens, chicken feet, chicken gizzards + livers and chicken ovaries.
President,
Sacramento Appreciation Society of Sacramento
$5 bucks a pound for a durian? Hahahah...they give you Round-Eye price sucka. It's throw away fruit in Asia, they don't even let you bring on into hotels in Thailand and I recall seeing signs stating you can't carry 'em on buses either.
Anyway, they stink like a turd that's been stored in a prostitutes hoochie but taste like ambrosia. Make ice-cream out of it.
I don't know if you can pick them out live or not, but the cheapest and freshest place to buy whole chickens when I lived in Sac was the Sacramento Poultry Company (at least I think that is what it's called) that is on Broadway, across from the cemetary, near the projects. They were still dangling upside down on the conveyor belt of death and in the mornings there used to be a line of old ladies waiting to buy them.
Ella
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