From the article:
When I was living in Bangkok, a Thai friend told me she had worked in the kitchen of a Thai restaurant in Austria. I asked her whether it was difficult to cook for farangs, the term Thais use to describe Europeans and Americans.
“It’s easy,” she said. “You pretend you are cooking for children.”
And:
For years, Thai chefs in America pointed out that fresh ingredients were not available; they were forced to buy Thai vegetables frozen or out of a can. That has changed with the intertwining of immigrant groups in California.
Thai chefs today describe an informal partnership with ethnic Hmong refugees from Laos who came to America after the Vietnam War. Many settled as farmers in California’s Central Valley.
I’m pretty sure the super-hot fish curry is the Run Juan Seafood Sizzling [Platter]. Amazing flavor but the stuff is so hot - it comes on a sizzling iron platter in a cloud of sputtering steam - that when we ordered it, the chile fumes went sideways from the A/C and actually drove the next two tables beside us, into tears and coughing fits!
My spouse loved it, but even he took half of it home and ate the leftovers with A LOT of rice, lol.
Last time we were there DTK had the Kha Soi soup as a special. What a delight - no sugar at all! Absolutely wonderful flavors.
