Asian Restaurant

 "Asian Restaurant" is really the name of this particular Asian restaurant. Clever huh? I thought so too. It kinda gets right to the point. This particular Asian Restaurant is located at 5306 W Sunset Hwy, and tonight, this was our dining destination.

Maybe it was the location, maybe it was the road construction nearby the place... (but then of course, isn't there construction going on all over this city right now?) Maybe it was the fact that we missed our planned turn and had to back track just a little, or maybe it was just the appearance of the place...but upon arrival I felt like we were pulling up to a truck stop, not an Asian Restaurant, but the sign outside said Asian Restaurant, so I knew we were at the right place.

It was nice and cool inside on that hot summer day and we were welcomed and seated promptly, but two people in fact, to two different tables, but we went with the first offer by the first person to greet us. The inside was simple and pleasant. Portraits of the king and Queen of Thailand were on one wall and stained glass works of art were hung about the place. We later learned that these stain glass pictures were specially made for the owner, some even portraits of himself, cooking and as a monk in his earlier days.

I have to say that it was a great dining experience. We didn't even mind that our plans for eating our favorite "coconut milk soup" were thwarted because Geo tried to order it using foreign words instead of English, and we were brought something completely different. Apparently, in Thai language, one little syllable can mean a lot of difference. (Is Taiwanese is what you call the language?<-- I have since learned it is not... it is simply Thai. Ka Gai... the soup with coconut milk and galanga root. It just wasn't the same, not even remotely similar, if you ask me, but we liked it... a lot.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Chicken Curry as well as our appetizer of miniature spring rolls, which the owner, Sam, was honored to inform us were made by his lovely wife. We also ordered some of the Thai teas. We ordered one regular and one "green Tea" that his wife had just brought back from her recent stay in Thailand.

Between the two flavors we liked the green tea the best. Geo said it reminded him of some Moroccan tea we had tried at another restaurant. I see the similarities, but it was different, and it was very green looking too. It had the kind of flavor that makes you happy when you drink it. Geo said, it made him laugh. It was kinda fun to take sips of the two teas and laugh together.

Sam, the owner of the restaurant was very busy that night, along with his wife because the regular waitress did not show up. Sam was seating people as well as cooking and in between he's talk to everyone.

He was a lot of fun to talk to too. I wondered if he enjoyed talking to people, as he visited and talked with us several times even though his wife was helping to serve food from the kitchen. We learned much about his life and a little about the King of Thailand too, whose photo is displayed in the dining area. Sam told us that the King of Thailand is an American citizen from Boston.

Sam is a great cook and a good talker. I left this place feeling like I had just been personally treated to a very special dinner at the home of a friend or something. Seriously. If I were a golfer, I would look forward to meeting Same on the golf course or something, but I am not a golfer. Instead I will look for him and his family at the beach the next time we go to a kite festival. However, I will probably see him before that, at his Asian Restaurant.




We liked it so much we visited again in March 2010.  This time we took photos.
Here isa part of the menu: 






(Double click on the menu for a larger view)








Our Special Ordered Soup:

Appetizers

s 

This is Thai Ladd Na, (right) and Garlic Pork with Pea Pods, (left.)  The little dish is a sauce for the Ladd Na.

This is part of the restaurant.  

This is dessert;  it is Black Rice and Ice cream.  

The rice is warm and the ice cream is cold and the two things together are great.

The Scoop

The Scoop is an ice cream place and I like that it's smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood. I kinda think that it would be a fun little place to have nearby your house, or to stop at on the way home from school. (There's a school nearby too.) I live on the other side of town, but sometimes I am on the South Hill so I have been past the place a couple of times, but never ordered anything from here until today. Geo and I stopped by the other day and we ordered an espresso shake.

The building where The Scoop is located houses three businesses; a natural foods grocer, a hair salon and this cute little ice cream parlor. Besides ice cream, The Scoop serves breakfast foods and sandwiches. (I read it on their menu.) While we were in line, I noticed some of their dishes that they use to serve food to customers and I must say, they were quite an eclectic assortment, some were even quite unique. This little tidbit seemed to add just a little pizazz to novelty of the Scoop experience and what is an ice cream shop without pizazz anyhow?

One thing that struck me as we waited for our order was a sign on the wall advertising for the brand of ice cream that they use, Brain Freeze Creamery. The sign read, "Brain Freeze Creamery... Our modest approach to ice cream, high fat, high quality and high price. Everything you'd expect from a ridiculously small company." It made me laugh. Honesty... I love honesty.

The ice cream flavor titles they have at the Scoop made me laugh too. I mean, I have heard of MooseTracks, and eaten my share of Cookies and Cream, but I had never heard of "Muddy Cups and Dirty Dishes." They had some kind of Cake flavor too... and even offer free sprinkles...

The free sprinkles add pizazz too. : )

As we left sipping our shake we noticed that the store sign on the sidewalk outside advertised a musician who was going to be coming to play. That would be a lovely touch to enjoying an ice cream cone with some loved ones on a hot summer day. I wouldn't mind sipping my espresso shake to the tunes of a guitar man playing tunes at the local neighborhood ice cream stand.

As we drove out of sight, I imagined that such a scene could be much like one of those contemporary "Norman Rockwell" type of paintings, one that captured "a summer moment" in a day in the life of Spokane." Colorfully clad people were eating ice cream under large shade trees outside a quint little ice cream shop. A dog, some kind of spaniel, was tied to the stop sign, a bowl of water nearby for him to take a drink. Some boys were riding playfully on their skateboards, even into the street, and a couple of girls with cones in hand took an interest in petting the ice cream wishing dog. Meanwhile a couple of old folks drove away smiling, enjoying a milkshake, hoping to return again.

Pic -A- Bu Bistro

Pic -A- Bu, (picabu-bistro.com ) located on the south hill ast 901 W 14th Ave, was a fantastic find, one place we will definitely have to go to again. Geo found it by Google-ing "Thai food" and surprised me with going there. His phone device gives information on restaurants in the proximity to where you are when you ask it to find you one and we weren't far away when he was looking, so we found it. I am glad we did. What a great little restaurant.

We called ahead to see if it was open on Mondays... ooops time for a funny story.... earlier today I was meeting with a friend and two of the three places we tried to meet at were closed Mondays. (We ended up meeting at a grocery store of all places!) Sooooo... this is why Geo called. First and foremost of importance was that they were: A. open; and we also wanted to know, B. if they served coconut milk soup.

The man who answered the phone must have simply heard "soup," for over the phone he said "yes," but when we got there, to our disappointment, they didn't have it. It didn't matter too much because the menu selection was terrific and ultimately, what they did have was simply delicious, and they even had Phad Thai, one of my favs, as well as curry dishes.
Just reading the things on the menu was fun. Everything sounded so good that it was hard to pic, but I finally did.

I had: Simple Salad (Just a nice “side salad” of organic mixed greens, tomato, parmesan, croutons. and blue cheese dressing) & Spicy Chicken Chop Wrap, (Chunks of spicy chicken tossed with black beans, tomato, onions, jicama, peppers, organic mixed greens, cilantro, and blackened ranch wrapped in a grilled flour tortilla.) Geo had Chicken Phad Thai (Rice noodles pan-fried with sprouts, scallions, Small Planet tofu, and your choice of chicken or shrimp, in a spicy-sweet sauce. Garnished with peanuts, cilantro, and lime. )

Are you convinced it was not only fun, but delicious?

In addition to the regular items they also have a Summer Salad Menu, and Kids Menu. This is just one place we will have to visit again and again. Did I mention desserts? For dessert they offer items like Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, Fruit Crisps and Ginger Creme Brulee. We didn't have any dessert, but they all sounded yummy.

Talking to the waitress who served us we learned that the restaurant has been open for about five years. Had to ask about the name too.

"Picabu" means "peek-a-boo." Apparently so named because you can see it "peeking over the hill" as you come up Lincoln St. This place is also a little hidden away, next to the big Rosauers.

I can hardly wait to visit here again.