Food Memories

I'll finish up the Restaurant Week 2008 series one of these days. There is something more important to report today.

Krua Thailand has changed owners. I've heard some information from a reputable source about why the switch occurred but don't feel quite right about posting it.

At any rate, I'm even more sad to report that the restaurant has suffered considerably. Half of the menu is gone. The "Special Menu" is completely nonexistent now. Upon realizing that I was no longer going to be able to have the sausage that I once loved as a starter, I just went with spring rolls. The spring rolls came out on a plate that looked like it had been covered with chopped supermarket bag salad. This was not an attractive presentation in the least and even more irritating when these bits of lettuce were sticking to the outside of the rolls.

This brings me to the service. Staff have completely changed over and the servers are completely inept. Granted, they are young, but if you're going to have children be on the front line of the restaurant they should be trained.

For my entree, I decided to go with the Pad Thai. It's not anywhere near as good as it used to be, in fact I've made better Pad Thai at home from scratch.

I spent the rest of my day moping around, saddened by the loss of what was once my favorite restaurant. Many won't understand how I feel, but food is attached to many good memories for me. Krua was a place I took family and friends and never had an unpleasant experience at. For me, there was no better way to start a weekend than with a small group of friends at Krua with too many bottles of wine.

As long as I'm feeling nostalgic, here are some of my other favorite food memories:

Elk and Grahams 10 (not together, of course) remind me of Cue. I've
only been there once, and it was when Lenny Russo was running the place.
The whole meal seemed like a dream it was so perfect.

Any time I drink Monmousseau Vouvray I remember Vincent. Vincent is a
place I'd like to go to more often, and was the first place I experienced
Vouvray, which is now one of my favorite table whites.

Good Mexican food (which is ridiculously hard to find around
here), always reminds me of California. I used to spend a week or
so in the Coachella Valley every winter.

St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc reminds me of sushi dates and parties at
Nami.

Finally, everywhere serves some sort of seared Ahi dish now, but my
favorite is the Black and Bleu at the Dock Cafe in Stillwater. It has been
and will be my standard.

The thing is, all of these places can still be experienced. There is nothing in my price range that will match the food, service, personality, and personalization that Krua offered.