Thai Street Market...Oh Yes!!!

Niw is new at the restaurant biz...and from what we saw today, we hope he stays in the restaurant business for a long, long time!!!

Thai Street Market, owned by Niw and his family (located in the old Princess Garden space) on Rice and Larpenteur opened January 1.   Let's just say...we are happy, happy.

Lucky for us, Niw's deal on an Anoka spot fell through.  At the same time, the Princess Garden space was available and his family took the leap into St. Paul.  Some people told him he was crazy---this neighborhood has had more than its share of issues in recent years (I used to live in the apartment building right behind the mall--I'm familiar).  But the City Council has already arrived on the scene, with their new revitalization plan for the corner.  Mayor Carter has been in for a visit, too.   And Niw, who just finished a mission in Thailand, sees this as his next mission in life...such a great outlook.

Niw's positive vibes clearly reverberate at Thai Street Market.  The menu is focused (not the pages and pages and pages of endless dishes found elsewhere) with an eye toward a selection of dishes that they can proudly serve.  Soothing music creates the backdrop for a wonderful meal.

Our flavor adventure began with the fresh spring rolls (a surefire cure to the weather outside).  Colorful & beautifully presented, we thoroughly enjoyed the multiple layers of flavor in the peanut sauce.  Excellent.

Decision time.....too many choices - at least 4 that we wanted to try right away.   We decided 2 would do (we really could have had one and been totally satisfied).

Laab salad had minced chicken, red onion, herbs, ginger, served on lettuce.  We selected 'medium' spicing.  We'd recommend that if you don't like spice, stick with mild.  This has quite a bit of hot pepper with some 'bite' from the fresh ginger, but not over the top.  Zingy, crisp, flavor-filled...this is one of those dishes that makes it hard to stop eating it.  

It was a toss-up between the basil stir fry and the massaman curry.   We went for the curry (our server later said that she loves the basil stir fry---something for our next visit)...tofu, attractively 'styled' potato (a very nice detail), tomato, chickpeas, in a tasty curry sauce served with excellent rice.  We went with 'medium' on this, too, but the medium here was quite tame.  Our sincere effort to finish the serving failed, so it's calling us from the refrigerator--along with a new little box of rice that the server provided, and some of the delish laab salad.  It was balanced and well-prepared.

Our annoying sermon on supporting family-owned biz goes for Thai Street Market...in spades.   Here's a great family who came to Minnesota (from Florida via Thailand) because they found the people here to really be 'nice'.   They've taken on a mission to improve the neighborhood where they've started their restaurant and they're holding up their end of the bargain by providing great-tasting food, reasonably priced.  Give them your support.

We say:   Eat at Thai Street Market!!!