I've always figured that anybody could find something they like in the 800 block of North Charles Street, whether it's good Chinese, good Afghan or a good martini.
After a recent visit to Thairish, I would add very good Thai food to that list as well. The oddly named eatery sits in a tiny 500-square-foot space and offers seating for 18 people. In a nice touch, a fresh flower sat in a vase on each of the three tables. Thai prints and maps decorate the walls.
Thai native Kerrigan Kitikul opened the restaurant more than a decade ago and still does the cooking. His menu is refreshingly simple, emphasizing curries and hot chili sauce, and he had my order whipped up in a remarkably speedy 10 minutes.
The main dishes were excellent; the side dishes were less successful. The masaman curry with chicken ($6.95) had tender pieces of white-meat chicken over rice, in a medium-hot curry sauce, with lightly cooked broccoli. Panang curry ($6.95) was downright hot -- but delicious: a thick red sauce over rice, this time with shrimp, which were cooked to a perfect tenderness.
But our favorite was the pad Thai ($5.95) -- an excellent pan-fried concoction of rice noodles, green onions, bean sprouts, peanuts and eggs in a not-too-spicy sauce. After years of struggling to finish orders of gloppy pad Thai heavily seasoned with peanut sauce, I find Thairish's version to be a revelation.
Less exciting was the lemon-grass soup ($2.25), which lacked a sharp lemon taste, but did feature another one of those tender shrimps. A vegetable spring roll ($1.50) was filled with shredded carrots and rice noodles, but lacked seasoning.
The only dessert was coconut custard -- which was not too sweet, but was a bit pasty.
Parking is on-street, which can be hard to find in Mount Vernon. But on my visit, my karma must have been good, as it took exactly 40 minutes to make it downtown, get back to my North Baltimore kitchen and dig into some red-hot curry.
Thairish
Food: * * *
Service: * * *
Waiting area: * * *
Parking: * *
Where: 804 N. Charles St., Mount Vernon
Phone: 410-752-5857
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday through Sunday
Prices: Thai vegetarian entrees, $5.95; meat entrees, $6.95; appetizers, $1.50 to $2.75; credit cards accepted
Outstanding: * * * *; Good: * * *; Fair or uneven: * *; Poor: *
