Thai Corner: Really That Good

I may have a new favourite Thai place in town.

Thai Corner sits at the Wurzbach Road end of a strip-mall on Fredericksburg, near the Medical Center, competing with neighbours offering up non-fast-food burgers, savory Indian food, high-end Italian, and the usual uninteresting assortment of fast food. It's an unremarkable place, by all appearances, and not as big as it seemed from the road. But a single lunch there has put it in the running to displace Tong's as my favourite Thai place in San Antonio.

We chose the place as much for its location as for any expectation of quality. We just happened to be there around lunch time. You quickly learn that restaurants in areas like that, and in strip-malls like that, are a complete crap shoot; they rely on volume business rather than any reputation for excellence. Sometimes you get lucky.

The décor is a typical mix of strip-mall veneers and acoustic tiles, the essential Asian wall hangings, and a curious assortment of near-elegant touches. All in all, it looks as though the decorating budget gave out before the aspirations did. Still, it's pleasant enough, in a glass-wall, modular sort of way. Our table rocked slightly, just enough to splash the soup up to the rim of its container, but not over. The chairs were comfortable without being at all special.

Thai Corner offers a prix-fixé lunch special, with, excepting the soup course, more than enough choices to satisfy most palates. A cup of the soup du jour comes with each order, and ours was on the table before we had water, or drinks, or menus, or utensils. It was a thin broth with what looked like chicken shavings in it, a sampling of vegetables, and possibly a noodle. I may have tasted one, though I didn't see it in the cup or on my spoon (when the spoons finally arrived). Still, it was tasty, probably as much from the salt as the chicken. Certainly not something I'd have ordered, had a choice been offered.

There were five appetizers offered: egg roll, spring roll, pot stickers, cucumber salad, and (I forget which) crab Rangoon or fried wonton. I opted for the spring roll, while my unindicted co-conspirator went for the pot stickers. 

The presentation of the spring roll was attractive, it being cut into four pieces served up-ended, each segment topped with a sweet peach sauce. Despite being less than totally fresh, it was delicious, and though the peach sauce was unexpected and initially jarring, I quickly decided that I really liked its flavour. My friend's pot stickers were very hot, small, and modestly stuffed. They were, however, cooked to perfection, retaining their mild chewiness without attaining the sort of unpleasant density found, for example, in those thousand-dish Asian buffets that seem to spring up in every suburban venue. In quantity, both appetizers were sufficient, more amuse bouche than what we fat people have grown accustomed to, ordering appetizers that could serve as a meal. 

The portions of the entrées, however, was more than generous: this is, I'm absolutely sure, the first time that I've ever had to ask for a go-box for a lunch special. 

Most of the entrées on offer -- there are probably two dozen of them -- offer a choice of main ingredient: chicken, beef, tofu, or vegetarian. Duck, shrimp, barbecued pork, and seafood mix are available for an extra charge of two or three dollars. I chose my favourite Thai dish, pad wun sen, so that I could compare Thai Corner with other Thai restaurants on a level playing field; my co-conspirator went for the ginger chicken.

Both, I swear to God, were excellent. My pad wun sen (with chicken -- I wanted to get duck but that would have undermined my reason for choosing the dish in the first place) is, I'm just about sure, the best I've ever had. Well, okay, let's say it is as good as any I've ever had. Probably fattening as hell, but full of chicken and egg and deliciously sautéed veggies all mixed in with a heapin' helpin' of them skinny rice noodles I love so much. The seasoning on it was, to my way of thinking, perfect. I don't know if I'll be able to bring myself to tell my wife there are leftovers available for her lunch; I may have to hide the container.

My friend's ginger chicken was exquisitely done, too. He rated it at four and a half chili peppers, and having tasted it, I'll agree. The ginger flavour was clear without being overpowering; the vegetables were, as in my own dish, sautéed just right. He complained about the white rice being too sticky, but I pointed out that, I'm told, that's the way it's supposed to be in Asian cooking, so you can eat it with chopsticks. Anyway, once the rice had soaked up some of the juices from the chicken, it lost its stickiness. He also noticed that it was made with less salt than he's used to, but I don't consider that a bad thing either.

The one real failing at Thai Corner is the service. We were there a little after 1pm on a weekday; the place was coming down from its lunch rush, and there seemed to be more than enough employees on hand to easily handle the remaining tables. But the service was disorganized and, I suspect, the kitchen was too: we heard several people complaining about the length of time they had been waiting, whether to be served or waited on at all. At least two groups of diners decided to take their orders to go, because they had to be back at work and it had taken so long. 

Our own experience wasn't that extreme, but then, we didn't have to be anywhere. Still, it would have been nice to get utensils and napkins without having to ask, while our soup threatened to grow cold; and it would have been nice to have someone drop by at some point to see if we needed anything after being served; and it would have been nice to have our waitress come within ear shot now and then, instead of having to send the bus boy to get our go-boxes. But all in all, it was just a tad shy of mediocre, a barely acceptable level of service.

That one attribute aside (and, as I say, the service for us wasn't so bad as to be upsetting, like it seemed to be for others), this is the third Thai restaurant I've tried in the Medical Center area, the others being Sarika's and Sampong's. Both of those were pretty run-of-the-mill lunch experiences. Thai Corner was much better overall.

In the end, we both had exceptional meals at very reasonable prices (less than $8 each, including iced tea), and we both have enough left over to provide another light meal tomorrow. Unless somebody forgets to hide the box in the fridge.