Thai Bistro & Sushi 
5999 De Zavala Road

just west of I-10

I've found delicious Thai food in just about every part of town, and that now includes the northwestern sprawl of the I-10 corridor.

This place takes up a double in a strip center 4 blocks west of the freeway, and it's obviously no secret. Not many restaurants, in a district so rife with restaurants, can entice people with little time for lunch to wait for tables, but this one manages it.

The décor is nothing special, but it's kept clean and comfortable. The staff is pleasant, service is prompt, and the kitchen manages to keep the crowd turning over (so those waiting by the front door don't have to wait too long). Prices are good.

Orders from the lunch menu are accompanied by hot and sour soup; I ordered the green curry, with chicken, and also ordered summer rolls; my tablemate got sweet and sour pork, which I sampled.

what's that mean?

The soup was tasty, but hardly special; it lacked subtlety and heat, both physical and chemical. It was easily the low point of the meal -- a fairly high low point. Next came two of the biggest summer rolls I've ever seen, stuffed full of good things and plainly meant to be shared. (They were not shared, but only because my friend didn't want any. She's not really the veggie-loving sort of diner.) The sauce served with the rolls was loaded with crushed peanuts, which is generally considered a good thing (though not by me: I find peanuts have a strong flavour that easily masks the more interesting subtleties of a good sauce.)

Then came the green curry, creamy and hot in a large bowl loaded with assorted vegetables, some crisp, some soft; and lots of thin pieces of chicken breast, way more than I would have expected; accompanied by a large scoop of rice. I had ordered it medium-spicy and it still made my eyes water, even though I am (or was, in my youth, at least) fairly tolerant of spicy-hot foods. And I don't think I would have it any other way. The heat, the textures, the flavours: the combination is wonderful complex, all in all one of the best curries I've ever tried.

I sampled my friend's sweet and sour pork and found that it, too, had an admirable texture and nice flavours in combination. If your tastes run to fried foods (and whose doesn't?) it's a dish worth trying.