Thai One On

Ron and I love to eat out, to try new places with good friends. One couple we love to go out with is Cookie and Jeff. Now that Ron is not around, the three of us have continued to get together occasionally for a night out, always trying something new. I feel lucky to have good friends like them. They always want me to pick the restaurant, but I was having difficulty coming up with something we could all agree on, so Cookie chose one of her favorite Thai restaurants in Vista, Thai One On. Cute name I said to myself. I hope the food is as good as the name. It was.

The restaurant is in a shopping center (what's new) on Melrose Drive, near College. The decor is warm with a very Thai feeling. Lots of umbrellas on the ceiling and walls painted bright colors, lanterns on the wall and a Buddha in the entry. I was comfortable right away. The food was outstanding, and I'm just sorry I couldn't sample more dishes. I will have to go back another time, as they have lots of fish dishes done many different different ways which I would love to try. Here's what I ate (or sampled).

Fresh spring rolls is one of my favorite Asian food items. It's a mixture of fresh veggies and either tofu, chicken or shrimp, rolled in a rice paper, served with a peanut dipping sauce. This is usually served as an appetizer, but I eat it as a meal. Their version was delcious. I loved their peanut sauce. I also had Tom Yum soup, which was a clear broth with mushrooms, tomato, lemon grass, lime lives, kafir and glangal. A little spicy (you can tell them how much spice you want on every dish from 1-10), but I just loved it. Jeff ordered Pad Woon Sen, a wide noodle dish with sprouts, brown sauce, a variety of seafood, and crushed peanuts. It was great. Cookie ordered the honey roasted duck, beautifully presented all sliced up on a plate of lettuce with broccoli florets around the plate. Although that's all I actually tasted, everything else I saw come out of the kitchen looked delicious. I have to go back and try Krabi Town Beach Fish, which is sole, stir fried with lemon grass, red onion, lemon juice, Kaffir lime leaves and cashew nuts. That sounds good to me.

I especially like the fact that you can order the food to suit your palate, from no spice to extra hot. If you lke curry, they offer red, green and yellow curry dishes. The Siam Beef Salad is another dish I will definitely want to try in the future. When we lived in LA there was a hole in the wall Thai restaurant a few blocks from our house where my son Phil and I used to go for lunch. It was the best beef salad I have ever had, and in fact I stopped ordering that dish years ago because nothing ever lived up to the beef salad at this little restaurant years ago. But I have a feeling, from the description of the salad, that this will be one I will like. So, as soon as I get the extra baggage I'm carrying from too much holiday eating off, I will be back to Thai One On.