Bad News on the InTown Thai Front

Hello again, dear reader--

It's been far too long, I know. And sadly, I come to you today with really poor news.

The Tenth Thai Restaurant (formerly Sbydee)

• Food: 1.0
• Service: 2.5
• Ambiance: 4.0

I hadn't even reviewed Sbydee yet. It was an adorable Thai place on 10th street, and I had the fullest of intention to do so. I've taken extended members of my family there, and it was always a really wonderful experience. I wanted to share this lovely little place with you...I guess it was simply too beautiful.

I went last week with some friends, and there my troubles began.

We found the name changed (now it's "The Tenth" Thai Restaurant and Lounge). The exterior of the building has been painted with truly hideous murals of palm trees.
The owner claims the menu hasn't changed, but they got rid of the vegetable entree section. And the menu is definitely less informative than it was before...but it has got some classy lamination on it and there are lots of WaHo-style pictures now.

My fair gentleman and I tried to order the same two dishes that we regularly order: The spicy basil noodle (Pad Kee Mow) and the Green Curry. We asked for both of these dishes with no fish sauce, no oyster sauce, no shrimp paste, and no animal products whatsoever.

Of course the noodle dish came filled with egg. Now, in the interest of fullest honesty, I didn't say "no egg." However, the menu said other noodle dishes had egg, while crucially omitting that ingredient from the Pad Kee Mow's description. Deceiver. And I had specifically said "no animal products." The servers are super friendly, but they got this all wrong.

Well. The boy wonder courageously decides not to send it back and eats it anyway, throwing all vegan Thai hopes to the reckless wind.

As far as the green curry, it is still apparently vegan, but it's not very good anymore. The green curry at Sbydee was delicately spiced, aromatic, crafted with a light touch. It was the kind of dish that made you realize how important the sense of smell can be. However, at the Tenth, the green curry is overspiced and heavy-handed. Tofu that used to be creamy and silky is now over-fried, tough, and flavorless.

Oh, the sorrow.

This isn't the first time an Atlanta restaurant has gone downhill, as we all know. Have you had this experience somewhere else? Got any good memories of Sbydee? Chime in!

A Thai Place that Knows Its Vegan

Thai House
1227 Alpharetta Street
Roswell, Georgia
770-993-1688 / 643-1687

• Food: 4.0
  
• Service: 3.5
• Ambiance: 4.0

Thai food is one of my favorite ethnic cuisines, with its aromatic spices, plentiful vegetables and tofu, and delicious curries. Further, it's a cooking tradition that uses no milk, butter, or cream. Seems like you could just order vegetables and tofu, and you'd be vegantastic, yeah? In some perfect vegetarian alternate universe that I'd like to visit someday, you'd be right. But, in this universe, Thai cuisine uses fish paste, oyster sauce, or shrimp paste in almost every dish. (snap!) At some restaurants, even the vegetable entrees may not be free of fish paste, because it's not considered "meat." I'm always the annoying customer saying, "No fish paste, no...." I hate being that customer, don't you?

But have no fear, dear readers, I have found for you a solution to this problem and once again, it lies OTP. The magic here is that Thai House and its staff know what the words "vegan" and "vegetarian" mean, so if you order off the vegetarian menu, you won't get any hidden fermented sea creatures. I went last week with my family, and we tried quite a few dishes. Thai House has a really nice atmosphere, lots of woodwork, and servers who are patient and knowledgeable. They allowed me to make all kinds of special requests, with no problems whatsoever.

We started with a Vegan Tom Yum soup, delicately spicy and light. As far as the entrees go, we tried the Thai Green Garden (an assortment of green vegetables in a brown sauce), the Green Curry, the Spicy Noodles, and the Rummit, which is vegetables and tofu in a spicy basil sauce. It's not the most spectacular Thai food I've ever had, but it is really good if you're up for a drive and you want to be sure it's vegetarian.

Let's start with the good stuff: the Thai Green Garden and the Rummit were both flavorful; I especially enjoyed the Rummit, because I am ridiculously partial to basil. These entrees had full, well-seasoned sauces, and plenty of vegetables and tofu. The tofu at Thai House is exceptional, creamy and smooth. I've not yet had a bite of the over-fried, tough variety that is so popular at other Thai joints.

However, the Green Curry and the Spicy Noodle were forgettable. While the Green Curry was too sweet, the Spicy Noodle seemed to have almost no flavor at all. The sauce used with the Spicy Noodle tasted weak and anemic; the starchy rice noodles stamped out the sauce's flavor almost entirely. More vegetables would have helped in both dishes, but I would say the recipes need work. Stick with the dishes that are just vegetables and tofu, and you should be golden.

All in all, this place is great because they care about vegetarians and vegans; I've been burned before by restaurants telling me a dish has no fish sauce one time and telling me the opposite another. I like that I can trust Thai House, and most of the food is tasty and high-quality. I don't want to oversell it, because it's not the best Thai food in Atlanta, and it is a long drive. But Thai House is very good, if you know what to get. And if you need to be sure it's vegetarian, it might be the only option.

Have you had found any Thai restaurants that you love? Have you been burned? Share your experiences with atlanta vegan!

Rummit: Vegetables and tofu in a spicy basil sauce at Thai House

Saba brunch, late lunch

Saba

1451 Oxford Rd. NE
Atlanta, GA 30307-1046
404.377.7786

• Food: 4
• Service: 4.5
• Ambiance: 4
  

Check it out! atlanta vegan got a digital camera, thanks to Broadcast Atlanta!

This weekend, I decided to head over to a spot I've liked for a long time: Saba. It's been awhile since I last enjoyed this casual little joint in the Emory area. Because the head chef is vegan friendly, there are a lot of options on the menu. It's mainly a pasta place, but they also serve soups, salads, and sandwiches–and they do a vegan brunch!

On Saturday, I went to brunch with my paramour Craig; he had been fulfilling his role as rock star the night before and was not feeling in top form. Luckily, we got our food quick because at noon on a Saturday, the place wasn't too crowded to get a table immediately. He got the Tofu Scramble, a bargain at around $6. It comes with three sides, and Craig got a biscuit, home fries, and some soysage patties. I got the vegan French Toast, which comes with one side, and is a little pricier, but I think it's well worth it.

We asked if the soysage patties are vegan, because a lot of restaurants use Morningstar Farms products, which usually at least have egg whites in them. They said the patties were vegetarian, not vegan. The patties were, nonetheless, delicious. Join me in celebrating restaurant honesty; it is all too needed and all too rare.

The tofu scramble was well-seasoned tofu with savory broccoli and peppers. However, it's been changed since we last had brunch; the tofu used to be only marinated, but now it's deep fried. So, it's probably not the best choice for the health-conscious, but Craig assured me it was perfect for satisfying a hangover. The vegan biscuit was passable; it somehow managed to be simultaneously dense and crumbly, but the flavorful vegan gravy made up for it.

Saba's vegan home fries might be the best in the city. These babies are slightly crispy, creamy, and well-seasoned. Everything I want on a Saturday morn. And they've never failed me. Ever.

And let's be honest: most vegan-friendly restaurants wouldn't even attempt a vegan French Toast. It's bread dipped in egg! And as we all know, there's just not a lot in nature that has similar "eggy" qualities. Saba not only tries, they rock it. The thick hearty slices of bread are cinnamony without a hint of the tofu flavor that plagues so many creamy vegan adventures. Makes you wonder how they do it. Probably magic. To take it over the top, they brought a serving of Earth Balance margarine! Ab fab.

Of course, I forgot to take pictures of our brunch. To make up for it, I went back the next day for a late lunch. Saba offers vegans a lot of options in the dinner arena: they usually have two vegan soups, there's a vegan panini, and there are four vegan sauces to have served over spaghetti. I'm talking your basic marinara and a spicy marinara, but I'm also talking a vegan vindaloo sauce and a Thai peanut sauce. I ordered a side salad and my favorite pasta dish: the vegan vindaloo spaghetti with tofu and cilantro pesto. It sounds crazy, but it's an odd couple that works exceptionally well most days. Unfortunately, this particular time was disappointing. The noodles were overcooked and the fried tofu that usually compliments the Indian-inspired sauce was far too salty for my taste. I hope this experience was a fluke, and I will note that in the year or more that I've been eating at Saba, this is the only time it's been dissatisfying. On an upnote, the mixed greens side salad was delicious with a house-made orange-balsamic vinaigrette.

The ambiance is pleasant and not too fancy; fresh flowers on the tables, vaguely rustic decor, and friendly, knowledgeable staff make for a comfortable meal. And because Saba serves omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans, you won't have to work too hard to convince your omnivore friends to try it. Here at atlanta vegan, we salute the easy choices. And I hear a second location will soon appear on the Decatur Square.

Have you been to Saba? Tell atlanta vegan about your experience!

Vegan Vindaloo with Tofu and Cilantro Pesto











Mixed Greens Side Salad with Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ongoing Vegan Cookbook Reviews

Being vegan in Atlanta not only means finding the best places that serve vegan-friendly fare; it also means cooking in a lot of the time, too. Luckily, my partner and I love cooking, which is to say, my partner really loves cooking.

We've recently acquired two vegan cookbooks: Vegan with a Vengeance, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Veganomicon by the very same Ms. ICM and Terry Romero. Isa is the host and star of The Post Punk Kitchen, a cable-access vegan cooking show in Brooklyn. Of course, when you have a brand new cookbook, you spend a long time testing recipes before you really get a sense of how the writers think about cooking. If our previous cookbook experiences are any indication, the testing on these will take years.

So far, Vegan with a Vengeance has been a pretty nice experience. It's an homage to Isa's punk rock ethos, with most of the recipes featuring cheap, easy-to-find, and quick recipes. The dishes we've tried have gone over brilliantly, and there's a lot of innovation in Isa's cooking. The Fronch toast is out of control. Seriously, it's awesome. And our recent houseguests (Ms. E-to-the-D and her sidekick, Jamie the boy detective) can attest to the wonder of Isa's blueberry scones.

Veganomicon is a fancier cookbook; it's got superlong ingredient lists and generally calls for more time and effort. We are working on testing the recipes in it too, seeing which ones we like, marking the ones we don't with devil horns, etc. This process takes forever, especially since my boy wonder does most of the cooking around the house. However, the first recipe I personally tried from the Veganomicon was a sad disaster. It was for a Spinach-Noodle Kugel. I should have known; I've never been a huge fan of Jewish cuisine because it has always seemed to be a mixture of bland ingredients and salt. Don't get me wrong; I love a good bagel and I'll almost never turn down a knish. Sometimes, though, there's just not enough flavor for me. Anyway, the Kugel was noodle-y and spinach-y and that was it. I hated it. We saved the pan by mixing in tomato sauce and improvising a spinach lasagna.

On the bright side, we also tried Veganomicon's recipe for Potato Latkes and were delighted with the results. The Latkes came out crispy on the outside, with creamy potato in the middle, perfect. I'll keep posting as we try out new recipes.

Do you have either of these books? Have you found or created any great vegan recipes lately? Share the recipe blogs or websites that you love!

Atlanta Vegan, go!

Swapna Indian Restaurant
2655 Cobb Pkwy
Atlanta, GA 30339
(770) 956-7589

• Food: 4.5
• Service: 4.5
• Ambiance: 3.5

Ethnic food can be a life-saver for vegans in Atlanta, and I feel lucky that Atlanta has such a wide variety of ethnic cuisines. When it really comes down to it, my favorite is Indian food, but that might be because my parents are from India. I grew up with curry as my comfort food. It was magical.

Since my mom is one of the best Indian cooks ever to grace a stove top, I have pretty high standards for Indian food. In the past few years, every single Indian restaurant I once loved has gone seriously downhill. The food at Udipi just doesn't sparkle like it once did. The now defunct Madras Saravana Bhavan still tasted good, but the service was so awful it ruined your meal. The Indian fast food joints I frequented started getting nasty health and safety scores. Panahar is clean, has great food and great service, but it's Bangladeshi food, so it's just not quite the same. It got to the point where my partner and I would just cook our own Indian food; between filth, bad service and plain bland food, it wasn't worth the cost and hassle of going out.

I had been hearing about the international culinary wonders of OTP. So, last week, when I visited my parents and had a major craving for Punjabi food, we decided to try a new place. We went to Swapna, a small place serving both North and South Indian food on Cobb Parkway. Swapna serves both vegetarian and meat dishes, but when we asked for some of the vegetarian dishes to be specially prepared without butter, cream, or any dairy at all, the servers didn't even blink. They were incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. The restaurant has been converted from an American buffet/diner, so it has that odd atmosphere that so many ethnic restaurants have these days. You have the family-sized booths and decor of a pizza joint, but you're smelling rich spices from the east. It's not exactly romantic, but it's not a school cafeteria either.

For starters, we ordered an appetizer plate of idli , upma , a plain dosa, and a mendhu wada. The idli and wada were perfectly silky and fluffy, and the dosa was a well-crafted structure, cooked enough to be crispy, and soft and pliant enough to be folded around some potato masala. Delicious. We ended up ordering another dosa before dinner was over. I'm personally not a fan of upma, but my parents said it was tasty.

We also ordered some Aloo Gobi (potatoes and cauliflower) with some naan made without butter. The naan was warm, tender, fluffy, and just chewy enough. The Aloo Gobi was another success, spicy and flavorful, without a hint of the heavy grease so many Indian restaurants are guilty of serving. The naan and Aloo Gobi are highly recommended. However, we also ordered some less successful Palak Chana (spinach and garbanzos). This was the only non-vegan dish that we got: it was made with cream. In fact, it had too much cream and ended up hiding the flavors of the spinach, beans, and spices, rather than intensifying them. The Palak Chana recipe could benefit from a lighter touch.

Overall, this place is wonderful and I look forward to trying more of its menu. If you ask for dishes to be made without dairy, I doubt you will be disappointed. I know it's a long drive, but if you're craving some truly delicious Indian food, this place is worth it. It's clean, vegan-friendly, and really tasty.

I hope to post some pictures soon, once I get a digital camera than will do justice to the food.

Have you been to any really great Indian food places lately? Have you been to any awful ones? Share your experiences with atlanta vegan!

This article is also available at broadcastatlanta.com