Thai - Rod Dee or Dok Bua?
My husband & I are both have a serious craving for good, spicy, authentic thai and so planning a Saturday outing. (Last time we were in NY & went out to Queens - Sripraphai & Zabb Thai... yum!) We care much more about the food - authenticity, quality for $$, etc than ambiance. I am all veggie, husband eats anything...
So, any thoughts? Rod Dee in Brookline? Or the one on Peterborough? or Dok Bua? Or something else close to Boston?
jdubboston
Mar 29, 2007 08:17AM
Rod Dee and Dok Bua are hands down my two favorite Thai places around. Choosing between the two depends primarily on (1) what you want to eat and (2) how comfortable you'd like to be.
Rod Dee excels at noodle, rice, and soup dishes, including pad thai, pad see you, pad kee mao, pad kra pao, kai himmapan, crispy chicken with basil, indonesian fried rice, and boat noodle soup. I also really like their golden triangles, which are like tiny little potato samosas in a crispy spring-roll like wonton wrapper. Sadly, there is VERY little sitting room (4 tables), so for my wife and I it was primarily a take-out destination (given we lived about 500 feet away).
Dok Bua excels at other things, including great stir fries, lots of heat, and lovely curries. I don't know the menu as well, likely because every time we went we tended to order out of the picture menu. There is much more seating available at Dok Bua, and you'll find many, many posts on this board with specific menu recommendations.
BK
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One of the most perfect meals ever: Dok Bua squid salad, Thai-style BBQ chicken, sticky rice.
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One of my faves is the the duck laab, I think it's "larb ped" on the menu.
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Ate at Dok Bua yesterday. Delicious. Had papaya salad and chicken w/ basil and chili. We sent the papaya salad back twice because it wasn't hot enough, but alas, 3rd time was a charm to say the least.
Highly recommended.
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Rod Dee does great Duck dishes, too. The one on Peterborough has a bit more indoor seating and plenty of outdoor seating in warm weather compared to Brookline.
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Which duck dishes would you recommend?
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I think both places are good, though I'd give a slight edge to Dok Bua for its sit-down atmosphere, adorably helpful and patient waitresses (I once had to write out what I wanted phonetically in Thai and the dear ran back to the kitchen to see if the cooks knew what the heck I was talking about), and duck pet pet. Rod Dee's counter service is a little more annoying, and not as relaxing. The Brookline and Peterborough locations are essentially the same, so it really just matters where you want to be.
That said, you mentioned spicy, and I think Dok Bua will do anything pet pet for you if you ask.
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Rod Dee was the usual place I went before I got to know Dok Bua through this board. Once I had Dok Bua, I never go back to Rod Dee.
My first visit to Dok Bua was the time I came back from Bangkok but still outrageously craving for Thai food. When I first tasted Dok Bua fried rice, I found it as good if not better than what I had in Bangkok even though it cost ten times more.
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Is there a type of fried rice in particular that you like? I can't seem to get anything other than the duck and chinese broccoli fried rice, but I should probably branch out someday and try something new.
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My favorite is Thai fried rice with pork and crab fried rice. My husband likes baby clam fried rice which is a little spicy.
A lot of people like pineapple fried rice but I don't.
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