Chai Thai Noodles (Oakland) Thai House Express chef alert
I was on my way to Pho King when the grand opening banner across the street caught my eye. This new Thai place just opened on Monday 6/30/08. There's about 10 four tops nicely spaced in the simply decorated room. They also have a flat screen TV on the wall.
When I received the menu, I recognized the familiar layout and font, and finally realized, it's the Thai House Express menu. Apparently, the chef from 'THE' on Geary & Larkin in SF had a falling out, so he's the head chef here now. He also brought his sous chef with him.
Anyway, I ended up ordering 2 things I've never tried at Thai House Express. Yum Pla Dook Foo (catfish salad) & Larb w/pork. The former was more of an airy batter with catfish bits mixed in, served over a bed of shredded lettuce and topped with cashews and red bell pepper. This was served with a delicious sauce, which was a mixture of fish sauce, lime, sugar, red onions, and cilantro.
The larb was pretty standard, but made with pork. I liked the fragrance of the toasted rice powder, and the salty/sour flavors went excellent with sticky rice. It was garnished with 3 sliced cucumbers and 2 slices of cabbage, served over a lettuce leaf.
The server said their hours will be from 10am - 8 or 9pm so I'd call ahead if you're having a late dinner (510) 832-2500. Thai House Express fans living in the East Bay will have to cross the Bay Bridge no longer.
BTW, they will indeed have the famed Pork leg stew noodle soup.
-
Chai Thai Noodles
545 B International Blvd, Oakland, CA 94606
DezzerSF
Jul 02, 2008 02:10PM
Open today (July 4). The Nuer Kem and the Kao Ka Moo were both great. Taking orders of Yum Woonsen and Som Tum Thai to my parents later today, so I haven't yet passed judgment on them.
Permalink | Reply
Thanks for the report. Was the chef in house? The server made a point of introducing me to him when I recognized the menu and made the connection.
How were your parents' dishes?
Permalink | Reply
I went for dinner right after I saw your post - I haven't eaten at Thai House Express, so I can't make the comparison, but I really liked everything I ordered.
Can't remember the names, but I had the fried sausage appetizer (a generous portion of finely textured, lemongrass-scented sausage - the skin was nicely browned and had an addictive snap - the sausage was served with cabbage, chilis, cilantro, and peanuts), the shrimp paste fried rice (maybe slightly wetter texture than I usually like in fried rice, but I'm such a sucker for the flavor of shrimp paste it's really hard for me to be critical of dishes that feature it), and what I thought was the catfish salad DezzerSF described, since it sounded so tasty, but I actually ordered a catfish entree with deep fried pieces of catfish, vegetables (all I remember were the really tasty green beans) and what I think may have been the same sauce described above for the salad.
Permalink | Reply
I think you actually lucked out on the catfish entree. I was actually going for the catfish larb, Larb Pla so it wasn't really what I wanted. After my visit, I read about others making the same mistake at THE.
The sausage sounds good though, is it similar to the Lao sausage at Green Papaya Deli?
Permalink | Reply
had a "working" lunch here today.. . took great delight in the fact that the menu IS just copies of the THE menu. A few items are missing such as my favorite fried rice dish but the Pork Leg Stew is intact and almost as good as ever. It seems to me that they are using regular long grained rice as opposed to jasmine rice but that's my only quibble. . . the stew was delicious, the beef salad was amazing. It's very bare bones - very but the food is so good that I don't care. I am so very happy to have this so close to home!
Permalink | Reply
The flavor of the sausage is similar to the one at Green Papaya, but it's not as coarse in texture.
Permalink | Reply
nothing bigger than the four-tops there?
Permalink | Reply
no, it's very small, very modest. I am sure they could put two tables together if need be. They are very well spaced so there is plenty of room to reconfigure if you had a large group.
Permalink | Reply
since thai house express is our favorite thai restaurant, we had to check it out today for lunch. the menu looked the same so we ordered our usual.
- yum neur (beef salad)
- tom yum noodle soup
- chicken green curry
everything tasted very similar to thai house express. we asked for it hot and they kept to their word. the only complaint was that the beef salad was grisly and cup chunkier rather than thinly sliced. my husband still loved it. i'm so excited to not have to trek into the city for thai food.
Permalink | Reply
I was there today as well and had the Ga-Prow Talay, sauteed seafood combination with chilis, carrots, onions, bell peppers and basil. It came with a generous portion of shrimp, squid, shrimp balls, and fish balls. The squid were especially fresh and tender. I remember them including cubes of fish though at THE. I didn't specify spiciness, but the dish was pretty spicy with the inclusion of thai chilies. The owner placed the condiment jar of thai chilies in fish sauce on our table and that really took the dish to the next level.
My friend liked the Kao Pad, fried rice with onions, egg and a choice of meat.
Permalink | Reply
Marcia Gagliardi's Tablehopper Newletter acknowledged the discovery by "a Super-sleuthy chowhound" (you) and included a link to to this thread.
http://www.tablehopper.com/2008/07/ch...
Permalink | Reply
You know that day was funny. I remember staring at that grand opening sign and debating internally whether to try it or not. I must have walked back and forth on that corner about three times, thinking Pho or Thai? I think it was the hound in me that finally prevailed.
Thanks for the link XY!
Permalink | Reply
Posted hours are now 11am-10pm seven days. There were still people coming in at 9:30. Most of the other customers looked Thai.
Zero atmosphere. Bright fluorescent lights and white tile, feels like a big institutional shower room.
Food was definitely the same as at the Larkin THX. Squid salad, pork leg stew, stellar. Shrimp paste fried rice could have used more shrimp paste but I have the same problem at THX. My friend complained that there wasn't a noticeable quantity of the promised Dungeness crab or crab flavor in the noodle dish, but otherwise it was great. Two dishes were $8, one $9, one $10. Cash only.
No alcohol, no application posted, but when we asked about beer the server said "Next," so I guess they plan to get a license.
Permalink | Reply
I got to go food from there the other night and it was very very tasty for the Bay Area. I got it medium spicy, and it was not spicy at all.. did this as a baseline test. Next time will order "thai spicy" and see what happens.. the food however was quite good.
Permalink | Reply
MMMmmmmm!!!! We zipped right over there last night for dinner. We had the pork leg noodle soup; sauteed salted fish w/ Chinese broccoli and sticky rice w/ mango for dessert. Everything was EXCELLENT! The soup was not on the menu, but the waitress knew what we wanted. The dessert was just fabulous--perfectly ripe mango (and they gave you the WHOLE mango, including the middle strip left over after cutting the mango in half and good quality glutinous rice, for only $4.50). Altho the fish and broccoli was more like a garnish to the rice, it was also excellent.
The owner, cooks, wait staff and others went out of their way to chat w/ us; the owner told us that he got a good deal on the location and was excited to open this restaurant. We were the only patrons last night wen we were there; I hope that Chai Thai gets enough business; it is now my very favorite Thai restaurant. And I want to make sure that I will have a reliable destination for Thai. We plan on going there next week and we already know what we are going to order.
Permalink | Reply
Thanks for the great report and everyone's suggestions. We ended up going there tonight for a late dinner @ 9pm, there was only one other table when we got there. They do take credit cards now (Visa, MC and Discover) with a $10 minimum. We ordered the Chan Pad Poo (Stir fried spicy Thai noodles with Dungeness crab meat, egg and green onions $9.95) and the Beef Noodle Soup ($6.25). Both of them were really good, but I especially liked the Chan Pad Poo, it had generous portions of good crab meat in it and it was definitely spicy enough.
The restaurant was bright, simple and clean. Service was adequate and friendly. They now have a take-out menu that I took home with me. I've never eaten at THE before, but I can say that Chai Thai Noodles is a good spot.
Permalink | Reply
Interesting that you got generous portions of crab. The batch we had the other night had hardly any.
Permalink | Reply
Maybe they are reading chowhounds. The first nite we were there, I tried to tell them they are on the chowhound website. Language problems, but everybody, including me, tries hard. BTW, we went there again last nite around 6:00 pm. Had the Sausage appetizer, hot and sour shrimp soup, stir fried beef w/ mushrooms, carrot and onion (# 5, 21, and 84). This time # 84 was served w/ the entree alongside the rice; the other nite, # 82 was served as a tossed rice, i.e., the entree served as sort of a lightly applied garnish. Anyway, enough food this time that we ended up taking a good portion home. (Happily, the waitress brought over a box w/ lid, both sturdy enough to serve as a bento box for my own efforts.) We had the banana w/ ice cream for dessert. hey, are restaurants buying the bananas frozen in bulk these days? the banana was suspiciously the same as at a Thai restaurant we went to in Berkeley two weeks ago: a somewhat unpleasant thick, gummy batter encasing a gooey, brown banana piece.) Doesn't anyone hand dip a freshly peeled banana these days?
Permalink | Reply
There's a whole section of the menu (which includes the pork leg stew) that can be ordered as rice plates or a la carte. I pointed to the a la carte price to make sure there was no confusion.
Permalink | Reply
Went for an early dinner last night (5pm) after checking out the Birth of the Cool Exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California. Thanks to all the prior posts I had a nice list of things that sounded good. Enjoyed the Deep Fried Pork Sausage Appetizer No. 5 on the menu.....liked the somewhat finer texture ( compared to other Thai sausages ) and the interplay of all the other components: lime bits, chilis, cilantro, cabbage, peanuts, onion& ginger. Their version of Tom Kha Gai (Hot & Sour Chicken Soup) No. 20 was nicely balanced with spice and tangyness. Fried Tofu with Vegetables and Peanut Sauce was OK ..... the tofu was pretty crispy but not so creamy inside, which is my preference. The tofu sat on a bed of vegetables. The Peanut sauce was delicious - they roast their peanuts pretty dark which adds some depth of flavor. The Special Pork Leg Stew was indeed "special" ......No. 40 The pork had a bit of skin/fat but the meat was generally lean but still moist and tender - with nice notes of anise and fish sauce, soy, etc..... the pickled vegetables and other greens underneath balanced out the flavors of this dish. Would definitely order this again. Pineapple fried rice was fine ...... the pineapple was in somewhat large chunks compared to the other ingredients ...... so that you didn't get as much pineapple as you would if it was cut finer and in every spoonful. ( being a bit picky ) But it was still a good foil for some of the other spicier dishes. A bit more wok breath would have added another dimension. No. 47. Pad Thai No. 61 was nicely balanced ..... touch of sweetness and spice. Good texture on the noodles. They bring a plate of lime & bean sprouts separately instead of tossing the sprouts into the dish. Finished with some Mango and Sticky Rice with Coconut ..... nice ripe mango and barely warm coconut rice -yum.
Ordered all dishes with just a bit of heat and we had doubles of most dishes. Pad Thai was a triple order but all in one dish. They were very friendly and helpful but I don't speak Thai and their English is OK but not great. We had a hard time explaining a nut allergy and a shrimp allergy to them. For the tofu/veg with peanut sauce I asked for the peanut sauce on the side ( which is the way it comes anyways) but then they sprinkled chopped peanuts over the tofu. Ordered the Pad Thai with Pork and it came to the table with Shrimp (they looked good) - they took it back and cooked the dish as ordered. And the Mango and Sticky Rice had a few chopped peanuts sprinkled on top of the rice ....... We usually go out to a family style Chinese dinner for gatherings so this was a nice change - everybody liked all the different flavors and textures. We had a lot of food - the tables were covered with dishes - and it all came to $105. w/tax $114. A few folks came in for takeout and there was only one or two other diners during our meal. We left at 7pm ..... so it was a relatively slow night. Hope lunch is better because I enjoyed it and hope they do well in this location. They now have a paper menu that you can take - and now they have a 10pm closing time - every day.
Permalink | Reply
Went back again the other night. Sour seafood soup and crispy catfish with green beans were standouts.
They'd put up signs for a pork neck special. Have to try that soon.
Permalink | Reply
Went for lunch today. Tried the BBQ "pork neck," I think it's jowl, anyway sliced and no bones. Tasty, nice texture, great dipping sauce. Catfish larb was as good as at Thai House Express.
They now have takeout menus and said they're offering delivery nearby and are working on the beer and wine license. They've apparently registered chaithainoodles.com but the site's not up yet.
Permalink | Reply
had a late dinner there tonight. On their specials menu they had a rice ball salad that was very similar to Champa Garden's. It had a slightly crunchier texture, had a more pronounced citrus flavor and had large clumps of rice noodles in it. Served with the lettuce leaf/mint/cilantro to make little packages. . not quite up to Champa Garden quality but good. . . I hope they leave it on because it was nice to have in a quieter setting than Champa Garden is now. Also had Tom Kha Gai - generous amount of chicken in a fairly citrusy broth. Also had Pad se-Ew with chicken - fairly pedestrian but nice char on the noodles which I really like.
The server is sweet but sometimes there is definitely a language barrier - but it all works out.
As Robert said they have to-go menus and seem to be doing a brisk delivery business. . I wish I lived close enough for delivery!
Permalink | Reply
so how is the food at THE on Larkin now that the chef is gone? we used to go there when we were up in SF. has the food gone down hill?
does anyone know if the new restaurant has the beef noodle soup on the menu? THE was the only place in the bay area that made that dish really well. my DH is thai and very very picky about thai food - THE was the only place he would eat that dish. you have to go to LA to get anything comparable.
Permalink | Reply
The menu is almost identical, right down to the typos. "55. BEEF NOODLE SOUP $6.25 noodle with sliced beef, beef balls, beef strew and tripe." Chai Thai offers one more choice of noodles.
Permalink | Reply
I have had the beef noodle soup at both places and think it is essentially the same. Other places that have a similar version, though perhaps not as good, are the Thai Noodle restaurant in the Tuk Tuk supermarket on University in Berkeley, and Tuk Tuk Thai on Shattuck, though I have not had those in a while.
Although some dishes are clearly the same, like the pork leg stew, some dishes are clearly different. I had Gai Ga Prow at Chai Thai, something that i have frequently at THE, and it was substantially different. The THE version is savory with emphasis on fish sauce, basil, chili and garlic. The Chai Thai version was sweeter and included bamboo shoots. Ordered medium it was not spicy at all, whilst THE medium has some heat. The Chai Thai medium was still good, to my taste; it is rather like the version at SaWooei in El Cerrito.
Pork leg stew is indeed the same at both places.
I very much enjoyed the pork neck appetizer that Robert recommends above.
Permalink | Reply
thanks robert and 2cents! i'm super relieved to know that the beef noodle is still on the menu. i highly recommend checking it out!
and if you are in south bay -- THE place for thai food is either new krung thai or krung thai (we prefer going to the new krung thai).
Permalink | Reply