Terrific traditional Sichuan cuisine hiding behind bad Thai
By MC SLIM JB | June 9, 2011
I don't read Chinese, but I do read Chowhound, where I learned that Thailand Café — a long-running Central Square purveyor of mediocre Thai cuisine — changed hands a couple of years ago. The English-language name didn't change, but the sign now also says "Authentic Sichuan cuisine" in Chinese. That reflects the extensive menu of traditional Sichuan dishes that the new chef added. The Thai food has gone from middling to bad, but the Sichuan fare is the real deal: fresh, bracing, and loaded with the lingering fire of capsicum chilies (both fresh and dried) and the unique, galvanic tingle of Sichuan peppercorns.
You don't need a high chili-heat tolerance to love staples like Sichuan wontons with chili vinaigrette ($5.95), minced pork in delicate wonton wrappers swimming in a smooth, oily, crimson sauce that balances fire with some sweetness and roasted-chili smoke flavor. Poached chicken with chili sauce ($7.95), better translated as "mouthwatering chicken," uses that same sauce to underpin pale drumsticks hacked into pieces, making for a fine, typically cold Sichuan first course. Westerners preferring warm apps might gravitate to sliced tender pork with fresh garlic sauce ($5.95), uncured, unsmoked pork belly cut into bacon-like ribbons in a mildly fiery sauce with bean sprouts, dotted with blobs of fresh garlic puree. Many vegetable courses, like shredded potatoes with green peppers ($7.95), offer a refreshing respite from the otherwise ubiquitous fire.
Most protein dishes run from mildly to stunningly hot, especially if you tell your server sincerely that you like it spicy. Smoky hot shredded beef with cayenne chili ($9.95) is relatively gentle with fresh green chilies, while Chengdu dry fried hot chicken ($8.95) piles crisp chicken cubes with leathery, searing dried red chilies. Double-cooked pork belly with spicy capsicum ($8.95) uses that bacon-like cut again to good effect with chopped leeks and a hefty dose of Sichuan peppercorns, which look like tiny Pac-Mans and taste a bit like mentholated lemongrass; this essential Sichuan spice will numb your tongue and lips with a cold fire that contrasts intriguingly with the hot heat of capsicum. Fish filet with cabbage in paste chili ($13.95) beautifully exemplifies this one-two punch, with chunks of tilapia in a fragrant sauce spiked with fresh cilantro. Drink options include bad hot teas ($1.25–$1.50), good Asian lagers ($3.50), and okay sake or junk wines by the glass ($3.95). Skip the gloppy, complimentary hot and sour soup and ignore the Thai menu, and Thailand Café competes wonderfully with Boston's new crop of traditional Sichuan restaurants. That's one cheap-eats trend we could do with a lot more of.
Thailand Café, located at 302 Mass Ave in Cambridge, is open Monday–Thursday, 11:30 am–10 pm; Friday–Saturday, 11:30 am–11 pm; and Sunday, 12–10 pm. Call 617.492.2494.
Related:
Review: Boston Kabob Company, Review: Victor's Italian Restaurant, Review: Scallops and lamb soar at Havana South, More 
- Review: Boston Kabob Company
A few doors down from the Brighton Music Hall, there's a new Middle Eastern food stop grilling kabobs with sex appeal.
- Review: Victor's Italian Restaurant
The kind of tiny Italian-American joint only the cognoscenti seem to know
- Review: Scallops and lamb soar at Havana South
If you visit the Web site of Havana South, a new restaurant in the Old Port, you will find a photo of Barack and Michelle Obama looking handsome and happy.
- Review: Whaddapita
Whaddapita is an indicator of our bright lunch-future. It brings to Mediterranean food the trend of giving upscale-fast-food treatment to regional cuisines, sort of like the BajaFresh chain did with Mexican.
- Review: Cook & Brown Public House
When a restaurant moves into a location that has seen several eatery incarnations, it must work doubly hard to establish its reputation, both around the state and in the neighborhood. Cook & Brown Public House seems to be accomplishing both with aplomb.
- Review: Tucker's Bistro
Tucker's Bistro has always held a kind of enchantment for us, as for many other customers. The tree outside the restaurant wrapped in tiny white lights is only the beginning.
- Review: Basil's of Narragansett
Like the rolling surf a stone's throw from Basil's of Narragansett, a fine dining restaurant as reliable as this one never changes when it comes to essentials.
- Review: Apsara Palace
It's more than being loved by our mommy and being safe from barbarians from the North that we take for granted, isn't it? I found myself again and again going to Apsara Palace for lunch when I was in town, kind of a gastronomic migratory impulse, before it occurred to me to review the place and figure out what was so appealing.
- Review: Area Four
Area Four's Web site describes it as "Coffee, Bakery, Bar, Oven."
- Exploring Frontier’s new menu
"Civilizing" the frontier was a long and complex process, with lasting effects on our culture.
- Review: Al Huda
The long coastline of Somalia is at the root of its culture's many complexities.
- Less
Topics:
On The Cheap
, food, Central Square, restaurants, More
, food, Central Square, restaurants, Chinese, reviews, Chowhound, Thai, Thailand Café, Thailand Café, Less
