Chiang Mai Thai – Minneapolis, MN

My boss was in town this past week (her office is out of state), so a coworker (did I mention Trash is now my coworker? It’s awesome and I love it!) and I decided to take her out for some Thai food. I won’t even go into the long story about how our boss told us she’d be ready at 1:30, so we should skip lunch and then when 5pm rolled around, none of us had left the office and were all complaining about it… I won’t do that. We tried to figure out which Thai restaurant to go to and Chiang Mai Thai is always near the top of the list. I guess I haven’t been there in a while, so I’m glad I got to write this one up.

The inside of Chiang Mai Thai is very modern and Asian-inspired. Cool colors, lighting, bar, and ceiling make this a fun place to bring out of towners for quality Thai food. We checked out the drink menu and since it was happy hour, the other people got cheap drinks – I knew the boss was paying, so I got a full-priced girly drink called the Fruit Loop. I don’t know what’s in it, but it’s red and fruity and I love it. (I checked the drink menu online – it’s Absolut Peach Vodka, Stoli Raxberi Vodka, Absolut Mandarin Vodka, with orange, cranberry, and mango juice – brilliant!) The other two got drinks and then sent them back for taller glasses filled with more liquid, since they felt the drinks were too strong. Really.

I will also mention our waiter looked like Bull from Night Court (yes, I’m dating myself, but the resemblance was uncanny). Super nice guy and really helpful, so I’m not making fun or mocking. I’m just sayin’…

We checked out the appetizers and since the boss wasn’t familiar with Thai food, trash and I ordered some appetizers for us all. Trash was angry at the boss for making us skip lunch and since we both knew the boss was buying dinner tonight, decided to run up the bill a bit, just to teach the boss that Trash is not to be trifled with. It really didn’t matter that much, since it was happy hour and the appetizers were on special. We ordered Fresh Spring Rolls (vegetarian, since Trash is of that persuasion), Fried Cream Cheese Wontons, and Fried Cashews. Well played, Trash.

I always want about 10 things on the menu. I usually get it narrowed down to about 5 by the time the waiter shows up. This time was no different. This time, I also was able to decide on my own without the help of the waiter. I went with the Pad Sri Racha. I should have read the description of what I was getting – all I knew was it had Sri Racha (which I love) and it had two fireballs next to it (which I also love).


The appetizers came out pretty quickly. The Cream Cheese Wontons were really good and crispy with lots of cream cheese inside. The Fresh Spring Rolls were also quite good. I think they’re even better with some shrimp or pork in them, but they were quite tasty, regardless. I love these things, so I’m terribly biased about thinking they’re always awesome, but I do think they’re great at this place. But the best and probably the most simple appetizer is the Fried Cashews. They are stir fried in oyster sauce, salt, chili, and cilantro. They’re almost caramel-y and have some zing. They’re awesome. I always forget how much I love these until I have the first one.

Our food came out pretty quickly after that. I don’t think I read the menu right because I thought I was getting some sort of spicy Pad Thai. But what came out for me was not that. I wanted to complain, but it was really good after I had the first bite. I thought it would be a noodle-filled dish, but it was a stir fry of broccoli, carrots, peapods, spinach, mushrooms, zucchini, and napa cabbage stir fried with Sri Racha chili sauce and special spices. The whole thing is served with a bowl of rice and oddly enough, is vegan unless you order it with Chicken like I did – heh heh heh. The spice level was definitely up there – I loved it. The flavor was very fresh and not everything tasted the same. Great textures and heat. This is a fantastic dish, despite not being at all what I thought it would be. I’m glad I got it, after all.

Everyone else seemed thrilled with their dishes as well, so I’m assuming this dinner excursion was a complete success. This is one of my top three Thai restaurants in the twin cities, so I will be back here pretty regularly. And they have an outside seating area that’s pretty big, so I know D.Rough will want to go there with me.

Top 5 things about Chiang Mai Thai
1. Pad Sri Racha
2. Fried Cashews
3. Fresh Spring Rolls
4. Deep Fried Cream Cheese Wontons
5. Fruit Loop (girly drink)

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s really difficult to decide what to eat here
2. We didn’t get to eat outside – not the restaurant’s fault
3. You have to pay for parking ($5)
4. They don’t take reservations past 5:30 – and they didn’t get any sort of rush until about 7
5. I forgot to soak the boss’ expense account and only ordered the one drink – stupid, stupid, stupid

www.chiangmaithai.com