Drunken Noodles – Wong Eats

I feel ignored, deprived, and somewhat a little disrespected. By this, I am expressing a common sentiment felt by the residents of my county, Prince George’s county, MD, a nearby suburb of Washington DC. As the richest county in the country where minorities make up the majority, PG (as we call it) has not seen as many businesses, investments, and high-paying jobs as in the neighboring Maryland and Virginia counties. In addition, another area that is glaringly lacking is the number of good ethnic restaurants that heavily dot the other suburbs. I always have to trek quite some distance to meet my Friday night dinner group in order to savor good ethnic cuisine in Washington DC, Northern Virginia, or other Maryland counties.

The one and only full-fledged Thai restaurant in PG county has been in operation for quite a few years. However, it is located even further away from me in the neighborhood of Fort Washington, Southern MD. So, when I came across another Thai restaurant that was closer to me (only 15 mins drive) a few weeks ago, I was thrilled and very eager to give it a couple of visits before writing this review. Stumbling across Asian Wings Cafe occurred only by happenstance. I was meeting an old friend of mine, a casualty of the current depressed economy, for brunch at IHOP in his neighborhood during the weekday. After the meal, I was walking back to my car and I noticed a sidewalk board with names of familiar Thai dishes written on it. I quickly stepped in the place, had a quick look at the display menu, and left with a take-out copy. I could not wait for the weekend to head back and check it out.

Sunday came around, and I chose to visit Asian Wings Cafe for lunch with a couple of friends. It is located in the middle of a rather nondescript strip mall just off the Beltway in New Carrolton. Across the street from it are sad-looking all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet joints. It is easy to pass by this cafe without noticing its presence at all, nor does a take-out cafe filled with only four tables brings about the sense of high expectation. With these thoughts running through my mind, I was not very sure what I was going to expect from this eatery.

The menu here is quite extensive, consisting of fried wings, ribs, noodle dishes, hot wok dishes, vegetarian plates, fries and coleslaw, and a good number of Thai dishes. With so much to choose from, I decided to narrow my choices to what the place touts itself for – Thai food, fried wings and ribs.

After a brief discussion with the owner, a young Thai lady who hails from Bangkok, I placed my order upon her recommendations. I started with the Thai Spring Rolls appetizer. It arrived at the table piping hot along with some complementary Garlic Fries, which the owner claims are very popular here. The spring rolls are sheets of thin crispy dough (thank God, not the thick nasty eggroll skin) covering a tasty stuffing of carrots, cabbage, and bean threadnoodle. These nearly greaseless batonettes, served with its usual accompanying sweet sauce, were as good as those I have tasted in larger Thai restaurants. The garlic fries had the similar skilful treatment in the hot oil, and they were covered with specks of chopped garlic and parsley, which elevated them beyond their usual guise. A good start indeed.

A bowl of Shrimp Tom Yum Soup came next. It was satisfactory but not quite as fragrant as I have had in other places, since it seemed to be missing the usual aromatics of lemongrass and lime leaves. The use of fish sauce was a bit too heavy, which the owner said could be easily adjusted in the kitchen. However, the soup had the right spice kick, sweet plump shrimp, and a handful of straw mushrooms, good enough for me to order it on any given winter’s day.

I decided to try the fried wings that the cafe is known for. These small chicken wings, not the Buffalo-sized ones, had a light coating of batter and were fried golden-brown. One bite into them immediately raised my eyebrows. The chicken was crispy on the exterior yet moist in the inside, well-seasoned throughout, and had only a hint of grease to the touch. My dining partner, who has travelled extensively to Thailand, was also amazed by these bites, and he exclaimed that these tasted like those he had eaten in Thailand. The 14 types of dipping sauces come in combinations of Honey, Garlic, Spicy, and Sweet and Sour. For me, these wings were good enough without the sauces, which is a testament of this good eat.

My order of wings came with a side order of Drunken Noodles. The Drunken Noodles were filled with strips of green and red peppers, chunks of chicken, and leaves of fresh aromatic Thai basil peeking through sheets of wide rice noodles. Signs of high heat wok searing were evident on the noodles which added to its flavor profile. The dish had the right heat-intensity (peht) and good amount of garlic, with the noodles well-coated with the salty and slightly sweet brown sauce without any evidence of oil pooling on the plate. This dish was as good as I have eaten in bigger establishments, and I was smiling after a few mouthfuls – I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My friend’s order of Pork Ribs with Honey Garlic sauce shared the plate (well, take-out box) with some Thai Fried Rice. The meat comes on bite-size rib bones covered in the sweet sauce. I must admit that I did not initially find the dish appealing. But upon hearing the complements from him, I tried a couple of pieces and I was slightly taken aback. The meat was flavorful and quite crispy, and the sweet sauce made the ribs quite irresistible. The fried rice, with pieces of egg, carrots, peas, and onions, is seasoned with Thai soy sauce, which with its slight fish sauce flavor sets it apart from the Chinese version. Normally, I would avoid any form of fried rice, especially from a take-out joint, but with this kitchen’s rendition, I could not stop digging my fork into my friend’s plate, which probably annoyed him slightly.

On my next visit, I wanted to discover more of their Thai standard fare. Pad Thai is offered by most Thai kitchens but they have become such common fare, to the point that some of their versions are so banal, sloppy in their treatment, and lackluster in flavor that they taste like the Thai version of bad fast food. So, when a plate of these famous noodles from Asian Wings Cafe landed on my table, I was eager to dig into it due to its high visual appeal. The dish arrived with the noodles cooked with slivers of roast pork, bits of scrambled eggs, large pieces of pungent green onions, topped with a mound of fresh crunchy beansprouts, and crowned with huge sweet shrimps that were just perfectly cooked and not rubbery at all. The noodles had the right amount of the sweet and sour sauce with pieces of sweet pickled turnip (usually missing in other restaurant versions) which added that crunchy sweet salty element that made the dish successful. The sides of crushed peanut and slice of lime on the plate allow the diner to control these extra textural and flavor elements. I must admit that this was one of the best plates of Pad Thai I have eaten in a long time, and I cannot wait to order it on the next visit.

Another dish on the menu that caught my eye was the Crispy Chicken Basil. Pieces of lightly battered chicken are cooked in a spicy garlicky brown sauce with sweet onions and peppers, topped with fragrant crispy Thai basil. The pieces of chicken were not overly battered and remained a bit crispy despite being coated by the wonderful tasty sauce. The fried basil leaves added more to the dish’s crispy element while bringing more fragrance to the dish. I thoroughly enjoyed this authentic-tasting dish along with a bowl of aromatic jasmine rice. The chili heat-level added to its irresistibility and scrumptiousness.

Throughout my meal I was eyeing an order of Chicken and Shrimp Lo Mein that my friend, mentioned earlier, was devouring with gusto. Initially, when he placed his order, I chuckled to myself and thought that this was typical farang (foreigner) fare that Americans would order in an Asian take-out joint. My aversion for this dish is a result of tasting many substandard versions that I have come across in many Chinese restaurants. Due to its visual appeal and the level of pleasure he seemed to have with the dish, I had to try a couple of mouthfuls of the Lo Mein – this version was an eye-opener. The noodles were quite fresh and still al dente, mixed in with tender pieces of chicken and shrimp, crispy and barely cooked broccoli, cabbage, snow peas, and carrots, straw mushrooms, covered in a light tasty sauce that was not thickened like others. I have not enjoyed Lo Mein as much as I did with this order, and it is definitely worth considering in future visits.

A complementary order of Fried Banana Dessert was delivered to my table after I finished my savory dishes. Pieces of sweet ripe banana are wrapped with thin spring roll pastry, greaseless from the kitchen’s usual skilful hot oil frying, and topped with honey and fragrant sesame seeds. These small sweet bites were just the perfect and quite a surprisingly good dessert to end the meal.

Asian Wings Cafe is not your run-of-the-mill neighborhood Asian take-out joint despite its unassuming outside appearance. Its strengths lie in the knowledgable kitchen that is capable of producing good authentic Thai dishes alongside its perfectly fried and tasty wings and ribs. The cafe just celebrated its second anniversary a couple of weeks ago, and it seems to have established itself firmly in the area judging by the friendly customers that I saw coming and going during my visits. I will be a regular customer due to its close proximity to my home and the delectable dishes that I have enjoyed there. Welcome to Prince George’s County, and I am sure that your wonderful food will be the real reason for a long stay in our neighborhood.

You can say that I have had my fair share of Thai food in my lifetime. Having spent the earlier part of my childhood growing up south of the border (Thailand’s, that is), I was introduced to this exotic Southeast Asian cuisine at a very early age. Although it resembles my home cuisine in many ways, there are distinctive differences that I learned to discern and appreciate with time. During my early days, Thai restaurants were still quite rare even though I was growing up in that region of the world.

These days, you could not stroll down a few blocks of a metropolis without coming across at least one Thai restaurant. In the Dupont Circle area of DC, you can find at least 4 of these restaurants within a quarter-mile radius. A stone throw away in Arlington, VA, I could drive down Columbia Pike and hit at least 3 of them within three minutes. When I was living in Sydney, Australia, in 2008, there was at least one Thai restaurant in every corner of its downtown area, and nearly the same density in some rather affluent suburbs. As the saying goes, you could not avoid them like the plague.

So, with the abundance of this Southeast Asian cuisine in the Washington DC area, how does one know if the restaurant is serving authentic and good eats, and is worth visiting? I would say that the answer lies in the fine details and in the gestalt, the totality of the dining experience.

Bangkok 54 is one of those locales on that 3-restaurant strip in Arlington. It has been around for quite a few years and over time I have dropped in there a number of times. The business was originally a Thai market that sold delicious home-prepared foods to its customers. In time, it bought over its neighboring lot and renovated it into a swanky Thai bistro. It was one of the first Thai restaurants that I could recall having a modern interior while serving authentically based food – you can find both classic dishes, along with some updated versions of Thai traditional fare. Being a bit of a purist, I decided to taste a myriad of typical dishes and evaluate them as the barometer of its kitchen’s cooking.

A good measure of a Thai kitchen is its rendition of the classic hot and sour soup, or Tom Yum. Although it is a strong-tasting and aromatic soup, there are some finer points to a well-made bowl. The secret is in the broth that is spiked with citrus lemongrass, rooty and camphor-like galangal, aromatic kaffir lime leaf, biting chili paste, sour lime juice, salty fish sauce, and the addition of a bit of sugar to round of the disparate elements. The restaurant’s version does some justice to this well-known soup that is filled with plump sweet large shrimp and floating pieces of button mushroom. The floating chili oil slick on its surface attests to the spice level that the kitchen does not seem to shy away from – Peht, as they say.

On one visit, I decided to order a couple of appetizers as my main course. Larb is a minced chicken salad that has been seasoned by lime juice, fish sauce, red onions, and roasted chili flakes, with a faint hint of sesame oil and served on a bed of lettuce. It has quite a fiery bite that is tempered by the sauce and the cool lettuce that serves as its edible bowl. This is not your mother’s chicken salad as it will take you to another place and taste level with its unequivocably strong flavors. Love it.

Yum Woon Sen was the other partner in crime. It is a shrimp, chicken, and beanthread noodle salad that has been seasoned with lime juice, fish sauce, red onions, and fresh red chilis. The pieces of chicken were more moist than the previous appetizer, and the beanthread noodle provided a textural difference while having absorbed all the yummy pungent sauce. I could not help but slurp down all the flavorful noodles with pure satisfaction.

On a recent visit, I decided to order a couple of standard entrées. On my way out on my previous visit, I had spied on a noodle dish that was coming out of the kitchen, which made me vow to order it on the next visit. Pad Kee Mao, or the well-known Drunken Noodles, is one of my all-time favorites and it is a must-order when I eat Thai, especially for weekend lunch. This kitchen’s rendition comes with a choice of different meats or seafood, and I decided to go full gusto – I went for the seafood combination. The plate arrived with glossy wide rice noodles that have been well-coated with its slightly sweet brown sauce without any excess grease pooled on the plate, with large chunks of tender squid, shrimp and huge sweet scallops barely hanging on to the noodles as if they are about to roll off a mountain – this was truly a seafood delight. I relished every strand of noodle with the obligatory splash of vinegared green chili condiment that came in a flourescent-red basket. I was in noodle heaven.

Pad Phrik Khing is a dish of few ingredients, comprised of a choice meat, fresh green beans and a complex spice mix that makes the dish distinctive. The flavor base is made from various roots like lemongrass and galangal, spices like cumin and coriander seeds, and aromatics like Kaffir lime leaves. The dish that I ordered came with large pieces of moist pork, fresh turgid green beans, and a fiery and tasty sauce that pulls the ingredients together. The use of a bit of sugar not only ties in the different flavors but also tempers the spice mix that comes close to overpowering the dish. It is well-cooked but I missed the garnish of thin slivers of fresh Kaffir lime leaves that adds that extra flavor oomph, which I have tasted in other places. However, that did not stop me from spooning all the tasty sauce onto my bowl of fragrant jasmine rice.

During my meal, I could not help but constantly eye at the dishes served at the next table over from mine. One of them was a bright orange Butternut Squash in Red Curry, which consisted of a large round of the sweet gourd smothered with a rich coconut-milk based fiery red sauce. Judging by the effusive complements from the lucky recipients, this is going to be on my order list for the next visit.

The menu here is extensive and covers a wide variety of Thai classics of rice, meat, vegetables, and seafood dishes. There is also a fairly large vegetarian menu that most Thai restaurants feel obligated to offer as respect for their Buddhist tradition. What sets the dining experience in Bangkok 54 apart from others is the skillful cooking of its dishes (which one can view into the open kitchen), the fine details in its dish presentation and efficient service (including the waitresses’ neatly pressed modern outfits), and the relaxed yet sophisticated well-decorated ambience (large flower sculpture friezes, recessed Buddha statues, deities, and traditional figurines) that allows the diner to relish on along with some good eats. Just like its market that has survived this recession while other area Thai markets have folded-up, Bangkok 54 seems to have the recipe for success, and it will be around for some time to ingratiate more hungry mouths with its offering of this wonderful Southeast Asian cuisine.