Rod Dee Thai Cuisine in Porter Square

This meal cost me a little over $10...and I still had leftovers for lunch the next day. 

Do I even need to go on?

Rod Dee in Porter Square is a Thai restaurant that seems to be a neighborhood favorite that I just discovered last week. Although this was my first trip to this cash-only, order-at-the-counter establishment, I believe first impressions are everything. And Rod Dee impressed me immediately.

Our table started with an order of the Tofu Triangles ($4.75), which were served with a sweet sauce garnished with crushed peanuts.

The triangles were beautifully crispy on the outside with a soft, yet firm interior. Although flavorless on their own, the sweet sauce saves this dish.

Rod Dee doesn't serve any alcohol, but they do have free water AND hot tea.

For my entree, I went with the Hot Basil and Chili plate with tofu ($6.90).

I was served a heaping bowl (Rod Dee's portions are huge) of brown rice (you have your choice of white or brown) piled high with carrots, mushrooms, peppers, onions, basil, and crispy tofu. This dish is marked as spicy on the menu, and spicy it was - without being unbearably hot. Given the large portion, I was able to take half of my dish home for lunch the next day. Reheated and topped with a runny egg and some Sriracha, the leftovers were almost even better than the original.

Rod Dee is the perfect spot to go to for a casual, yet impressive Thai meal - and you really can't beat the prices or portion sizes (thankfully, Thai food reheats very well the next day). 

Don't live in the Porter Square area? Rod Dee also has locations in Coolidge Corner, Fenway, and Washington Square.

What are your favorite kind of restaurant leftovers: Thai food? Pizza? Something else? 

Porchai's Thai Cuisine in Wakefield

Sometimes, an empty restaurant at lunchtime can be troubling. You're not sure if you want to chance it, and spend your money on a mediocre meal. I had that same hesitation when I walked into Porchai's Thai Cuisine in Wakefield last week, when I met my former co-workers for lunch. But after only a few bites of my meal, I was glad we gave this restaurant a chance.

Porchai's Thai Cuisine is off the beaten path in Wakefield, and the empty tables could have easily been because...well, let's be honest: Wakefield isn't that hoppin'. Regardless of the reason, I'm so glad we gave this restaurant a chance. Their menu is chocked full of Thai dishes that omnivores and vegetarians can get down with, and the prices are also very reasonable.

For my lunch entree, I went with the Spicy Eggplant Tofu ($8.50), which was wonderfully vibrant in appearance.

The dish overall was chocked full of fresh flavor from the vegetables and basil, and the rice was cooked perfectly. The dish was a tad bit greasy for my liking, and I prefer my tofu grilled or sauteed vs. fried, but that's my fault for not inquiring before ordering. Regardless, this was a light yet satisfying lunch; I'd definitely order this dish again.

In this instance, I'm glad we gave Porchai's Thai Cuisine a chance, but I have been disappointed in an empty restaurant's food before...and have discovered, the hard way, why the restaurant was empty. 

Are you also hesitant to eat at a restaurant that's empty during peak dining hours? 

Special Delivery

Last week, I had the pleasure of trying out Foodler.com, a restaurant delivery service. I'll admit: I'm usually skeptical about sites like this. How can I trust that the restaurant I'm ordering from is paying attention? Will it be any faster than just calling the restaurant up to order my food? It's always a gamble.

Foodler, however, proved me wrong. Despite the fact that it's not the prettiest website out there, Foodler.com is incredibly easy to use and to navigate.

I started out by narrowing my search to restaurants near my home address. Foodler then created a long list of nearby eateries, categorized by type of cuisine, including a "best bets" section. I could search the list of restaurants by rating, cost, distance or delivery fee. There was even a list dedicated to vegetarian-friendly restaurants!

Z and I were in the mood for Thai food, so we stuck to that section of the list. We clicked on each restaurant name, and were able to view their menu right on Foodler.com. Each restaurant page also lists their delivery and takeout hours, delivery fees (if applicable), and delivery minimums.

We finally settled on Thai Hut in Somerville. We viewed their menu, added the items we wanted to our "cart," and then checked out. I received a confirmation email from Foodler within minutes, and they even gave us an estimated time of arrival as well as a recap of our order. Before we knew it, Thai Hut was knocking at our door with our dinner.

I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the whole system was, and I loved how easy Foodler's site was to navigate. I will definitely be using Foodler.com the next time we want to order delivery.

Have you ever used a restaurant delivery service? What's your review?


Disclaimer: I received a $15 credit to try out Foodler.com. Despite the company's generosity, the opinions expressed in this post are honest and 100 percent my own. 

Thai Yellow Curry Rice Noodles

On Saturday, Z and I spent the majority of our afternoon in grocery stores (we get crazy sometimes). We stopped in at Trader Joe's to do actual groceries, then went to Whole Foods to eat all of their free samples (and, as a result, O.D. on cheese). Then, our final stop was Shaw's to get a few items that Trader Joe's didn't have. It was pretty fun, for foodie dorks like us.

During our Trader Joe's trip, we picked up a few items to have for dinner. We didn't have a recipe in mind, but these two items helped us create the evening's menu.

Item #1:

Item #2 (the star of the dish, for me):

With these two ingredients, we ended up creating this: 

Our made-on-the-fly Thai Yellow Curry Rice Noodles is a very simple, yet tasty, recipe. Before we did any cooking, we drained and cubed the tofu and put it in a bowl with some of the yellow curry sauce to marinate for about 20 minutes. We then cooked the rice noodles according to the directions on the package, and sauteed the marinated tofu, mushrooms, diced onion and orange bell pepper in a separate pan with some olive oil. We seasoned the veggies and tofu with salt, black pepper and cayenne. Once the noodles were done and the veggies were tender (and tofu was slightly crisp on the outside), we threw everything together with a little more of the yellow curry sauce. And then, we ate it. 

Easy, flavorful, and spicy - just the way I like it. For the meat eaters, this recipe would also be very good with chicken. 

Are Z and I the only dorks that walk around Whole Foods strictly to eat the free samples? Be honest....

Thai Tapas at Ronnarong

Last week, Z and I used an Eversave we had at Ronnarong in Union Square. We were both really excited to try out this place, not only because it's a restaurant we'd never been to before in Somerville, but also because the eatery serves up Thai tapas - and I can never turn down tapas.

For a Thai restaurant, Ronnarong also had a very impressive beer list, with a handful of solid, local craft brews. To start the meal, I enjoyed a Stone Levitation Ale, which was slightly dark and hoppy, but still smooth and refreshing.

I can't remember what beer Z ordered (because I'm the best girlfriend and blogger ever), but he clearly enjoyed his brew, too.

For our meal, we split a few tapas as well as an entree. To start, we had the Tofu Satay ($6).

The Tofu Satay was served with thick-cut, grilled zucchini and a slightly spicy sauce. The presentation was vibrant and immensely appetizing, and the dish as a whole was wonderfully light while still packed with flavor.

The second tapas we shared was the Thai Roll ($6), which came with your choice of chicken or veggie filling. Obviously, we opted for the veggie.

These crispy, flaky gems tasted marvelous dipped in the sweet-and-tangy sauce that accompanied them. Although these rolls were simple in flavors, they were addicting and fried to a crisp perfection.

The entree Z and I shared was the Green Curry ($12), which normally comes with roast duck - but, thankfully, Ronnarong is widely open to substitutions, so we got our Green Curry with tofu. 

Our Green Curry was served with sticky white rice (although we also had the choice of brown), and the spicy, borderline creamy sauce paired beautifully with the large chunks of tofu and slew of veggies (which included mushrooms and bamboo shoots). Z and I did discover a nice, long, black hair in the middle of our entree - but when a meal's this good, a simply - albeit unfortunate - mistake like that can easily be forgotten quickly. 

What's your favorite Thai restaurant in the Boston area?

The Duck Walk in Wakefield

My new job is located in Wakefield, and despite all the cute restaurants and stores located "downtown," I've already managed to eat at Duck Walk twice. Since I was there both times with colleagues, I didn't snap photos - but I definitely think this place is worth a mention.

The first time I dined at this Thai restaurant, I ordered the Vegetable Curry, which is chocked full of veggies like carrots, mushrooms, sugar snap peas and peppers, coated in a seriously spicy, thick curry sauce. The dish comes with just enough white rice, and if you get the combo meal, you also get two crispy dumplings and mini egg rolls with the dish. This entree was so good, I ordered it the second time I went to Duck Walk. It was good the second time, but some bites of the curry sauce tasted like nothing but butter, which was highly unfortunate.

The service at Duck Walk is also worth mentioning. Service was friendly both times, and very attentive. The waiters made it easy to be in and out of there within an hour, without making me feel rushed.

Overall, both of my visits to Duck Walk so far were good, and I'm excited to go back and try a different dish.

What's your favorite place to get Thai food?