Inviting Chaiyo Not Just Another Thai Eatery

Restaurant review

XX Chaiyo Thai Cuisine, 11749 15th Ave. N.E. ($) Lunch ($3.95 to $5.75) 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. No lunch Saturday, Sunday. Dinner ($5 to $7.50) 5 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday; until 10 p.m. Friday, Saturday. Closed Sunday. Beer, wine. Major credit cards. Access for disabled. Nonsmoking area. Reservations and takeout: 361-8888. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Chaiyo, a clean, bright double-storefront Thai restaurant a dozen blocks north of Northgate, is a potent reminder of how Thai cuisine - once considered exotic - has become almost commonplace in Seattle.

A decade ago Chaiyo would have caused a cross-cultural stir. The food is good - some of it is outstanding - and the service is so congenial and deferential that if this were '83 instead of '93, it would be mobbed.

Instead, it is just another inviting Thai restaurant, one of dozens that now grace the Puget Sound area - a culinary bargain with some still valid dining adventures.

The Phad Thai ($5.50), stir-fried rice noodles with shrimp, tofu, egg, onions, bean sprouts and crushed peanuts, is exemplary. It recalls the excellent Phad Thai at another, older place. Firm noodles, slightly sweet - great prawns and just the right measure of heat.

Thai ties

There are other old echoes here in this relatively new place.

The owner-manager is Pramot (Tom) Muano-Nguen, whose uncle, Yodchai Fuangaromya, founded the Thai Restaurant at 101 John St., on lower Queen Anne (285-9000), certainly one of the best Thai restaurants in the city since it opened in 1984.

Fuangaromya returned to Thailand last year. Family members still run it.

There is another Thai tie: The Ayutthaya at 727 E. Pike St. That fine establishment is run by Tim Fuangaromya, Yodchai's brother and Tom's other uncle.

Genetically and gastronomically, Tom is well-connected.

Well, let's get to Tom's Tom Ka Gai ($3.95 for a generous portion; $6.95 for a bowl large enough to feed four - or maybe six).

The traditional hot and sour coconut soup, heaped with chicken breast chunks, mushrooms and lemon grass, is quite good. But I prefer it with straw mushrooms, instead of sauteed cultivated 'shrooms, and the coconut broth is better (if less healthful) when the stock is richer.

Appetizers (all at about $4) include some choice fish cakes - five to a serving. I've found these golden brown, slightly rubbery rounds of fried, ground fish, dotted through with crisp cross sections of fresh green beans to be borderline addictive. Novices may be less persuaded. (So I ate 4 1/2.)

The Chaiyo does a decent job with them. The cakes are served with a lively sweet and sour cucumber sauce.

Bar-B-Q Chicken ($6.25) doesn't sound terribly Thai, but this version is both authentic and delightful. It's one of those dishes that you taste, savor and make a mental note to try the recipe at home.

It's simple enough: a whole chicken is sectioned and marinated in coconut milk and yellow Thai curry powder. It's grilled and served with a side dish of a pale red hot and sour sauce.

Chicken Salad ($4.50) wasn't very saladlike, but tasty. The brisk saute incorporates the expected chicken pieces with green beans and peanuts, along with a half dozen whole basil leaves in a velvety coconut-peanut sauce. A nest of frizzled, caramelized onions added some dramatic contrasts in taste and texture.

Coriander Beef ($6.25) is an intensely flavored dish - and in this instance, one that was a touch overfried. Ribbons of the loin are marinated with crushed coriander seeds, then sauteed with carrots and a hot, sweet sauce. The flavors are so potent that one or two mouthfuls are enough; you refill your plate with more jasmine rice.

Ocean Spice ($7.50) was the best balanced combination I tried, in three visits to the restaurant. Tender, succulent shrimp (about a half dozen) are tossed with diamond-scored squid and a few scallops. They are stir-fried with hot chili oil, onions and basil leaves and served up in a light brown sauce with red and green peppers and sliced mushrooms.

A lot to choose from

The menu is extensive: 60 items at dinner, including all of the usual satays and curries, and 21 choices at lunch.

Chaiyo has been open a little more than seven months. It's a welcome addition to the Northgate area's array of ethnic eateries - and a spicy alternative for holiday dining.

(Copyright, 1993, John Hinterberger. All rights reserved.) John Hinterberger, who writes the weekly restaurant review in Tempo and a Sunday food column in Pacific, visits restaurants anonymously and unannounced. He pays in full for all food, wines and services. Interviews of the restaurants' management and staff are done only after meals and services have been appraised. He does not accept invitations to evaluate restaurants. Hinterberger also is host of a radio talk show on KING-AM.