Emerald Thai Serves Affordable, Fine Food

Restaurant review

Emerald Thai Cuisine Restaurant, 22228 Pacific Hwy. S., Des Moines; 878-9049. Daily 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., 5 to 9:30 p.m. Bankcards accepted, no checks. No-smoking area, wheelchair-accessible. Beer and wine. -----------------------------------------------------------------

You won't need a lot of green at Emerald Thai Cuisine, which makes it a true gem of a find.

The small roadside restaurant is a haven of tranquility along the busy Pacific Highway South in Des Moines. An attractively transformed former home, Emerald has a comfortable living room-lobby, tasteful appointments, and a handsomely paneled dining room.

The decor is elegant: Glass-topped white linen tablecloths and modernistic black metal chairs, in the glow of soft track lighting. The restaurant is blissfully free of piped-in music, kitchen noise is well-screened behind a swinging door, and the staff is courteous, quiet and efficient.

Emerald has some of the largest appetizer portions of any Thai restaurant in the area. Six-piece beef or chicken satays - charbroiled tender strips marinated in coconut milk and spices, with zesty peanut sauce are $4.95. An order of spring rolls brings 12 delicious, bite-sized servings, with a very good sweet plum sauce for $4.50.

The 43-item menu includes soups, salads, curries, noodles, seafood and vegetarian entrees. Portions are medium-to-large, and hotness intensities can be ordered from none to five stars.

A three-star yum nua - a delicious lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad ($5.95) with charbroiled beef strips - was mildly lip-tingling, seasoned with chili, basil and lime juice.

A good pad kaprau, stir-fried beef with bamboo shoots, onions, chili and basil leaves ($5.95) also features plenty of large mushroom caps. Curry choices include a wonderful, two-star kang kai - chicken cooked in red curry with coconut milk, bamboo shoots, hot pepper and basil leaves ($5.50).

The flavorful sweet and sour chicken is sauteed with with cucumber, onion, tomato, pineapple and plenty of tender chicken ($5.95). Also excellent is the garlic pork, marinated and stir-fried with coriander and white pepper ($5).

Noodle dishes include a perfectly done (prawns) pad thai, with tofu, ground peanuts, sprouts, egg and green onions but only five prawns ($6.50), and a wonderful lad nah - fried rice noodles with broccoli in a special soy-sauce gravy with a choice of meat ($5.95).

Beverages include native Thai beer, Thai coffee, Thai lemonade and Thai iced tea, but desserts are limited to coconut ice cream ($2) and a daily special.