Thai Village Restaurant

Yesterday, Barbara and I accidentally stumbled upon the best little Thai restaurant we’ve been to in San Diego. We were bicycling all over and around town, and wound up in Pacific Beach at about the time I started getting cranky from low blood sugar. Casting about, looking for a place that wasn’t overrun by the chug-a-lug beach crowd PB is known for, we pulled up to the unassuming little storefront of Thai Village Restaurant. The place was small and there was one other couple eating. Some Thai pop music wafted over the speaker hanging on the wall. A small, cheerful voice emanating from the kitchen greeted us and enjoined us to have a seat. A short Thai girl came hurrying out with menus and a big smile. Our first glance at the menu alerted us that this wasn’t the usual Pad Thai blah, blah ‘bistro’ style of Thai food that is rampant in town, but something different. This was the real deal. I ordered the ‘Thai Boat’ which was a mixture of assorted steamed seafood and vegetables in a foil wrapper (kind of like a papillote) with steamed rice on the side. The girl gave me a sideways glance and tried to steer me toward a more gringo friendly stir-fry, but I held my ground. she doesn’t know me, obviously. Barbara chose a sort of Thai salad with shrimp. We also got some appetizer I can’t remember the name of (are you sensing a theme here?) made of pulverized fish, etc. and flattened into a patty. Let me just say everything was outstanding. My meal was done to perfection. All the assorted bits of seafood were tender and delicious. Barbara’s salad had big, juicy shrimp (oxymoron?) and the light dressing was different from anything we’d tasted. Everything was great and really reasonably priced, and as we were leaving, the whole staff sent us off with a hearty farewell. I think we may have found our new spot.