Back in the mid-80s in Bellevue, WA there was a small place in a strip mall called Thai Kitchen. My New Wave high school friends and I would go there on a somewhat regular basis for dinner. It helped that I had Thai friends to explain the different flavors and textures to expect when ordering certain foods. I learned quickly that I probably never could go beyond two stars (daring) and only old men, people with egos or pranksters ordered four or five star dishes. The flavors are incredible. Sweet, fragrant, sour and usually spicy. Since high school I've had Thai food at least once a week except when we lived in Chicago because all of the Thai restaurants required hoping on different train lines than the Brown line so it seldomly happened. There was damn good BBQ and hot dogs in that town though! Since moving back to the east coast, we settled into Stamford and found the couple Thai spots we could order from. All was well until January when the allergy tests came back.

Yesterday I looked at a menu from Kits Thai Kitchen on High Ridge Road in Stamford (coincidentally in the same strip as Domaine, as mentioned in a previous blog). The food is some of the best Thai that I have had anywhere outside of Seattle. The very odd thing is, every single menu item has at least one ingredient that I am allergic to and some items are made entirely of foods that I am told I should completely avoid. Take for example one my favorites, Phad Thai: Sauteed rice noodles (OK), ground peanuts (Bad), scallions (Bad), tofu (Bad), and bean sprouts (Bad). Also, the fine print says that they cook solely with canola & soy oils. This is fine for most people but terrible for me. So, Thai food, my soul food, is sadly and completely off my list - until a cure for food allergies is discovered.