Pad Thai in Gainesville

Life’s been quite busy lately. Between bartending class and working for some extra cash as a beer tub girl, I’ve been eating here and there, trying to be cheap and save a penny or two, but when a craving comes, there’s no denying it.

Thai food is my absolute favorite cuisine. I could easily slurp up peanuty pad thai noodles and chomp on mee krob, sticky, sweet crispy noodles, every day of the week. Nom sod, a spicy salad with ground pork (though I ask for ground chicken) topped with fresh with lime or lemon zest, finds its way to list of weekly cravings too. I have found “my thai place” in every city I have lived and in many of the places I have visited. My Gainesville Thai hunger pains led me to Bahn Thai.

Bahn Thai is attached to a motel, but don’t let that deter you. It has fabulous food. The dark interior, filled with an array of booths and tables, is not pretty nor ugly, but their food, specifically their pad thai, is superb. I order it to-go about once every two weeks, and the portion, piled into a heap in a Styro-foam container, can easily last me three meals.

The noodles are cut short, the peanuts are ground into crumbly deliciousness, the chicken is chunked into bit-sized pieces and the egg is mashed up so that you never have a bite full of fried egg. Bahn Thai’s pad thai stands out from all the rest in Gainesville because it is not soupy. The peanut sauce is flavorful and fully coating the noodles without also coating the plate.

Whenever I feel too lazy to cook or too tired to go out, I bring home some pad thai, sit in bed, turn on the television and veg. Bahn Thai has officially made its way into my feel-good, “you-worked-hard-this-week, you-deserve-something-delicious” routine. And I’m already delirious imagining when I’ll order it next.

Bahn Thai

1902 SW 13th St.

Gainesville, Florida

Chocolatey foodie adventures in the city

New York City is a very peculiar town. Never in my life have I seen men dress better than women, a glass of wine for $2 on one street and $20 on the next and people dress up as mermaids to frolic in the streets. Nonetheless, I fell in love with it.

My best friends, Rach and Jess, and I met up with the Rachel's family for breakfast. But not just any breakfast. Norma’s breakfast – which specializes in packing at least 10 pounds to your thighs, hips and ass before 11 a.m. Now normally I would complain about these unwanted calories, but Norma’s had a “sweet” way of enticing us. It’s one of those, you know, dessert-for breakfast, you’re-never-gonna-eat-anything-this-good-ever-again kinda places. Yeah. That was this. But this was WAY better. So I splurged on the PB&C Waffle. That’s peanut butter and chocolate in and on a waffle for those of you not in-the-know. And it was sinful. The best sin I have ever tasted. The only thing that I am disappointed about, now that I have come to the realization, is that I will never eat anything as good ever again. What a shame. Not even through a quarter of my life and I have already had my best meal.

The following day, the three of us window-shopped in the Upper West Side and made our way to Levain Bakery - isn’t it awful that more often than not the highlight of my day includes fattening food? But this wasn’t an average bakery. The little cookie haven was featured on the Food Network – specifically on “Throwdown with Bobby Flay”. Each cookie is half a pound. And it gave Norma’s a run for its money, which is an awfully difficult task.

The three of us shared the signature four cookies – chocolate chip walnut, dark chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and dark chocolate peanut butter chip. So while the bakers were rolling out the dough, we practically rolled ourselves out the door.

After tons more walking around to lose some of the cookie calories, Jess and I decided we were in the mood for Thai food for dinner. I had asked a random man I met at a sushi bar about what one place in the city I shouldn’t miss eating at, and he told me about a place in Brooklyn called Sea. Though Brooklyn isn’t Jess and my's favorite place to be, we were craving great Thai.

Sea was on a chic street and had the most amazing atmosphere – low tables, wooden benches hanging from medal chains attached to the ceiling and Plexiglas bubble chairs also hanging from the ceiling . The pad thai was cheap and delicious – just the way I like.

And best of all, the people there were just cool. Artsy and cool. So cool, in fact, that you would think they were un-cool, but they were not. They, in their high-waisted pants, vests, scarves, vintage and the like, were ahead of the trend. So ahead that they all looked almost out of place and quirky. Good food and cool company scored this Thai joint an A++ in my book.