Tom H.
Yelp
This restaurant is now located at 13th & Pearl, in a building that had been Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor, La Perla Italian restaurant, the Community Fermentation Union (a brew pub), then vacant - all since December 2007. Its latest incarnation: wood-fired-pizza/Thai-food-with-tamarind-sauce and more plus a nostalgic, glassed-in display room
On my first visit, I attempted their wood-fired BBQ pork special - strips of some cut of pork with impressive portions of grizzle and fat. Surgical forceps and a scalpel would have been helpful in dissecting out the chewable portions. The table-setting steak knife, however, was very helpful for hacking off portions from a blob of "sticky purple rice". A fork was not up to the task.
For a touch of unique ambiance, we were seated next to a glass-walled section of the long-gone Community Fermentation Union. It is now a museum-like display of mothballed brewing kettles, gleaming white PVC piping throughout, dust covered cartons and other trash.
And then there was the noise. My iPhone decibel meter was reading 72 to 80 for the entire dinner - levels usually produced by a garbage disposal at work, a police siren or a portable generator. Conversation was possible only when leaning forward and shouting across the table to companions.
After giving up on my unchewable entree, I spent a little time watching the kitchen staff at work. Several wore masks. Only a single older woman in view appeared to be from Thailand. She also wore a mask but had placed it well below her lower lip, securely on her chin. As she carried entrees out to a side counter, I wondered if her mask was protecting others from an infectious chin. Obviously her nose and mouth were not risk factors of any concern to her.
As a closing note, my companions' entrees were incredibly good. The tofu dish was perfect and the beef massaman was something I could eat four times a week and never get bored - the best I have ever tasted. Kudos to the chef. But I doubt I would return to dine in-site. Just too noisy.