Neighborhood thai at Sawatdee

We were sitting out on our stoops one Saturday night chatting with neighbors when Bradd suggested we try the area's new thai BYOB, Sawatdee. Our party of five rolled down to 15th and South with a handful of beers and no reservation but the staff at Sawatdee didn't think twice about shifting some tables around to accommodate us.

Sawatdee turned Pico de Gallo's old corner spot into a little neon green haven of good food for low prices. In addition to dinner, they have a three-course lunch special for $9.95 and offer take-out. I recommend a reservation for dinner because it always looks packed when we walk by. It's probably not big enough for a large group, but is a fun spot for a party of 4-6 friends.

Shrimp Pad Thai

The appetizers we started with were all very satisfying: Ka-Nom-Jeep (chicken and shrimp dumplings), Por-Piah-Sod (spring roll with crabmeat, sausage and a lot of other stuff) and Satay-Gai (grilled marinated coconut curry chicken with peanut sauce). The dumplings were my favorite of the three - nice and light, not rubbery. While chicken satay always seems a little boring to me at parties, Sawatdee's peanut sauce was such a big hit at the table, I think some spring rolls ended up dipped in it, too.

I tend not to get very adventurous with thai food, mostly because I just love shrimp pad thai. Sawatdee delivered a solid rendition of the traditional dish (listed as Pad-Thai-Gung on their menu) so I cleared my plate and left happy.