Anna's first book review

This is so exciting! I just received my very first "reviewer's" copy of a book. It's written by one of the Twin Cities' best known food critics, Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl. Dara has written a new book on wine called, Drink This: Wine Made Simple.


You may know that I do not drink wine but I still found this book to be fascinating. Dara not only tells you "the nuts and bolts of drinking, buying, and tasting wine," but she also has a chapter on each of the best kinds of wine and how to save money on wine.

But my favorite chapter is the one called, Restaurant Confidential. It begins with a long reader letter to Dara that ends with:

Oh, and while I got you on the line: What's the best wine to order at my favorite Thai place, the cheap one by the park?

Well, the wines Dara mentions are not ones we serve, but I asked Jason, our wine guy, and he said ours are quite similar. So maybe Dara was or was not writing about us. I do know that True Thai is not in the index, but that Trader Joe's is. But I doubt very much that Dara mailed a copy of her book to Trader Joe's with an inscription like this one:

I do not drink wine so I cannot judge Dara's book, but I do know green curry and if she knows as much about wine as she does green curry, I think this is a very good book indeed.

Chef Anna gives it 4 stars and recommends you give it as a gift to your wine loving friends.

True Thai's #1 Red Curry fan

American moms tell their kids to eat their spinach because it helps build strong bodies. I think they should tell their kids to eat red curry with lots of meat!

That's what Benjamin Loehrer does. He special orders our red curry with "lots and lots" of meat. Ben loves our lean cuts of chicken, beef and pork, but in my opinion he puts them to good use. Here is a recent photo of Ben having his picture taken:



Ben gets his picture taken a lot, and it is easy to see why. Ben works very hard at what he does, and people always appreciate it when you do your very best.


That's why Ben appreciates True Thai, and he is not the only one. More kind words from Mpls-St Paul Magazine who has just chosen us for their Best International Eats honor roll:

New Thai restaurants abound, but none of them seem as enthralling to us as True Thai. Owner Anna Prasomphol's menu of Thai dishes never waivers on exotic flavors. Every dish is executed with the kind of care that comes from an owner who believes, heart and soul, in the food she's setting in front of you.

Mpls-St Paul Magazine

This story is not online yet, so you'll have to buy a copy of the December issue if you want to read about the other restaurants on their list. Mpls-St Paul Magazine has been very kind to True Thai over the years. When we were just starting out and had to buy ads to let people know where we were, some of our best and most loyal customers came from people who learned about us from Mpls-St Paul Magazine.

Whether you were born in the Twin Cities, moved here from Thailand like I did or South Dakota like Ben, this is a metro area we can all be proud of. The Twin Cities are increasingly diverse and each new group of "immigrants" brings with them the best of where they came from. Countless magazines and websites are devoted to what's happening in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Every night I see people grabbing a bite to eat at True Thai before going out to a ball game, concert, play or maybe even a bodybuilding competition.

And the rest of our customers? I'm happy to say that for many people, sitting down for a meal at True Thai is the perfect night out on the town all by itself.

With or without red curry.