When Out & About designer and Taste Buzz stratego Keith Demko OK'd my visit to The Thai Pepper, he explained that a review of Thai food would be incomplete without a sampling of a curry dish.
"But I always eat phad Thai" on my infrequent munchings at Thai restaurants, I told him.
"Don't be an idiot," he continued to explain. "Try the curry."
Te salute, Don Demko! My first-ever Thai curry dish (I had the meat combination) was creamy, spicy, meaty and memorable.
I took my wife and parents to the restaurant and we had a really nice time, thanks in a large part to the young waitress (who told us she was the daughter of the owners). She helped us through the fairly large menu and her suggestion that I try the Thai rice soup was very appreciated because it turned out to be a soup du woo-woo! I loved that more than the curry even.
But she was wrong about my ability to handle the heat. The menu has a chart from one to five peppers letting you choose the spicy-level of your dish. I told her I thought three would be about right for me, but she underestimated my coolness and toughness and talked me into a two.
I could have done a three.
My wife was very happy with her seafood combination entree, which consisted of shrimp, squid, scallop, mussel and fish. I dropped my fork in for a taste and found the scallops and shrimps quite a treat.
We had two appetizers, Crab Siam and Thai Dumplings. The crab was OK and the dumplings were really good.
Despite my repeated reminder that "we're in a Thai restaurant, we're in a Thai restaurant," my mother ordered a teriyaki dish and my dad ordered fried rice. After years or raising four kids and living overseas and in many parts of the U.S., my folks have settled down into a comfortable existence. But they ate up.
The biggest drawback of The Thai Pepper is the dining area. It's cramped and quite frankly somewhat ugly (though very clean). While we were eating, there were a lot of takeout orders being picked up. So I'd guess the regulars feel kind of the same way: the food is really worth it, but there are better places to eat it.
Though you'd miss out on the service of one really superb waitress.
The Thai Pepper
1806 Russell Parkway, Warner Robins
Three stars
Phone: (478) 225-2609
Hours: Lunch, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner, 4:30-9:30 p.m. Monday- Friday, noon-9:30 p.m. Saturday
Price range: $3.95 (soup) to $17.95 (seafood entrees)
Payment: Cash, checks. credit card
Reservations: No
Alcohol: Yes
Kids menu: Yes
Noise level: Low
Latest health rating: 97
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
To contact writer Randy Waters, call 744-4240.
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