Sometimes it's hard to pick a place for dinner. In my everyday, non-food-critic life, I don't have any problems. I have my favorites, from weeknight takeout standards to family-friendly casual dining. But for reviews? It can be difficult to find those new or interesting joints that make writing the review a rewarding experience.
That's why I find myself settling in at Ratchada in downtown St. Pete. This place has been serving Thai and sushi for the past couple of years. It isn't my favorite Thai and it isn't my favorite sushi, but those faves are both a bit of a drive and, on a Wednesday night, fresh from work, Ratchada is exactly what I'm looking for.
Don't read that as a slam on Ratchada. I consider its hand rolls — especially the ones stuffed with sticks of cucumber and carrots and slices of the best grilled eel ($4.75) in St. Pete — one of my favorite snacks. Need an afternoon pick-me-up? Instead of swinging by Mickey D's for one of its sodium and fat wraps, phone ahead to Ratchada, park illegally, and run in for a couple of these babies to go.
The guys who put together those beautiful rolls are uniformly young, as is almost the entire staff at Ratchada. Come to think of it, just about all of the customers in here are under 40, many of them of the punctured and inked crowd. It's exactly the kind of scene that people want to think teems through downtown St. Pete. Maybe in a few more years. But here at Ratchada that future is now.
Maybe it's the youth behind the counter, but Ratchada's sashimi can be a mixed bag. On this night, the tuna is a beautiful deep ruby but too lean, so it takes some chewing to get through it. Some of our sashimi platter ($9) is obviously fresh from the freezer, extremely cold and watery from a too-rapid thaw. But the salmon melts on my tongue and, young or no, these guys know how to form sushi and maki.
Ratchada's tempura is crisp and flaky; the teriyaki is sweet and nicely cooked, and the stir-fried soba noodles are a bit bland, but none of it is more than average fare. Other than sushi, there are only two things I pick from the Japanese end of the menu: udon soup and bento box lunches that include tempura, maki, veggies and teriyaki for less than $10. It's a deal.
Udon ($8.95) is all about the broth, in this case a simple concoction of bonito, mirin and soy, sweet and salty and just a bit like a mild piece of fish. As always, the tempura placed gingerly on top quickly becomes soggy, but it adds a necessary bit of salt to the mix. The real treats are the fat buckwheat noodles hidden underneath, chewy and soft at the same time and sweet with absorbed broth.
Mostly, though, I come to Ratchada for the Thai food. The restaurant's tom yum ($3.95) is rich, with hints of anise and lemongrass, heartier than most but not as tart or spicy. In fact, that's the style here. The holy quartet of flavors from Southeast Asia — sour, salty, spicy, sweet — rarely get equal treatment in Ratchada's version of Thai food. The sharp edges of tart lime and salty fish sauce are toned down, and cilantro is often passed over in favor of basil. Even laab ($7.95), which is essentially just lime juice and meat, favors sweet over tart. It's still tasty, though, the ground chicken mixed with just enough cracked rice to give it an occasional crunch.
Ratchada plates most of the entrees with a big mound of stuff in the middle, so don't be fooled into picking off wayward pieces of chicken or tofu or veggies around the edges. To shine, basil duck ($12.95) requires the exuberantly fragrant spice of wilted Thai basil strands woven into that center pile of stir-fry. Mix it up, and you've got a spicy little number that positively reeks of tasty herbaceous flavor.
Tornado prawns ($12.95) could use more of the shrimp paste that gives this sauce some flavor, but there's so much basil mixed with the big shrimp and chunky vegetables, I'm not sure we'd taste it. Better is the volcano ($13.95) version of prawns, with its intensely spicy sauce absorbed by the noodles and mushrooms sharing space with the shrimp in a clay pot. Don't skimp on the spice with this one — order it hot, or you'll only have yourself to blame if it doesn't excite.
Whole fried fish ($20.95) is a dish best left to ritzier joints. Here it's cooked until all moisture evacuates the flesh, leaving crisp skin attached to crumbly white snapper. The sweet and spicy sauce can't do much for that. Pad Thai ($7.95) is perfectly acceptable, the noodles elastic and coated in oil and egg and scallion, but there isn't anything special about this version. This is where Ratchada's skimpy hand with fish sauce or shrimp paste hurts the food.
Like I said, I'm weeknight dining on the fly, with plates of curry-scented crab Rangoon ($4.95) and deep fried spring rolls ($2.95) and spongy fish cakes ($5.95) all dipped into the same hot and sweet sauce. It's better than takeout, better than delivery and gets us out of the house to mingle with our neighbors without spending a fortune, all of us acting like St. Pete's downtown is a thriving metropolis even on a Wednesday night.
Hey, if enough of us do it, it might make it true.
Brian Ries is a former restaurant general manager with an advanced diploma from the Court of Master Sommeliers. Creative Loafing food critics dine anonymously, and the paper pays for the meals. Restaurants chosen for review are not related to advertising. To comment on this story, go to Food & Drink at tampa.creativeloafing.com.
This article appears in Oct 18-24, 2006.