Cheap Eats - Just Phuket, Baby

Thai makes a joyful last meal



Phuket is an island south of Thailand known for beautiful beaches filled with tourists basking in the sun. But in Atlanta, it’s become the punch line for many a bad joke. The name is oft mistaken for a certain four-letter word (Phuket is properly pronounced poo-ket) and still elicits giggles when muttered amongst friends on the way into the strip mall where the restaurant is anchored.

Joy to the world: With so many Thai restaurants to choose from, the real success of Phuket can be attributed to its proprietor, Joy Boonyapat. She and her family are in the kitchen and delivering plates to tables, all with an air of dedication and warmth. Joy remembers most of her regulars, greets them at the door and recalls their usual orders. The camaraderie doesn’t end there. She jokes and cajoles diners into becoming part of her family. And that includes non-English and Thai-speaking clientele as well. I was shocked one afternoon when I overheard Joy delivering her same charm to a table of Hispanic patrons — completely in Spanish. It’s a lesson from which many restaurant owners could learn.

Lunchin’: The restaurant is a destination for university and CDC employees, their name badges dangling from their necks as they dip into the gratis soup of the day. Lunch specials include 10 selections — all for $6.25 — with masaman gai among the best. The silky smooth bowl of tender chicken and cubed potatoes are soaked through with the fragrant, sweet curry.

Off the menu: The dinner menu is replete with affordable, familiar selections like the green curried kieo wan with chicken ($8.95) or the deep fried catfish, called pla dook, in a red curry paste ($11.95). But I get greedy and request things that aren’t on the menu. The nam sod “salad” ($7.95) of spicy ground pork with onions, fresh ginger, lime and peanuts is perfectly suitable, but I prefer the nam tok ($7.95) that the kitchen crafts for those in the know. The sliced sirloin and red and green onions are steeped in an intense mixture of lime juice and spices that you pile on strips of cabbage and gobble up.

Last requests: Hi, my name’s Jerry, and I’m addicted to pad kee mao.

Of the numerous pleasures I find on the restaurant’s menu, I am drawn back again and again to this noodle dish (lunch $6.55/ dinner $8.95). Flat noodles are pan fried with sweet basil leaves, green beans, bell peppers and a secret chili paste that I’m convinced must contain some illicit substance. Choose between strips of pork, chicken, beef or shrimp or go without and get extra helpings of vegetables that prove versatile at accentuating the flavors. The secret is in the tiny hot peppers, chili pepper flakes and smoky flavor that sets me salivating just thinking about it. If ever asked what my last meal will be, it won’t be something from my childhood (sorry, Mom). I’ll be ringing up Joy for a big plate of pad kee mao.

jerry.portwood@creativeloafing.com