Thai BBQ and Seafood - westcovinaCA

1559 E Amar Rd Ste D
West Covina, CA‎ 91792
626.913.7647‎
http://www.originalthaibbq.com/home.html

One of my best friends were in town for the holidays. Since she had moved to Iowa for grad school, I made sure I found time to see her before she went back. My boyfriend, his cousin and I had just finished a conference in Palm Springs and made plans to have dinner with Jeannine on the way back to the bay area. To be more efficient with time, I called her to choose a place where we can meet. We all agreed on Thai cuisine and she instantly had a place in mind. A few minutes later, she called with a little uncertainty in her voice but stuck with her gut feeling. Thank goodness she did.

After driving through the streets of West Covina, we found ourselves in the parking lot of a shopping center full of Asian markets.

As much as I love restaurants that have been featured in the media (which is why I understand why Jeannine seemed a little unsure of her restaurant of choice), I also love finding places that have just amazing food (which Jeannine also knows about me). Thai BBQ and Seafood was one of those places.

If you love Asian food as much as I do, we all know the best can be found in the kitchens of our Asian friend's home. With that being said, I believe it's the "hole-in-the-wall" restaurants that always seem to have the greatest Asian food. Maybe it's because they don't alter any ingrediants to satisfy the masses nor create some sort of fusion to be "more interesting".

When entering the restaurant, it did not look like the cleanest, nor chicest place you would find.The (lack of) ambiance was set with a ton of fake ivy plants hanging on the walls and a large fish tank in the back of the restauarant.

After being seated in our green-colored booth with cracked uphosltery, the waitress came by and placed the menus in front of us.

"The Original Thai BBQ Resaurant."

All of a sudden, an abundance of excitement was at the table.

"Do they have the 'S-1'?"

It turned out, I was the only one at the table who hadn't tried the Original Thai BBQ because there are several other locations found throughout southern California. This particular location was just privately owned and named something different. Everyone knew, at that instant, they were going to order an "S-1," which was the Kai Yang (BBQ Chicken) Dinner Plate. Three people getting the same order at a Thai restaurant sounded wrong. How could we not get Pad Thai (the most popular Thai dish out there)? I had to be different and order Pad Thai and every one's face was filled with disgust. In time, I was able to convince the table to mix up the order. Here's what we got:

1. Musamun beef curry (tender pieces of beef with potatoes and peanuts in a mild curry sauce),

2. Phad Thai (I thought it was "Pad," but the menu read, "Phad"; Thai rice noodles with shrimp, bean sprouts and egg, scrambled in a mild special sauce),

3. "S-2" BBQ Pork Spare Rib Dinner Plate (Thai B.B.Q. pork spare ribs with shrimp fried rice, served with the house sauce),

and 4. Two (they convinced me) orders of "S-1," Kai Yang (BBQ. Chicken) Dinner Plates (Half a Chicken with shrimp fried rice, served with the house sauce).

Why did I do that??? Although everything tasted delicious, the "S-1" was definitely the plate to win the trophy of, "Best Order of the Night." The curry, Pad Thai, and spare ribs were plates that were filled with enormous flavoring, but let's focus on the BBQ chicken plate.

With a plate 2/3 full of delicious shrimp fried rice, three extremely large pieces of juicy BBQ chicken and two servings of Thai BBQ's, "To-Die-For," special sauce, it's no wonder this dinner plate was the first one listed in the "House Specials" section of the menu. Thank goodness we got at least 2 orders! The special sauce tasted like a sweet and sour sauce with a little twist. When dipping a piece of the moist BBQ chicken in it and combining it with a large spoonful of rice creates an abundance of sweet flavors in your mouth. I could not believe the other three at the table let me convince them to change a few of the orders!

I went back a couple of weeks later to see Jeannine off before she left for Iowa. We had a going away dinner with her family at Thai BBQ. No menu needed...

"S-1, please."