El Patio Thai Restaurant

From three blocks away, I could tell someone was cooking with chile, garlic, lemongrass, and ginger. I am used to the scent of grilled steak, or a warm smell of a bowl of tortilla soup. The exotic flavors of Thailand have come to Rocky Point with the brand new El Patio Thai Restaurant. With many years of cooking the cuisine of Asia, and also travelling to Thailand to learn first hand, the chef wanted to share her ‘street’ style Thai food in this new venture.

Red and green salsa that makes your Thai food as hot as you like.

You enter El Patio Thai through a hallway that leads to an interior courtyard. So you are inside and outside. The kitchen is right in front of you, making for a nice, aromatic show while you wait for your food. The big blackboard lists the menu full of Thai classics, and that menu is always changing. “There are so many different things to make in Thai food, so we change. Plus, it’s boring to do the same thing all the time” the chef tells me. “Our first idea was to open a Chinese restaurant, but we looked around and saw that there where already a few. That’s when I decided the style of Thai food I had studied would offer something new here.”

Try the Red Curry, the classic Thai dish. A mix of chile, coconut milk, and lemmongrass, the combination of flavors makes a unique taste all it’s own. Pad Thai noodles, papaya salad, stir fries, and fish cakes with cucumber relish are all on the menu too. Is it hard to find the ingredients you need here? “Yes a little. We work with what we have. For example, there is basil here, but it is not exactly the same flavor I am used to. So probably we will start growing our own.”

On the Malecon near Beachbums, on a Friday night you can hear their house band playing salsa while you enjoy the flavors of Southeast Asia. Located near the intersection with Zaragosa, El Patio Thai is a nice adddition to this area of creative and interesting businesses.   by Richard Scott

*El Patio Thai is located on the Malecon by the Caldwell Banker Real Estate office,

*Open 7 days a week from 6:00pm to 11:00pm

* Phone 638 116 5136 for home delivery