Best of the City 2009

The Global Edition

Edited by Jessica VoelkerWith contribution from Eric Scigliano, Kathryn Robinson, Karen Quinn, Matthew Halverson, Alex Girma, James Ross Gardner, Kelley Frodel, Laura Cassidy, and Steve Wiecking

Thai Restaurant

Photo: Courtesy Noodle Boat Thai, LLC

Noodle Boat’s Thai specialties.

Hidden across the street from Issaquah’s Gilman Village (look for the crowded parking lot), NOODLE BOAT is one colorful restaurant, decorated with every Thai tchotchke this side of Bangkok. Owner Yommana ­Ekkathin and daughter Kunticsa run the place—call to see if it’s open: The ladies are prone to impromptu jaunts home to Ayutthaya for culinary refreshers. The full flavor spectrum is represented in the food, and not just sweet ones but sours, tarts, and fieries. Be sure to ask what’s not on the menu; Yommana is an innovative chef who loves gustatory off-roading. Noodle Boat Thai Cuisine, 700 NW Gilman Blvd, Issaquah, 425-391-8096; www.noodleboat.com

Laotian Thai Restaurant

With a mostly Southeast Asian clientele, VIENGTHONG has managed to maintain a rare authenticity. Noodle dishes are oilier and spicier than typical Seattle Thai fair—but hey, that’s how they do in the East. Fragrant, chewy, sop-ready sticky rice—too often consigned to mango desserts—is served the right way, in wicker baskets. The owners hail from Laos, not Thailand, and though that country is landlocked, seafood is the main attraction at Viengthong: Try tom yum goong soup, sweet-and-sour deep-fried fish, and the piquant, tangy, slightly briny squid salad. Viengthong, 2820 Martin Luther King Jr. Way S, Mount Baker, 206-725-3884

Phad Thai

At MAY THAI, the phad thai arrives at your table with its noodles swaddled in banana leaves to keep them warm. A server squeezes on fresh lime, then presents sides of sugar, peanuts, and chili for microdoctoring. They mix it tableside, and serve with banana blossom. Savored within elaborate filigreed teak walls, it might be the most sensually satisfying dish in town. May Thai Restaurant and Lounge, 1612 N 45th St, Wallingford, 206-675-0037

Korean Fusion

At JOULE, the Wallingford restaurant that Rachel Yang owns with her husband, fellow chef Seif Chirchi, the food is all about hemispheric hybrids: Chili sauce is paired with fennel soup and pickled ginger with pulled pork. But the big kahuna of Yang’s international cook’s tour arrives in a square casserole, where a Korean rice cake, mochi, bubbles away with Italian ragout, French-braised oxtail, a Japanese soy-cured egg yolk, and oh-so-Northwest stinging nettles. Joule, 1913 N 45th St, Wallingford, 206-632-1913; www.joulerestaurant.com

Korean Barbecue

The elegant tatami rooms inside HAE-NAM KALBI AND CALAMARI, the stateside franchise of a Seoul favorite, seem perpetually filled with native Koreans and Seattle foodies in the know. To have what they’re having order the number 2—marinated pork belly and calamari—if your server will let you. “Too spicy for you!” one waiter warned, and she was almost right. (You’ll want an extra order of noodles.) Hae-Nam Kalbi and Calamari, 15001 Aurora Ave N, Shoreline, 206-367-7843

Next: Where to find the best Latin American cuisine

• CUSTOMS

Season To Taste

Illustration: Meg Hunt

Indian cooks wouldn’t be caught dead with ground cardamom in their cabinets, says PCC Cooks instructor Jayesh Rao, who suggests buying whole spices in small quantities and pulverizing them yourself in a small electric coffee grinder. For Jayesh Rao, see “Indian Cooking Class,” page 6