Chy Thai Cuisine dishes up mouth-sizzling fare
Posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 9:52 pm.
‘So this guy in my dorm, you know?” my 20-year-old dining companion said. “I’ve, like, never seen him leave his room. He never leaves the computer. He’s trying to reach some total mega level. He doesn’t even go to the bathroom.”
Yet, there he was, this crazy video wonk, huddled over a bowl of noodles at a nearby table, taking a break from his quest to become Overlord of Cyberland.
Could be he felt at home in the Jetsons-like interior of Chy Thai Cuisine, all clean angles, bright lights and cafeteria-of-the-future style décor. Could be he liked the easy-to-navigate menu with its giant, full-color pictures.
But most likely, the fast, delicious food acted as the lure, fresh vegetables brighter than a digital display and noodles hotter than the fiery breath of the dragon on level 14 in the Cavern of Doomslayers.
Its location next to a gaming shop could be another possibility, but I’m sticking to the idea that he liked the food and could (for real this time) e-mail his mom recounting his consumption of vegetables.
We liked it, too, licking clean the plates of noodles, stir fries and curries, slurping soup and forking into a wedge of sticky rice and mango. Clean, clear flavors of lemongrass, galangal, chilies and lime blending with luxurious coconut milk, peanuts and rice. It’s traditional Thai food made in front of your eyes by a busy chef in a tall white toque and served steaming hot from the wok or grill.
In spite of the restaurant’s semi-sterile, Chipotle-like interior, it’s a family-owned place with just one location. Brushed-steel walls, sleek marble tables and a groovy convex and concave ceiling mix with colorful wall hangings and a picture of the king of Thailand and his royal court.
The main focus is the open kitchen that runs the length of the place, backed by a giant lit-up picture menu offering more than 40 choices of appetizers, salads, soups, stir fries, curries, noodles and fried rice.
Pungent star anise and cinnamon accent orange glasses of Thai iced tea ($2.50), creamy condensed milk slowly mixing with the tea and producing an addictive elixir. Equally habit forming is the Pad Thai ($9.75), slippery, warm, sweet, salty, sour and seductive. Maybe a little sweeter than we were used to, yet when balanced with a rich curry and spicy Thai Basil, it was the dish we all kept returning to.
Tender shrimp joins melt-in-the-mouth potatoes in a golden bath of Gaeng Ga Ree ($7.95), combining coconut milk with bright, cumin-scented yellow curry and the bite of coriander leaves. The powerful heat blast of fresh chilies makes an appearance in Thai Basil Pad Kra Prow ($7.95), augmenting the licorice of Thai basil leaves and a multitude of crisp red and green bell peppers, baby corn, onions and sliced chicken.
The build to a tongue-numbing crescendo felled a little kid at the next table, her gorgeous look of outrage quickly assuaged with a mouthful of rice. That’s the beauty of Thai heat — it hangs around just long enough to heighten flavor and cause a few beads of sweat on the brow, but leaves the tongue clean and ready for more.
On another visit, my dining companion voiced her long-held desire to sit in a bathtub of Tom Kha soup with a straw and no interruptions. At Chy Thai, the coconut milk soup made sprightly with lemongrass ($5.95) doesn’t quite reach bathtub status; it’s a little too sweet, a little lacking in depth and minus the requisite straw mushrooms.
The same goes for the Tom Yum soup ($5.95), chilies adding a bitter bite to a soup that usually offers lemongrassy nourishment.
A bite into crackling deep-fried rice paper gives way to the tight pop of shrimp in the Royal Rolls ($3.45), delicious egg rolls encasing tail-on shrimp with a side of sweetly sour dipping sauce. Roast Chicken Curry ($7.25) offers slices of juicy roast chicken, pineapple and grapes blanketed in a robust blend of red curry paste and coconut milk.
Flecks of chopped red chilies punctuate Eggplant Stir-Fried ($7.95), my only request would be the addition of traditional, delicate green Thai eggplant rather than thick slices of soft purple globe in the savory, spicy tangle of onions, peppers, basil and tofu triangles.
Finally, rowdy Thai Chef’s Noodle ($7.75) brings wide rice noodles with a riot of fresh peppers, onion and baby corn mixing it up with succulent slices of beef in a rich brown sauce tinged with earthy soy and, yes, more chilies.
An English translation of “Chy Thai” literally means “Yes Thai.” Clean, fresh, fast and delicious, that would be my answer as well.
Contact Camera Restaurant Critic Catherine Christiansen at (303) 473-1671 or boulderdining@yahoo.com.
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