Turning Up the Heat

ORANGE — The voice on the other end of the line fairly crackled with annoyance. “We are the original Thai restaurant in Orange County,” it said, “and my sister-in-law once cooked for the king of Thailand.”

OK, I’d asked for that; I’d inquired whether the food at his restaurant was authentic. If a guy has credentials like those, I can imagine the question making him a little testy.

Spicy Thai, the 18-year-old restaurant with the royal associations, turns out to be a windowless white brick structure on a quiet stretch of Chapman Avenue, not far from Crystal Cathedral. And its food proves every bit as accomplished as the owner implied, though from the outside, the place does look rather more like an armory than a restaurant.

It doesn’t look much like a Thai restaurant on the inside, either. Take away the obligatory portraits of the Thai royal family, the teardrop-shaped bamboo lanterns and the woodblock prints of Thai temple dancers, and you’d have your basic red-booth steakhouse.

Off in a remote corner is a well-stocked, if underused, bar. If the room weren’t so dimly lit, you’d be more aware that there are worn tartan tablecloths under the glass table tops.

*

But take a peek in the kitchen and you’ll see an entire family of Thai chefs busying themselves with a variety of complicated dishes, mostly in a style native to central Thailand but without the strong Chinese influences that have taken root in Bangkok. That means complex spicing, sparing use of oil and only a moderate amount of sugar in most dishes.

It also means that you had better be serious if you ask the kitchen to turn up the heat. Owner Tom Yaungsri didn’t name his place Spicy Thai for nothing. When they say spicy around here, they mean wickedly hot.

But as usual in Thai cuisine, the meal begins meekly; the spicy dishes show up later. Spicy Thai’s appetizers are downright mild, and they do their job well. I’m crazy about the keo krop, a dozen crisp, golden deep-fried wontons filled with chopped shrimp and served with a sweet cucumber dipping relish. The satays--flame-broiled beef, pork or chicken on wooden skewers--taste strongly of their coconut milk and curry paste marinade.

Spicy Thai’s rendition of the famous appetizer mee krob (rice vermicelli that’s fried crisp, sweetened and mixed with bean sprouts and shrimp) is simply the best in Orange County. Perhaps this is a detail only a king would notice, but Spicy Thai is the only place I know that chops off the little brown tips of the bean sprouts before cooking them. Another gloriously ornate appetizer is deep-fried chicken wings stuffed with ground chicken, onions and bean thread noodles.

With the salads, we move into hotter territory. They are spiced as hot as you specify--mild, medium, hot or (watch out) Thai-style. Larb, a specialty from the northeast Thai region of Isaan, is ground beef or chicken mixed with mint leaves, onion, powdered rice, lime juice and crushed red peppers. It’s delicious, but I’ll think twice before I order it Thai-style again. I thought my tongue was going to explode.

Nuea nam tok uses pretty much the same as beef larb except that the beef has been cut into strips and barbecued. Som tom, also of northeastern origin, is raw green papaya cut into thin shreds and mixed with garlic, chiles, chopped tomatoes, lime juice and dozens of tiny dried shrimp. You eat it by picking a bit up in a cabbage leaf.

Spicy Thai makes terrific, richly flavored curries. Gaeng goong is a subtly spicy green shrimp curry, heavy on the coconut milk and chunky with diced bamboo. You can also get red curries such as panaeng nuea, an aromatic beef stew loaded with mint leaves. Like any other entree, it will be spiced as hot as you ask.

The best pork dish is not a curry. Moo paht king is a stir-fry of pork with ginger, black mushrooms and green chiles. Another stir-fried dish is “the fire eater”: sliced beef, broccoli, cabbage and green chiles. The name should tell you that this is not a dish for chile-avoiders.

*

It’s also possible to tread a milder path among the entrees.

Spicy Thai makes sensational Thai barbecue, as good as any I’ve tasted in recent memory. The chicken--half a bird for a mere $4.95--is marinated a long time in turmeric, coriander, garlic, ginger and lime juice and basted with coconut milk while cooking. The barbecued beef also is delicious, if you don’t mind the way the sugar in the coconut milk caramelizes during the cooking process, imparting a sweet aftertaste to the thinly blackened strips.

In the noodle department, Spicy Thai is one of the few local restaurants serving the Thai street food favorite guey-teow pad gai: broad rice noodles stir-fried with chicken, eggs and green onions. Ba mee gai are egg noodles fried with chicken and bamboo shoots. There is also a snappy version of the familiar pad Thai, which is based on narrower rice noodles pan-fried with bean sprouts, shrimp, eggs and crushed peanuts.

The menu lists tropical fruits such as litchi and rambutan, but the only dessert that has been available when I’ve eaten here was a coconut ice cream--an icy, milky confection that has the old-fashioned taste of homemade.

Yep, they are sticklers for tradition at Spicy Thai, so please, no more silly questions about authentic Thai cooking.

Spicy Thai is moderately priced. Appetizers are $4.50 to $6.50. Salads are $4.95 to $8.95. Main dishes are $4.95 to $7.95.

BE THERE

* Spicy Thai, 4715 W. Chapman Ave., Orange. (714) 750-7799. Open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday.

All major cards.