Rice, Logan Circle - Thai Standby on 14th and Q Street in 14UP

[Tweaked]

Went to Rice last night for dinner. Arrived at 6:45 place was empty, by 7:45, not a seat in the house available. The complaint that the restaurant, with its hard minimal surfaces, is loud was evident last night...and every 15 minutes they dimmed the lights another notch.

All in all a nice restaurant, nice modern interior, not overly expensive although the portion sizes, especially the entrees are also modern and minimal.

The menu is split into 4 sections, seasonal (although they are currently stuck in fall/winter mode), authentic (what they consider to be Thai food being served in Thailand), Rice Specialties (their take on Thai) and Healthy (veggie selections)

we went with a selection of apps and then two entrees

Chiang Mai Pork Sausage served with fresh herbs, this is a yummy sausage flavored with Thai spices and lightly grilled. I would love to have this sausage at a summer BBQ!

Green tea dumplings with shrimp, crab, and pork - nice little dumplings, nothing special but tasty, didn't really see any evidence of green tea.

Pumpkin Empanada - South America via Thailand, also very tasty.

Unfortunately the entrees weren't so successful...the deep fried squid with garlic and peppercorns seem to be grilled which was fine, a nice dish but nothing to write home about...very small portion. Chicken and cashews didn't do much to seperate itself from any other asian take on chicken and cashews.

I'm sure there are some entree dishes that are better than what we had. My advice would to be load up on the apps...a nice spot for the neighborhood or before the area theaters...but not sure I would go out of my way to eat there unless I had other reasons to be in the 'hood.

[DC in DC]

Curry Club.  Rice.  Coppi's.

Discuss.

Went to Rice twice in the last year. I like the decor a lot-- modern, simple, brick walls-- minimalist. One time, we sat inside and it was pretty dark-- I couldn't really see my food or my dining companion. The other time, we were out on the patio. There appears to be a pretty happening bar scene on the weekends. The food was fine--- as Thai goes, not as good as Thai Square or Bangkok 54 in terms of authenticity and complexity, but better than Thaiphoon and that level of restaurants. Also, for you, JLK, last year there was a whole pumpkin menu that was in effect until December (I don't know if it's there this year). Overall, I think it's a fun, hip, place to go with servicable Thai. Prices-- a bit more than the usual Thai, as I recall (low teens), but I guess they have to pay the rent for the Logan Circle location.

[lackadaisi]

Curry Club.  Rice.  Coppi's.

Discuss.

I get Rice delivery fairly frequently, and I am always very impressed. Definitely the best delivery I have found in my area (although I would love other ideas also). And, the delivery man is so nice. He bows when he comes to the door, and bows again to my puppy if he sees him. I don't ever actually go there because I don't want to waste my delivery options.

[qwertyy]

Rice delivers??? How far? To Columbia Road? Do they have a menu online? This is exciting!

Edited November 4, 2005 by Connave

[TinDC]

Add me to the list of Rice fans. Only complaint, that seems to be common, is that it is SO loud when it is full because of the bare walls and floors. Other than that, I really enjoy the food. Last time I went I had the pad thai and while not extraordinary, it was quite good.

[Al Dente]

I went to this joint over a year ago and I remember enjoying it for the most part. I went again tonight and left with some knowledge about how I'd order in the future. Part of the menu is this "seasonal" thing, or perhaps it's some kind of theme, since right now it's "ginger", and I don't believe seasonality is a key issue with these rhizomes. I ordered a grilled squid salad and the crispy red snapper-- both in the gingerized portion of the menu. Both came with too much of the same agressive spicy salty vinegary sauce and both were overwhelmed by it. It's too bad because what small hints of other flavors I tasted, and the blend of textures I experienced, leads me to believe that these could have been excellent dishes.

I like the space, and the service was pretty decent, so I'll probably be back to order more carefully. I want to like this place.

[Banco]

We gave this place a try last night before seeing a play at Studio Theater. The Yum Beef appetizer was appropriately named: tangy marinated slices of grilled tenderloin in a fresh and lively salad. The spring rolls were also quite good and full of flavor, though another dish, a kind of fried pork roll with ginger, had no taste of pork and only a little of ginger. My pork Pik Khing was in a well-made sauce with real heat to it, and the crisp string beans that accompanied it were a refreshing contrast. My wife enjoyed her red shrimp curry, which had a deep, rich sauce that looked and tasted like it had been cooked carefully and slowly. The sticky rice flavored with green tea was a tasty and attractive complement to the dishes. Service was efficient, and we were able to get to our show on time without any problem. I wish we had a good Thai place like Rice over here on the Hill.

ETA: The menu no longer has the "seasonal" section Tweaked mentioned above, just the "Authentic", "Healthy", and "Specialties" sections.

[TinDC]

I agree, all of my experiences at Rice have been positive ones. I am surprised it does not get more discussion here.

[trillian68]

I am newbie, hear me ... well, just hear me. I too have had good experiences at Rice. Yummmm beef. It's a nice spot for lunch, if you find yourself in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the food isn't so great delivered for some reason.

[mbalaver]

Has anyone been lately? I've only been once before some time ago, but remember feeling a bit overwhelmed by the choices. What's good?

[jdl]

What's good?

The spicy spaghetti with bacon and Thai anchovies is awfully good. Not exactly a classic Thai dish, but still...

[MBK]

Went here last night, after a few year hiatus. I thought I remembered it being decent.

I remembered wrong.

Our appetizer, the green tea dumplings with shrimp, crab, and pork, was fine. Nothing to write home about, and topped with fried shallots that were nearly burnt... but not horrible.

Unfortunately, we should've stopped there and gone home. We ordered a chicken dish and a beef dish, and it's irrelevant what the flavors were because both suffered from the same problem - low quality ingredients. The beef and chicken were both stringy and chewy. They were impossible to eat, and I filled up on the (tasty) rice that came with our meals, and then went home and had a cupcake.

Should've stayed at the Round Robin after drinks and had the chicken tenders I saw heading to a nearby table - now those looked tasty...

[lackadaisi]

Unfortunately, we should've stopped there and gone home. We ordered a chicken dish and a beef dish, and it's irrelevant what the flavors were because both suffered from the same problem - low quality ingredients. The beef and chicken were both stringy and chewy. They were impossible to eat, and I filled up on the (tasty) rice that came with our meals, and then went home and had a cupcake.

I get delivery from rice about once a month (limited choices) and have always noticed a stringy meat problem. It's fine for delivery, but I would never consider actually going there. I generally find it edible, but not so much that I eat more than I have to. Except of the rice; it is good.

I want a cupcake.

[DonRocks]

We ordered a chicken dish and a beef dish, and it's irrelevant what the flavors were because both suffered from the same problem - low quality ingredients. The beef and chicken were both stringy and chewy.

Flavors can still be relevant despite bad ingredients, at least within certain confines. I can handle chewy chicken meat in a take-out soup, but the Chicken Soup ($6) with ginger and mustard green I ordered today had low-quality meat AND very little flavor, despite a surprisingly fatty broth. It needed salt, or hot sauce, or something more than a hungry, frustrated jackal trying to slurp super-heated soup from the plastic container while driving down 14th Street, smelling nothing but toasted garlic, and silently cursing at the car honking behind him as the light turned green.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[porcupine]

I had an outing with my brother recently, during which he related this story from decades ago: in pursuit of his private pilot's license, he botched the landing on the final exam.  His instructor asked him to take off again, circle around, and land again.  My brother did so, and botched it again.  He was then instructed to taxi back in and wait while the instructor completed the paperwork.  Nervously, he asked "did I pass?"  "Yes."  "Really?!  I botched both landings!"  "The important thing is, you made a good recovery both times.  What's important isn't whether you make mistakes, it's how you handle them."

I can't remember how many times I said that to students when I was a driving instructor.  Everyone makes mistakes; when you're driving at the limits of adhesion, you have to learn how to handle them.  It's critical.  People who never make mistakes are accidents in waiting.

We ended up having lunch at Rice, where the waiter botched the order and my lunch came out with the ingredient in that I'd asked to be left out (because of allergy).  But that doesn't matter.  What matters is that he and another waiter handled the situation correctly, apologizing without being obsequious, getting the kitchen to make another quickly so that I could start to eat before my brother finished his lunch.  No fuss, no bother, just a quick correction.

I really appreciate that.  Rice isn't going to set the culinary world afire, but it turns out good food in a nice setting.