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Baan Thai (Formerly Tsunami Sushi & Lounge) - Japanese and Northern Thai, Logan Circle - Closed (But Moving to Chinatown as "Baan Siam")


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On 8/23/2014 at 1:07 PM, anhdeluxe said:

Is there a place in the DMV to get Issan-style Khao Soi? I had this coconut curry noodle soup with chicken at Pok Pok in Portland and have to get it more often than just when I am back home visiting! Bangkok Golden had it on their menu but have told me that they don't offer it anymore because it was so rarely ordered.

I think it is on the Baan Thai menu at Tsunami on 14th Street. (They recently added a special Northern Thai menu.)

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I had a terrific first visit to Baan Thai two weeks ago and can't wait to go back. Although it wasn't nearly as crowded its competitors typically are, the menu deserves as much attention as Soi 38, Thai X-ing, Doi Moi, Little Serow, and Bangkok Golden/Thip Khao. And out of all those places, it was here that I felt the most enthusiasm from the staff in walking us through the offering of dishes. Maybe it's because I spend a lot of time passing through Logan Circle, but Baan Thai seems like such as easy option for those who want to branch out into new Thai flavors without much effort/advance planning. It reminds me of the excitement I felt in the very early days of Thai X-ing.

Below is what my party ordered. The surprise hit was the mango salad. It's awesome! The pungent bamboo salad, served warm, was good, too. The delicious pork curry was nearly identical to the version I had recently at Soi 38, except it used pickled garlic instead of peanuts. And the coconut dessert was worth ordering just for its unique appearance and texture. The restaurant's website has pictures of all the dishes so you can get a sense of what you're in for.

post-66-0-26420200-1424902695_thumb.jpg

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I want to echo the sentiments above.  The Baan Thai menu is fantastic!  We feel very fortunate to live nearby and we have gotten carryout and delivery from them more times than I can count.  They pretty much saved my life in January when I had a bad case of the flu and had no energy to cook and Mr.B was out of town for a week -- I ordered delivery from them 3 times that week. :rolleyes:  We've been to Little Serow, Soi38, and Doi Moi and I'd put Baan Thai's food ahead of Soi38 and DoiMoi.  Their menu has expanded quite a lot from when we first learned about them and there is always something new to discover.  Our favorites are too numerous to mention; frankly, I'd be willing to just throw a dart at the menu and order whatever it landed on.  I do, however, have to laud their Green Mango Salad -- it's incredibly delicious -- and it's all the more amazing that it's so good after having been delivered.  Come to think of it, that could go for any of their food.

We ordered from them again last night and I really enjoyed my breakfast this morning of leftover Papaya Curry Chicken (Gaeng bpaa malagoh gai).

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I'm upgrading Tsunami Sushi & Lounge to Italic on the virtue of their uncompromising Baan Thai menu which is getting near-universal good reviews.

Regardless of whether or not it's "better" than Little Serow, Thip Khao, Doi Moi, Soi 38, or Thai X-ing, it's in some pretty strong company just being on that list - I'd be happy to have a meal at any of these places. Who knew that regional Thai would become a hot-spot in DC?

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The illuminated sign on the front of the building has been changed from Tsunami to Baan Thai. The website (accessible through both baanthaidc.com and tsunamisushidc.com) continues to have both logos, but says, "It's official! We have changed our name to Baan Thai! But fear not, we still offer Tsunami's amazing sushi to go along with our authentic Thai Menu!"

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Baan Thai has been my go-to delivery Thai for a year plus now.

Last night I decided to eat in for the first time, because I just didn't want food that had been compromised by being steamed in the containers, and I wanted to see just how good Baan Thai was, eating the food there, constructed properly.

I can unequivocally say that Baan Thai has the best curries I have had in the DC area. I am a huge Bangkok Golden/Thip Khao/Little Serow fan, but the Khao Soi and Northern Thai Pork Curry are just on another level than the other stuff around down. In comparison to the competition, they are thicker, richer, more flavorful and don't have random chunks of undercooked red peppers and raw chunks of eggplant (both huge pet peeves of mine) floating in the broth.

I also love their choice of using a whole chicken thigh and nice chunks of pork shoulders in their curries rather than the ubiquitous thin sliced pieces of leaner cuts of meat at most Thai restaurants. The meats at Baan Thai are always so freakin tender and actually add richness to the curry.

We also ordered a Crispy Catfish Salad that was a part of their "Winter Specials" which was outstanding. Spicy, sour and extremely well balanced, just like all of their food. In fact, I love spicy food, but I have never had to augment any dish I have ever gotten from Baan Thai. While it doesn't have the name recognition of a Monis or a Seng, this place is serving some pretty amazing food at the moment.

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I'll add my agreement, and say that their specials are always worth looking into as well. They have some really interesting stuff on the menu right now, including a winter melon curry that was delicious.

I'm not so sure I would go so far as saying it's better than Little Serow or Thip Khao but it's certainly a big step up from any other local Thai delivery place.

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Went last week for lunch the first time and was really blown away by the great flavors. Especially liked tapioca-skin ground chicken. I had the fish ball green curry which was good, but the khai soi gai that I tasted was even better. The curry with the chicken was so tasty. Also, the noodles in both entrees were cooked perfectly.

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I live about one mile from Baan Thai and they won't deliver to me, so I think the delivery radius is pretty small.

MichaelBDC and I stopped by Baan Thai later Thursday evening after a few drinks at Left Door. We had the Spicy Crispy Tilapia Salad from the Winter Specials menu, the Northern Thailand Pork Curry, and the Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken and Bamboo Shoots. Everything was terrrific. If being slightly intoxociated dulled the heat on those dishes, we couldn't tell. My mouth was on fire after three bites, but it was all so good I couldn't stop.

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MichaelBDC and I continued to make our way through the Baan Thai menu last night. The restaurant was quite busy when we got there a little past 8pm, so we were seated at the bar. We ordered the chicken stuffed in tapioca skin, spicy stir fried pork picnic, and the spicy stir fried chicken in bamboo shoots, the last item a repeat of our previous visit. Happy to report that the spice level is still quite high but not in a gratuitous way. We haven't had a miss on the menu yet. 

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I highly recommend ordering the Kanom Krok for dessert next time you all are at Baan Thai.

They are just the warmest, most delicious, perfect sweetness, dessert for a post-blizzard treat...attached is a photo of what they look like, though the photo is not from Baan Thai.

If you are with more than one other person get two orders.

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To add to Jonathan's recommendation in ordering the kanom krok for dessert, ask for it to be served with a shot of Jim Beam Maple Whiskey for dipping not drinking if available.  The business manager Tom H. told me that he received a large shipment that was unloaded for free so he will serve it at no coat if you ask for it till it runs out.  But don't drink it on its own.  The combination of the kanom krok and maple whiskey is addictive!  

kk.jpg

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1 hour ago, Marty L. said:

What are your favorites for take-out from Baan Thai?

Northern Thai Pork Curry****

Khao Soi***

Green Mango Salad (best rendition I've had)

Kanom Krok for dessert (spelling is probably off)

Spicy beef salad with eggplant 

Spicy stir fried chicken with bamboo shoots

*****have to get!

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Jonathan has included many of our favorites, especially Green Mango Salad, Khao Soi and Northern Thai Pork Curry.

But he left out the best of the best: Chicken Stuffed in a Tapioca Skin.  When we lived nearby, we ordered carryout or delivery many, many times.  We would always place a DOUBLE order of the Chicken in Tapioca Skin.

Also, the Esaan Sausage was really good.

We also enjoyed Papaya Curry with Chicken.

Frankly, as I've stated above in this thread, just throw a dart at the menu and whatever you come up with will be great!

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They've been doing seasonal dishes with fermented sour pork sausage ("naem" in Thai, I believe) and it's unlike anything I've had in DC before. The current iteration (below) is quite good. The lotus root special is also excellent. It's hard to go wrong here. 

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On 1/10/2016 at 2:06 AM, akeller96 said:

Not sure of their delivery radius but they are now available from caviars delivery service, which I think covers a pretty large area.

Hey there, 

Soo, I'm late to the party with this comment... but we aren't on caviar. But have our own delivery crew. To give you a rough idea of our limit, we will go as far north as Harvard, East it's 5th st, Sourth is Mt. Vernon Sq and West is Connecticut ave.

Truth is, we have a limited delivery range, and don't use the delivery apps, because our kitchen can't handle the extra load. We have to focus on quality over quanity. We get close to the breaking point most nights, and definelty go past it on weekends. If we expanded our range, we would get crushed by orders. 

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44 minutes ago, tomthecat said:

Hey there, 

Soo, I'm late to the party with this comment... but we aren't on caviar. But have our own delivery crew. To give you a rough idea of our limit, we will go as far north as Harvard, East it's 5th st, Sourth is Mt. Vernon Sq and West is Connecticut ave.

Truth is, we have a limited delivery range, and don't use the delivery apps, because our kitchen can't handle the extra load. We have to focus on quality over quanity. We get close to the breaking point most nights, and definelty go past it on weekends. If we expanded our range, we would get crushed by orders. 

Thank you so much for posting this - it's extremely useful information, and says a lot about the intentions of your restaurant.

Selling out for delivery will provide short-term revenue, and long-term disaster - you're *so* smart for realizing this early on.

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Joining the chorus, really good dinner at Baan Thai last night.

The Esaan Sausage are excellent, we ended up having two orders.  The green mango salad, grilled shrimp salad, grilled oyster mushroom are all fairly similar.  I thought the grilled mushroom salad was weakest, you don't really get much mushroom-ness out of it, their flavors just get lost with everything else going on.

I went with the Thai Vermicelli in chili peanut sauce with ground chicken, ground shrimp, tempura vegetables, and a hard boiled egg.  What a great dish: more than a soup, not as thick and cloying as satay peanut sauce.  The tempura vegetable gave it a nice crunch element.  I would definitely order this again.  

I also sampled the Northern Thailand Pork Curry, very tasty, and a tofu version of the grilled beef red curry, also very nice. 

I found dishes with two chilies as being plenty hot without blowing out the palate. 

Can't wait to go back!  

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26 minutes ago, Tweaked said:

Joining the chorus, really good dinner at Baan Thai last night.

Say hi next time. :D

@MichaelBDC and I were there last night as well and ordered pretty similarly to you. We ordered the ground chicken in tapioca skin, grilled mushroom salad, thai vermicelli, and grilled beef red curry. The entrees were recommendations from our waiter. We enjoyed everything, though I think we missed our old standbys khao soi gai and the chicken with bamboo shoots. The only mishap was that I found a piece of plastic in the thai vermicelli dish. I was crumpled up and I couldn't chew it so I pulled it out of my mouth and realized what it was. I was almost done eating at the time, but Michael brought it up to the waiter who asked the kitchen to make me a new order to go. Unfortunate, but not bad enough for me to avoid the place!

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Baan is so good. So good. Went before the Judd Apatow show on Friday for an early dinner. 

Got the pork - peanut skewers and golden fried pockets to start. The skewers were very tasty, and the sauce that it comes with wasn't even necessary. The fried pockets are really cute and tasty, comes with a sweetish sauce.

Entrees were the stir-fried noodles with shrimp (on the summer menu) and the pork picnic. Both were delicious, great flavor, heat but not overwhelming. Only criticism was that the pork was a bit chewy. 

With a couple of drinks, barely hit $80, and we were stuffed. Ordered the right amount - we had nothing leftover. And then watched Judd kill it. Perfect!

pockets.jpg

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On 7/24/2017 at 0:53 PM, Simul Parikh said:

Got the pork - peanut skewers and golden fried pockets to start. The skewers were very tasty, and the sauce that it comes with wasn't even necessary. The fried pockets are really cute and tasty, comes with a sweetish sauce.
...
pockets.jpg

"golden fried pockets" brought this to mind (which I'm sure is a far cry from what's served at BT!)

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