Pad Pik King (sauteed pork with green beans) at Beau Thai Restaurant in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC
We're back in Washington, DC for a few weeks, after spending time in Florida and New Jersey with family. It's good to be back and get to spend some real time here; we're excited to see all of the changes, both with the city itself and with our friends.
On our second day, the Gravy Baby and I decided to play urbanites, and so we sped off to Shaw in our kicky borrowed Zipcar. My friend Ty recently purchased a condo there, and we were eager to see what new offerings this redeveloping neighborhood had to offer.
Top left: the Gravy Baby's favorite was the sesame seed-crusted tofu appetizer; bottom left: we love pad see ew, and this version was tasty and lightly seasoned; right: the Gravy Baby's million-dollar smile should be a ringing endorsement
For lunch, we stopped in at Beau Thai, a simple, modern-looking neighborhood restaurant. It's one of Ty's favorites, and I could quickly see why. The entrees are inexpensive (ranging from $8-12), yet everything felt like an upscale version of a home-cooked meal.
We shared three items: the crispy tofu ($5), a sesame seed crusted tofu appetizer with a sweet and sour dipping sauce; the pad pik king ($9), a stir fry with pork and green beans; and the pad se ew ($8), wide, flat rice noodles with chicken. Everything was great -- nothing was overly greasy (which is a common trap Asian stir-fries tend to fall into), lightly seasoned, and fresh. I particularly liked the hint of lemongrass I tasted in the pork in the pad pik king; usually, this dish is just a stir fry with some fish sauce and chilies, so it was nice to see a little bit more flavor there than usual.
The clean, cool interior of Beau Thai
I marveled to Ty that Shaw now has enough of a resident base to support a charming little new place such as Beau Thai, and it seems that there are lots of reasons to venture into this redeveloping area. I'd say that a trip to Shaw for a meal at Beau Thai is well worth the time, even if you don't have a friend who's forging new ground by living there.
You know, having a good neighborhood place to eat might also convince me to buy there, too. That's not weird, right? To buy a house near a restaurant you like? Because I'd totally do that.
Beau Thai |1700 New Jersey Avenue NW | Washington, DC | (202) 536-5636 | Open Monday-Sunday from 11:00 am - 10:30 pm
