• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • recipes
  • drink
  • dining out

The Delicious Life logo

menu icon
go to homepage
  • recipes
  • drink
  • dining out
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • recipes
    • drink
    • dining out
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » For a Limited Thai Only! - Thai Dishes, Culver City

    October 2005 Uncategorized

    For a Limited Thai Only! - Thai Dishes, Culver City

    Thai Dishes, Culver City, CA - Dumpling
    Final Elimination Week no. 5

    When I said that I would have a whole week (or more) of hasta la pasta luncheons with soon-to-be-ex co-workers, I spoke to soon. In that final week before setting me free, “they” must have suddenly realized the error of their hasty eliminatory (is that a word? it is now) ways. Only then in that eleventh hour, did they comprehend the incredible depth of knowledge with which I’d be fleeing on Friday, never to return again. So in a final desperate attempt to squeeze me of every last drop of information, they sent out a tornado of inquiring emails, set up “knowledge transfer” interviews, conference calls, and meetings. Little do they know...how little I do know.

    But I obliged them. I replied to every single email in full expository detail with “my answers in bold, blue font,” clicked “accept” on every single meeting request that popped up in the lower right hand corner of my screen, gave it my all in up-close-and-personal interviews, and beeped in with “Sarah here” at precisely the appointed time for every conference call. As much as I am (mildly) bitter for being eliminated, they were good to me, and I would be good to them.

    It was a week of work that was more than I had done year-to-date, leaving me no choice at noon but to shuffle across the perfectly polished concrete floor to the fully-functional kitchen, stare blankly at the well-stocked pantry, then finally return to my desk with a Big Grab of Nacho Cheesier Doritos, now with Bigger, Bolder Flavor! Hunched over my laptop, with headset clamped to my head, telephone set to mute so they couldn’t hear me chewing, I sent a miniature sandstorm of tiny neon orange Dorito crumbs into my keyboard. If the Shift key on the left side makes a mysteriously hollow sound and only capitalizes my letters every other sentence, it’s okay. IT completely sanitizes laptops that have been surrendered before passing them on to the next unsuspecting victim. I’ll admit, two things I’ll miss about working for them is IT and that snack pantry. Nacho Cheese and Cool Ranch. ;)

    So, I had been overly optimistic about daily lunch plans, and ended up going out but a few times in the course of my “two weeks.” A long-anticipated reunion with my first Ethiopian at Fassica, a first (and last) long-ass wait at Honey’s Kettle Fried Chicken, and a momentary secret retreat at Jackson Market and Deli. I wanted to take advantage of these final moments in Culver City and make sure to try everything in this area to which I might be hard-pressed to return, but it was all pre-empted by Doritos in my keyboard. Even on the final final day, I didn’t even stay in CuCi. It was a speechless introduction to magical, mystical Mori in West L.A.

    Now, although unemployment gives me more time than I could ever hope for to finally resume my regularly scheduled blogramming (which left off with dining adventures somewhere in the beginning of September), I want to braise in my own bitter, miserable juices for a little while longer. By miraculously pausing, fast forwarding, and rewinding live Delicious to all the Culver City restaurants I have visited but not yet blogged, I get to remind myself that I am no longer working in the area. Ah, braising, boiling, simmering, stewing in my bittery buttery unemployed misery.

    Now how about some Thai?!? LOL!

    Thai Dishes is a decently long chain of about a dozen casual Thai restaurants around southern California, so it’s not surprising that I have seen it many many times in my travels around La La land. I’ve actually eaten at the El Segundo location on a few unmemorable let’s-do-power lunches whilst consulting for a big bad corporate firm, and eaten at the Santa Monica location on one occasion. There might be a few more instances at other locations in my distant history, but I might have selectively blocked them out based on why and how I found myself there. Here's a note: never take a girl to Thai Dishes for a date. That’s just wrong. If you don’t know why that’s wrong, I’m not going to tell you.

    The Culver City branch of Thai Dishes is probably the eating establishment closest to my (now ex-) office. Actually, it might be El Pollo Loco, but who’s counting footsteps, anyway? It’s set up just like all the other Thai Dishes, with decor and colors that were trendy in the eighties – seashell peachy pink, seafoam green, glossy white formica topped tables and hollow white plastic tube chairs with vinyl seat covers. When we walked in for a quick lunch, they had set up a long table with food that didn’t look like it came from the menu. It was already that late – we had walked in on the beginning of the staff lunch.

    At a table by the window, I peered longingly outside at passers by, either on the way to some neighboring place other than Thai Dishes. Maybe they were headed to Cubby’s Café for a chicken salad, maybe to Mrs. Garcia’s. I even felt a tiny pang of jealousy toward the people in line next door waiting for the New! Fire Grilled Orange Chicken Taco (or some kind of crazy chicken like that). Perhaps they were on the way back to the office from lunch somewhere in the downtown Culver City area. Whatever it was, they weren’t wondering how to order the least Thai-flavored thing on a Thai menu. I have since been slightly reformed, but lunch at Thai Dishes was at a time that I was still somewhat an-Thai.

    Thai Dishes, Culver City, Ca - Thai Iced Tea
    my sweetened, condensed milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

    He ordered Thai iced tea, which to this day, still boggles my mind. With a whole swirly whirl of sweetened condensed milk, Thai iced tea is too thick and syrupy sweet to serve as a beverage to drink with food. I
    t’s the same way I feel about milkshakes with burgers and fries. I’m just a (diet) coke-whore, that’s all. Perhaps I am also wary because when I was first introduced to Thai iced tea at some cafe during my college days at Berkeley, there was a short period in which I drank Thai iced tea at least every other day, wholly unaware that what made it so deliciously sweet was the 9 billion calorie addition of sweetened condensed milk. When I finally realized that Thai iced teas were very generously contributing to my Freshman 15, I put them to bed with smoothies and Chinese chicken salad (covert calories).

    Thai Dishes, Culver City, Ca - eggrolls
    not even asian anymore
    Thai Dishes, Culver City, Ca - eggroll cut open
    looks alarmingly like Jack in the Box

    We started with Thai Dishes' eggrolls, a universally Asian item, to keep my tastebuds safe. In fact, eggrolls, and their smaller cousins the wontons, aren’t even all that Asian anymore. The eggrolls were cut in half and arranged nicely on the plate, but that didn’t add to the fact that they were just eggrolls, and eggrolls that tasted suspiciously as good as Jack in the Box. yeek!

    Thai Dishes, Culver City, Ca - wonton soup with chicken
    all dressed up in a silver pot

    When the server answered questions about it, it sounded as though the won ton soup with chicken didn’t have any spices in it. It wasn’t that I wanted something mild and flavorless. I just wasn’t sure I was at the point yet that I could *mmm* over lemongrass, lime juice, coconut and cilantro all at once. Unfortunately, in my effort to avoid those specific flavors, I ended up with a soup that was generally flavor-less. They served it in one of those fancy silver pots with the tiny Bunsen burner underneath, but the live, flickering flame was about as exciting as it got. The soup was a thin, watery chicken broth seasoned, it seemed, with only salt and maybe some pepper. The dry, overcooked slices of plain chicken looked like they had been dipped in Clorox, stripped of all color and flavor, so I ignored them and ate most of the crisp-tender vegetables, including all of the baby bok choy.

    Up until about a year ago, I had never had these wontons wrapped in such transparent thin skin and twisted like a little hobo’s sack. I usually love them because they’re so teeny tiny adorable, but unfortunately, the wontons in this soup at Thai Dishes were bland, and most of them were tearing apart, with won ton wrappers strewn all about and naked meatballs floating shamelessly in the soup. Sounds kind of sexy, but it wasn’t.

    Thai Dishes, Culver City, Ca - pickled green chiles
    i love it when they punish me like that

    One thing for which I have to give Thai food credit is heat. I love those chili powders, crushed red pepper flakes, chili pastes, and hot sauces. Thank God they were there, because I had to do something about the insipid soup. I dumped almost half a jar of the pickled hot green chilis along with several scoops of chili paste into my small soup bowl. I don’t know why I do this, why I love to punish myself with a burning heat so hot it burns me to tears. Actually, I don’t think I really want to know the psychology behind it, but it hurt so good, and only then did I ignore the wontons that had disrobed in a diluted broth.

    I know my taste for Thai is changing. I have not done enough careful assessment to conclude whether I have just been able to find things within the cuisine that I like, or that my tastes are truly changing, or something else entirely, but whatever it is, I’ll likely continue my analysis somewhere other than Thai Dishes. Otherwise I’m pretty sure I’ll go right back to an-Thai like I was before.

    By the way, the first day of utter unemployed freedom is pretty much...awesome. :)

    Thai Dishes
    9901 Washington Boulevard (@ Hughes)
    Culver City, CA 990232
    310.559.0987

    tags :: food : and drink : thai : los angeles : restaurants : reviews

    You May Also Like...

    • HONEY'S KETTLE FRIED CHICKEN, Culver City [restaurant]
      HONEY'S KETTLE FRIED CHICKEN, Culver City [restaurant]
    • not quite on the thai tip - natalee thai
      not quite on the thai tip - natalee thai
    • Crouching Liger, Hidden Korean - Miyako Japanese Restaurant
      Crouching Liger, Hidden Korean - Miyako Japanese Restaurant
    « Say No More - Mori Sushi
    Marketing, PR and Advertising - X'otik Kitchen, Culver City »

    Sharing is caring!

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Neil says

      October 25, 2005 at 9:59 pm

      yeah unemployment! more time to eat!

      Reply
    2. Eddie Lin says

      October 26, 2005 at 12:12 am

      That is one good looking won ton.

      You can apply for unemployment online now. It's really easy and sort of fun. Government cheese. Yum-yum, gimme some!

      Reply
    3. Xericx says

      October 26, 2005 at 3:39 am

      What was on Maury Povich today?

      What's the deal with Thai Dishes...they are EVERYWHERE....are they all uniformly mediocre and limited on their menu (Pad Thai, Curry, or "build your own stir fry").....

      Thai dishes (LA) = Ray's Pizza (NYC)

      Original Thai Dishes
      Famous Thai Dishes
      Thai Dishes
      blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

      Reply
    4. Jessica says

      October 26, 2005 at 6:59 pm

      Unemployment means plenty of time to enjoy weekday farmers markets. Most notably Santa Monica Wednesday. Yay for you!

      Reply
    5. sarah says

      October 27, 2005 at 2:49 am

      aw, you guys are too funny!

      exactly what i was thinking as well, of course! except that i also have jury duty, so conveniently scheduled...you know, that $15/day for jury service should cover me, don't you think?

      ah well, this just means i get to have lunch at all the downtown places that i would never get to otherwise. J-TOWN!!!!!

      Reply
    6. Kirk says

      October 27, 2005 at 3:50 am

      Oh-oh, Sarah in Little Tokyo, spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!

      Reply
    7. Kirk says

      October 27, 2005 at 3:50 am

      Oh-oh, Sarah in Little Tokyo, spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!!

      Reply
    8. Anonymous says

      October 27, 2005 at 3:54 am

      Sarah, are you at the downtown courts? If so you should definitely hit up all the places in J-town, the Grand Central Market, try Phillip's French Dip, too!

      Reply
    9. Robert Konigsberg says

      October 29, 2005 at 7:19 am

      I just ate at Thai Dishes in Santa Monica. We had the same soup as you. I have two comments about it:

      1. The menu said it included "shrimps". I saw no shrimp in the soup so I asked about it. The inexperienced waitress told me there was "one shrimp" in it. I can understand if there was a language-related typo, but I clarified that I ordered it because I wanted shrimp. I went back to the table, and, fishing through the soup, found the one shrimp. They came out several minutes later with a plate with one shrimp on it, which they dumped unceremoniously into the bowl. They can always use a little tape to remove the 's'.

      2. I never thought I'd say these three words. No, not "Support Intelligent Design." Not "No Gay Marriage." It was "Too Much Garlic." When I described it to my coworker, he said it was probably not very good garlic, which surprised me and made sense at the same time.

      This is surprising because, in general, wifie and I enjoy the food there. Keep your eye on the shrimps.

      Reply
    10. hermz says

      March 17, 2006 at 6:42 pm

      The fire-grilled orange stuff at El Pollo Loco was decent, but I
      always feel like I pay too much for what I get there. Which is why
      I've only eaten from there four times.

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published.

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Follow Me

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter

    if you shop on Amazon starting from here, TDL gets a teeny tiny affiliate commission!

    just a regular ol' ad

    Recent Posts

    quinoa tabbouleh with kale and cherries

    Quinoa Tabbouleh recipe with Kale and Cherries

    Latkes and Smoked Salmon Platter Recipe

    Cranberry, White Cheddar, Brie Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe

    pomegranate salsa in glass bowl with poemgranate seeds and lemon wedges on side

    Pomegranate Salsa [recipe]

    Copyright © 2022 · The Delicious Life