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SEE
ALSO
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Neecha
lost a Thai Füd Trial
versus Suriya
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Pretrial
hearing at Someplace Else
11/08/00
McClure
Well,
if you like Thai food you are going to like Neecha. We started with
a couple of appetizers. Poh Pia Neecha (Thai style fried crepes stuffed
with ground shrimp, ham, chicken, carrots, sesame seeds, and ground
peanuts). The dish sounds extraordinary but after a description like
that it was only okay. It seemed to be a little heavy on the carrots
and light on the other goodness. Next appetizer was Yum Nuar: charbroiled
sliced beef, marinated with lemon grass, mint leaves, and onions in
spicy lime dressing, aptly named because it was yummy.
 Now for the entrees.
We shared three marvelous dishes, Palam Long Song (Sautéed beef
with spinach, topped with peanut sauce), Garlic Pork (marinated B.B.Q
pork with Thai herbs, served with spicy sauce) and Pla Muk Tawd (calamari
deep fried with garlic and pepper). My favorite was the mouth watering
pork, seasoned and cooked to perfection. It was definitely the highlight
of the meal. If you like your pork tasty go get some at Neecha. The
calamari was right behind the pork for good eating. The dippin' sauce
and the crunchy seasoned batter made it some of the best calamari I've
met. The beef with the spinach and the peanut sauce was no slouch. Add
'em all together and you have one awesome Thai restaurant. Neecha provides
wonderful food and friendly service in a nice atmosphere.
Turner
For the Court's
first Thai excursion, we picked a winner. Thanks to reader-eater Pamela
for the fine suggestion. The bib is in the mail! What took us so long
to do a Thai joint is beyond me, but now that we've had a taste I expect
the Thai floodgates to open wide.
Neecha has a pleasant
atmosphere and attentive staff, but the food is where it's at. Our first
appetizer (Yum Nuar - a spicy, grilled beef salad) went POW!!! in my
mouth, and can be described as a "flavor bomb." The other appetizer
(Poh Pia Neecha - stuffed, fried crepes) sounded phenomenal on the menu,
but fell a little short in person. Still, it was quite tasty, with a
zippy sauce to go with it.
Main dishes: The
Palam Long Song was another flavor bomb of beefy, spinachy, peanuty
delights. POW!! The fried calamari (Pla Muk Tawd) would please even
squid haters. Fresh, tender, crispy-spicy, with another zip-zing sauce.
POW!! And finally, the jewel of the meal, the Garlic Pork (sorry, no
Thai name). One word for the pork: KABOOM!!! Marinated and BBQ'd to
perfection. Perfection I tell you! Warning: the sauce served for dipping
with the pork could also be used to remove chrome from a trailer hitch.
That is, it's very, very hot. Use sparingly.
All in all Neecha
qualifies as a very good restaurant in my book. The food was nearly
perfect, the atmosphere quite pleasant, and the prices are reasonable.
Around 6 bucks for the appetizers, 7 or 8 for the dishes. I'd like to
see a little more on the plate portion-wise, but if you are not as gluttonous
as the Füd Court that might not bother you.
Vardigan
The 38 Geary is no
way to travel. Particularly when you have to be somewhere at a certain
time. While Judge McClure was zipping over to the Court on his motor cickle,
Judge Turner and I were trying to track down the 38, whose pick-up points
leave a busload to be desired. We ended up at least a half-hour late for
the pre-trial hearing. Thankfully, fellow judge Judge McClure was good-natured,
forgiving, and even sympathetic about it (he used to ride buses, too).
The rest of the outing
was smoother. Someplace Else is a nice place for a pretrial hearing, and
if ever you've got tickets for a Fillmore show, I recommend stopping in
there first -- it's just across and up the street.
Neecha Thai was very
good. I believe Manora in South of Market beats it, but we'll have to
wait for the Trial for that judgment. The charbroiled garlic pork was
excellent, and the spinach, beef, and peanut sauce standby was solid.
My one complaint: portions. Pre-tty skimpy. But overall, tough to beat
the tastes at Neecha. Although I'm sure some other restaurants will argue
with that -- stay tuned for Thai Füd Trials in the future.
Thanks
to reader-eater Pamela for suggesting Neecha.
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