As the husband and I drove home from Buddha Ruksa last night, he wondered whether their fried chicken was blog-worthy. I said sure, why not? He countered with, well then what about General Tso's chicken, would you blog about that? I said that I guess it would depend on how good it was. I'm probably not going to write about the General Tso's chicken from the Safeway, but possibly will write about the orange chicken from Panda Express. Clearly these are not purveyors of down home southern fried chicken, but the chicken is definitely fried, so what the hell....
The husband has been talking up the crispy garlic chicken at Buddha Ruksa for years, and he got on such a tear about it at one point last year during my post-baby confinement that he got take out. Honestly, I can't remember what it was like then, since I was probably rapidly shoving it in my face over the sink so that I could get back to the screaming milk-crazed infant. Now that the milk-crazed infant has turned into a respectable and generally well-behaved toddler, we often take him out to eat with us, that is when we decide that we don't need to buy gas that week. So, at four in the afternoon last Sunday when the husband and I were so starved we couldn't stand it anymore, we headed over to West Seattle to once again try the crispy garlic chicken.
Here's the good stuff I have to say about Buddha Ruksa: The decor is nice, and the gold carvings on the walls held my son's interest for several minutes. The wait staff is great--attentive and adoring of my kid (what parent doesn't want the waitresses to coo over their baby?). The appetizers were tasty. We got the crispy calamari and the crab wonton (aka crab rangoon, which if on a menu, the husband will certainly order). The husband said that the calamari was some of the best he's ever had. Even the kid liked it, and he's kinda picky.
Now the bad: We ordered the wonton phad thai, and the fact that I didn't like it was purely a result of my inability to fully read descriptions of menu items. I saw the words phad thai in the title, then read the part about "fried stuffed wonton" then promptly stopped reading. Had I continued, I may have realized that this dish has no noodles--the wonton are the replacement. So, it came out looking like regular phad thai until I noticed that what looked like noodles were in fact bean sprouts. Have I mentioned before how much I hate bean sprouts and how when I order phad thai I often ask for it without bean sprouts or at the very least remove the bean sprouts from the plate before I begin eating? No? Well, let's just say I don't really care for them. They're crispy and bitter and weird. So, I was not a big fan of the wonton phad thai (although the wonton part was good).
And the controversial: I know everyone LOVES the crispy garlic chicken and swears by it and wants to have its baby, but I don't really get it. It was so sweet, almost cloying, that I felt like I had to brush my teeth immediately afterward...like I'd eaten too many Hershey bars. The meat itself was a little dry too and not spicy enough. Sorry, world, but I will not be having the crispy garlic chicken's baby.
Finally, while the fortune cookies were predictably yummy, my fortune was,"You will read some information that will help you." I honestly can't think of a lamer fortune. Maybe, "You will drive home without incident," or "Your mother will call you this weekend." Whoever wrote that fortune should be fired.
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