We left home on Saturday with the intention of meeting friends for lunch at a new(ish) Lao restaurant in St. Paul. Alas, we arrived to find they were randomly closed that day. To salvage the situation we headed to Hot Grainz, a mere 10 minutes drive away, down the other end of W. 7th St. We arrived to find some sort of art extravaganza in progress in the larger Schmidt’s complex. This meant we had to park quite a bit further away in the complex than we had on our first visit to their new location; but we did find parking easily enough. As we walked up to the restaurant, our hearts sank: there was yellow construction tape across the windows! Were they shut too? Thankfully, no: it turned out to be part of their Halloween decorations. Having been properly frightened we needed some good, hot food to restore us. And so it came to pass. Herewith the details.
We were a group of six and had to wait a bit for a table to be got ready for us. They were quite busy on Saturday. Maybe it was because of the art thingy happening outside but it was good to see: anybody eating there for the first time, for whatever reason, is bound to return. And if more people become regulars then they will continue to be there for us. It’s all about us.
Ordering continues to be via QR code at the table (and you pay at the start via the QR code). And they continue to be self-service for crockery and cutlery and water and so forth. Having got our order in and all our paraphernalia prepared, all we had to do was wait for the food and eat. We did not have to wait too long. Things began to come out one, two and three at a time and in no time at all our table was overloaded (my ordering habits have not become any more restrained with advancing age).
What did we get? First to arrive was the Northern Thai Larb which we got with pork and with sticky rice. The ground pork was quite a lot darker than the version we’d eaten at our first meal at Hot Grainz (at the old location). It was quite good but after my first small serving I lost track of it on our crowded table. And that’s partly because I gave all of my attention to a noodle dish that was new to us: Guay Tiew Heang. Salty, funky, sour (especially with the lime squeezed over) and hot, this was very good indeed. Speaking of sour, the Naem, or sour pork rib, was as good as ever, which is to say it was outstanding. I should say that you receive a much larger portion of it than my picture in the slideshow below might suggest: the greedy bastards I was eating with had mauled it before I could photograph it. Also sour and excellent was the Tom Saap soup with lots of tender tendon.
From the not-sour department came the following: Pad Prik Gang, green beans in a dry curry paste. We got it with crisp pork belly and a sunny-side egg on top. It was one of my favourite dishes at the meal. Though my absolute favourite remains the Pad Pak Boong or stir-fried morning glory, which we got on this occasion with perfectly cooked squid. Two carb-heavy dishes closed out the savoury part of the meal: Pad Ke Mao, which we got with chicken and Shrimp Fried Rice. Both were very good, neither were anything revelatory.
To fight the heat, some sweetness was needed at the end. We applied it once again via the Fried Bananas, which were again excellent.
For a closer look at everything we ate, please launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.
Oh yes, with two exceptions we got everything at the “two teaspoon” setting of heat. The exceptions were the Naem—which is not hot—and the Tom Saap, which we got at the “one teaspoon” setting. The “two teaspoon” dishes were still pretty hot, if not quite as sweat-inducing as the “one tablespoon” setting we had some things at one our previous visit—and certainly not as lethal as the “two tablespoon” setting that we tried on our second visit and will never risk again.
Price? With tax and tip and a small credit card surcharge, the total came to just about $212 or just about $35/head. Considering the leftovers—and also the over-eating to finish a few dishes—this was easily enough food for eight. So the effective per head price is closer to $27. A very good value at either price for the quality of the food. We have to get back to Krungthep Thai soon but right now I think Hot Grainz is clearly the best Thai restaurant in the Twin Cities. If you haven’t got out there yet, what are you waiting for?
Okay, what’s next on the food front? More Seoul and Delhi reports. Next week’s Twin Cities report will feature casual Mexican food.
Hello! Would you mind dropping the name of the Lao restaurant you were hoping to check out? Thanks!
Soul Lao.