All in the Family: Mae Ploy Thai
Erin August 11th, 2008
I’m really bad with accents. Call it ignorance, call it American, call me hard of hearing - it’s something I struggle with. Especially at Thai restaurants, when I typically resort to pointing at menu items instead of insulting a beautiful language with my ugly attempts at pronunciations.
One such case where this is not necessary is Mae Ploy on 15th Ave and 65th. This little rinky-dink Thai assemble just passed its annual and seems to be holding down the fort as far as Thai goes in Ballard, despite their handful of tables that are rarely full even during peak rush hours.
Inexpensive, fast, flavorful and above all friendly to non-Thai speakers, Mae Ploy offers family-style eats in not only the portion sizes of their entrees but in the way that the family owned restaurant is ran every minute their doors are open by every member of the family. Not once have I been there - be it Saturday night or Wednesday for lunch - when at least three members of the family also have not been there. I hope they love their jobs.
The Fam also allows you choose “Thai spice,” something us sensitive-palated people have never done nor plan to but for those of you who load up your Saracha, going with the under-the-table double spices is advised.
As far as the food goes, three words - Tom Kah Soup. The coconut based delicacy goes down like water. Toss some brown rice in there (available with no additional cost, surprisingly) and you’ve got a coconut-curried- meat of your choice bowl of amazingness. A couple other words to remember - Swimming Rama, any of the satay appetizers, the classic Phad Thai and any of the available curries (my favorite is the red but it’s hotter than you’d expect).
One thing to ignore - the horrible, 90’s cover music of popular songs from your past (e.g. “Unchained Melodies” and “Sweet Caroline”) blare from a retro boombox that makes even the original i-Pod cringe. The aesthetics of the restaurants look like the children of the family just got back from arts and crafts camp and there wasn’t enough room on the fridge for their creativity. The restaurants was then punished with the decor.
A final word of advice - come hungry or don’t come at all. The Mae Ploy Fam is not joking around with their platters but will happily box it up for you to take home.
What I want to know is… What’s going in in the old Quizno’s space next door…. Mae Ploy expanding, or another asian food option.
FWIW, I love Mae Ploy and wish it was more full every time I went there… I worry that they’ll close….