Growing up with Laos and Thai food, it’s always been extremely difficult to find authentic Thai food that didn’t compromise flavors to fit white-washed demands. Think Pei Wei and P.F. Changs. But if food is food, and you can’t tell the difference anyway, this place isn’t a bad spot to visit. On a girl’s night out, I proposed a very ambitious plan to really “sample” what Crushcraft Thai had to offer.
Five girls and a menu comprised of 9 main dishes in total, we ordered everything, numbers one through nine and sake bombs to kick off.
The restaurant is fairly new, so on a Friday night, it wasn’t very packed (although that might change soon as fads catch on quickly), and we were all so glad we didn’t have to wait an hour for a stupid table. Feed. Us. Now.
Food came out pretty quickly in reminiscent Chipotle-esque style bowls and there was still plenty left over.
Here’s a quick run down of what we ate and my personal thoughts of each dish. It was difficult to choose the best dish. Each dish was so difficult to compare to each other.
1. Drunken Noodles: Probably the table’s favorite. It’s a staple and a usual go to for a lot of people. The flavor was there and it is pretty tasty.
2. Moo Ping: I thought the sliced pork was a little dry. Not something I’d really rave about.
3. There was a half and half vote for this one. I am a huge fan of sunny side up eggs on anything and I loved the all the components that made up each bite.
4. The Laap Isaan was another good one. Ground pork with a good dash of lime paired well with the sticky rice and lettuce cups.
5. Pad Thai: Well…it’s Pad Thai. I don’t usually care for this dish, but it’s better than some of the other imitations out there.
6. Gang Panang Neua: It was a little sweet and I wasn’t a fan of the curry flavors. It was a little over-powering.
7. Khai Soi: NOT A FAN. The eggs noodles and curry just did not sit well with me. My least favorite dish and I gave that hoe two chances.
8. Tiger’s Cry: Thought the meat was also a bit dry, like it was sitting out for a bit. I was expecting sliced flank with juices still running out, but that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t memorable.
9. Crew’s Current Craving: Can’t for the life of me remember the name of this dish but I liked it. I enjoyed the slices of pork with the sweet bbq sauce over the meat and rice. Definitely ask for the special and see what’s new. I’m assuming this changes quite often.
10. Papaya salad: I personally don’t like papaya salad because I am a pansy and can’t handle spicy levels passed mild. My mom raised a wuss for a daughter, but my white friend like it! Just an FYI for those who hate seafood, there’s shrimp in this side so beware!
Crushcraft gets points for concept and decor. I feel like so many people go for the norms of pad thai or drunken noodles, they forget Thai cuisine is very much centered around finger foods and sticky rice too. There were a lot more rice dishes than noodle dishes, something very unusual compared to other Thai- or Thai Fusion restaurants. The menu leaned more toward traditional and I applaud them for that. I hope they are able to fine tune their dishes.
This locale has the potential to draw in all sorts of people. I’d go back for the convenience of the location. A stone’s throw from uptown bars such as BBC, Prime Bar, Concrete Cowboy, etc AND opened till 3 a.m.?! Sure, why not.
