Critic's Review
Sometimes you want a steak, so where do you go? Thai Spice of course.
Thai food doesn't interest me; reviewing another Pad Thai in Fort Lauderdale doesn't motivate me. But an Asian spiced USDA Prime Skirt Steak does.
This place has gotten a major face lift since I was here last in 2011. New sign, and lots of tables outside; reminds me a bit of Cafe Vico.
Inside there's a big bar with no people. I'm not sure the bar is even open at lunch time.. I got a booth in the dining room.
Lots of mirrors and the fish tanks from the 1980s. The restaurant is a lot more comfortable but they still don't get that people don't want to eat next to a huge mirror.
I check the menu to make sure they still offer the skirt steak (I'd checked online, but you can never be sure). The hostess erroneously told me the menu in the "book" was the dinner menu, but it wasn't. She had no idea what she was talking about; everything she told me was wrong. The steak comes with soup; no choice; just whatever they bring you.
I was expecting some broth with rice, but they brought me this.
At first I was horrified. What was this, some sort of ginger dressing soup. It was actually a Thai version of hot and soup soup.
It would have been a lot better without all of the wonton strips. I didn't want chips. Pro tip for restaurants:
If you want to ruin your soup, load it up with unwanted crunchy carbs
No ambiance here at all. Two other people in the restaurant confused about their Groupon; no music. The steak came out in 12 minutes.
Ah. Steak and baby bok choy. Bah on the rice, but who cares? Let's cut this baby and see what's inside.
Perfectly done. Notice the thickness of the cut. Most places (particularly the latin places) give you a skinny skirt steak, and its difficult to cook it anything other than medium/well. This is perfect.
The Tiger Tear dipping sauce is spicy and vinegary; interesting but I think I like the steak with just a bit of salt. I don't need spice on a steak.
The Bok Choy was cooked properly, but bits of burned garlic made it less than ideal. The garlic should flavor the oil; but burned garlic is bad. These are real baby plants. Tender and crunchy; overall pretty good.
I considered taking some of the steak home, but it's never as good re-heated.
They close at 3p, and I sensed that they were waiting for me to finish so some of them could go home. I didn't finish up until 3:07. Too bad for them.
$28.90 plus tip for this, including soup and refills.
Conclusion
There are a few dishes in Fort Lauderdale worth going out of your way for, and this is one of them. I don't know how good or bad the Thai food is, but for Asian spiced steak, you're not going to do much better than this.
Review 3/9/2011
Sometimes your biggest enemy is your expectations. Months ago I scoped out Thai Spice's menu and I'd been drooling over the thought of their flame broiled prime skirt steak ever since. How could it possibly live up to my fantasies? Every time I planned to go there something came up; most recently the construction on E Commercial just west of the place. But today I made it there.
When I arrived there was no hostess; nor anyone else around. A gentleman finally came by and seated me in a corner table by a fish tank. You might think that's something special; but there are a LOT of fishtanks.
I'm usually a bit creeped out by asian restaurants and this was no different; it just seemed so 1980. With mirrored walls, glass on the table (with advertisements tucked underneath), fish tanks and blue pendant lighting it was about as different from the Brickhouse (where I lunched yesterday) as could be.
There's also music playing a bit too loud, which would be ok if it wasn't what is was. I was treated to 'Golden Days', 'Streets Ahead', 'Ready to Play' with 'Soul Food to Go' as a finale.
Unlike the hostess, my server Rey was the consummate professional. Everything came quickly, he didn't bug me, and he passed by often enough to make sure that I had everything I needed. I didn't have to ask for anything.
The lunch specials include rice and either soup of the day or a salad with ginger dressing; the Thai salad isn't my thing so I opted for the chicken with rice soup (Kao Tom Gai). It had a load of rice in it, which I didn't want, not too much chicken, but the broth was good with just enough lime to keep my interest. I extracted the broth leaving a mound of rice in the bowl
I wasn't really interested in the soup anyway; the steak was the point of the visit. Shortly after I finished the soup it was delivered. My server had delivered a steak knife shortly before.
The steak is a flame broiled prime black angus; a nice thick cut for a skirt, and absolutely perfectly medium rare. It has a slight hint of soy/garlic. I'm not sure if I've ever had a prime skirt before; skirts are pretty fatty without being prime. This steak was delicious. Skirts are usually expectedly a bit tough, but not this one. The bok choy, stir fried with garlic was a wondrous accompaniment; the kitchen folk at Big City should come here and learn how not to ruin this delicate vegetable.
I had opted for the egg fried rice, but after 2 tastes I concluded that it wasn't worth the calories. I'm not sure if I was supposed to eat the other leafy stuff on my plate, so I didn't. The steak and the bok choy was plenty for my meal. No take home today. I ate it all.
What's unique about Thai Spice is that it's a Thai Steakhouse, so if you're not into the usual curries and pad thai you can get yourself a flame broiled porterhouse here. Their dinner menu is quite extensive. And even with my comments about the ambience, it's a lot better than most other Thai places in Fort Lauderdale.
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