The Floating Market Noodle Soup—with its pig’s-blood-fortified broth and pork rinds bobbing on the surface—remains one of the most distinctive dishes found in area Thai restaurants, a bowl of salty/sweet/tangy/hot that amounts to a trip to one of the world’s great eating destinations. But what endears us to this restaurant is its mastery of more conventional fare—a killer pad Thai that balances its various competing flavors; a papaya salad that sings of freshness as it singes the tongue; and a stir-fry of butterflied shrimp, garlic, and white pepper that looks simple and tastes complex.
Also good: Crispy mussels; pork kaprow; drunken noodles.
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
