I’m Glad There’s Mediocre Thai Food in Canton
Pad Thai at Thai Smile
My heart sank the moment I stepped foot in Canton’s newest restaurant, Thai Smile, and the smell of fish sauce -- second only to almond extract as earth’s best odor -- failed to occupy my nostrils.
I knew then what I feared most to be the case: the food was neutered for us White Folk. And who can blame the owners for this? After all, restaurants are a business, and I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t gamble mine on the hope that a consistent stream of surrounding locals wouldn’t be incurious, spice-averse, troglodytes.
Listen, I’m not stupid. I knew Thai Smile wouldn’t bring Bangkok to Canton. But I held out hope it might nevertheless satisfy a sorely needed alternative to Chinese or Indian takeout. One can only suffer so much General Tso’s or Butter Chicken before simply needing Pad Thai.
And while of course I could get Thai Cuisine -- which I quite like, although it’s also quite White -- I’m not driving to fucking Potsdam for a crab rangoon. Don’t quote me on that.
Even in food-forsaken Canton, I don’t think it’s delusional to have decent expectations. A1 Kitchen and Indian Express are both excellent, and any new Thai restaurant would be judged among its exotic peers. I am sorry to say it falls short of that standard.
I don’t want to sound churlish. It wasn’t awful, and the restaurant is newborn. It takes time to iron wrinkles and streamline operations. Plus, I saw they’re short-staffed, which could explain some issues. They’ve been swamped, too. The first time I went, we were told it’d be an hour and a half wait. I was happy! At least they were getting business.
Honestly, part of me didn’t even want to try it. That space on Hodskin Street is cursed. Just in the last few years it’s been a cupcake parlor, a Jamaican restaurant, and a BBQ joint. I didn’t want to form an emotional attachment. What if I liked it? It’d be like befriending a child with Stage 4 cancer.
Accepting that I might be opening myself to the anguish of loving something finite and foredoomed, I approached the counter and placed an order for Pad Thai, fried spring rolls, fresh spring rolls, crab rangoons, and drunken noodles.
Fresh spring rolls at Thai Smile
The fresh spring rolls were pretty good. They could have been stuffed fuller but the innards were fine. It came with that classic see-through Thai dipping sauce that’s sweet, vinegary, and fish-saucey. Instead of a thin liquid, however, their sauce was viscous, lending it the unappetizing consistency of semen -- or appetizing, depending on your inclinations.
That dipping sauce accompanied all three appetizers. If it were better, I’d have no complaints. But as is, I had trouble, erm, swallowing it. The fried spring rolls were decent, but they’re tiny, and the oil they were fried in was old or burnt or something. You could taste a layer of it clinging to the outside of the wrapper.
The crab rangoons have huge upside potential. The fried wonton skin was great. But I am almost certain there was no crab in mine. Or green onions, which I think also ought to be in there.
The portion-size for the Pad Thai was good, which is all I really care about these days, but it was saccharine, carrot-heavy, and just, I don’t know, just bland. It felt uncourageous and plain for a dish that’s supposed to be bold and sour and smelly. And, not that I was expecting it, but there was no discernable wok hei. Pretty sure everything was sauteed in a non-stick pan.
One of my friends put it best: Thai Smile, she said, offers a college dining hall interpretation of Thai food.
Why, then, when I think of Thai Smile do I not frown? Is it because the owners are nice? Or because there were chess boards on the tables? Is it because I so badly want good Thai food in Canton that I’m willing to brainwash myself?
Maybe it’s because I think they’ll improve over time, or because even a mediocre Thai restaurant adds richness and diversity to a town that desperately needs both.
All I know is that, for some reason, when I think of Thai Smile, I think of hope. The kind of hope that one can only possess at the prospect of Progress.
The immigration police are prowling the streets, the fancy algorithms are propping Nazis, the robber-barons are kneeling to Donald Trump, the Bills lost again to the Chiefs, and we all might perish from polio next month. But dammit, Canton has a Thai restaurant now. Fascism rises, but it can’t pluck all the flowers that sprout beneath it. And that fills me with hope. Even if the Pad Thai kinda blows.
