April 27, 2012
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Uniq’s Unique
In 2008 Thailand became the world’s first country to elect a celebrity chef as its Prime Minister. Minutes after accepting victory, Samak Sundaravej went grocery shopping with camera crews in tow and vowed that his new gig would not interfere with his television show. He had been warned against making that vow. The Thai Constitution does not allow elected officials to work for private companies like TV networks. After five months of arguments, the Constitutional Court of Thailand unanimously disqualified Samak from office. He died less than a year later. Samak’s strange saga has been recounted to illustrate two different points. 1.) Culinary expertise is revered in Thai culture. (Another Thai Prime Minister invented the national dish pad thai as a key element of his economic policy in the 1930’s.) 2.) Television obsession is a weirdly modern form of hubris – “Greek tragedy as farce” as one pundit put it. Both points came to mind on visits to the metro’s newest Thai restaurant Uniq Cuisine.
Uniq Saysinuan’s one room café is painted a warm yellow with bodhisattva’s for good luck and a large high definition TV for distraction. Even the tableware was stylish.
On occasions when Uniq was working alone or with other women, the TV was muted, or so low in volume I never noticed it. When men worked in the front room, the television was tuned in to game shows and talk shows at high volume. I heard more about the side effects of both bladder control medications and erectile dysfunction drugs than I ever wanted to know. Even so, Uniq’s culinary expertise gave me reason to tolerate the ambiance.
She explained that she is half Thai and half Laotian and that her Thai cooking is influenced by Laotian preferences for less subtlety and more complicated flavors.
Her two versions of green papaya salad illustrated that well. Her Thai salad mixed thin slices of papaya with lime juice, chile, tomato and a sweetened fish sauce. Her “tum mua” version added carrots, cabbage and pork rinds.
Hot crisp egg rolls, crab Rangoon,
tightly wrapped spring rolls,
lightly sweetened cucumber salad, and chicken wings were all nicely executed but rather indistinguishable from others around town.
Pho (beef stock noodle soup) did not disappoint or stand out either.
Fried beef balls delivered sliced meat balls colorfully dropped into a bright red “sweet & sour sauce” that did not have the cloying sweetness of most things that go by that name.
Thai soups and curries were marvelously bold and beautiful. Her tom ka gai was a bright red rather than the pale green I’ve usually seen.
It was hardly overwhelmed with red chilies though. The flavors of coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, ginger, and kaffir lime leaves all accented the mushrooms and chicken meat of Thailand’s most famous soup. Curries brought considerably more broth and flavors, not just chili paste and coconut milk. Basil, lemongrass, eggplant and zucchini maintained their identities in both “sweet green”
and red versions.
A spicy fish stir fry dish became a veritable curry with considerable sauce under tilapia, baby corn, two kinds of mushrooms, basil, peppers, tomatoes, ginger and celery.
Fried rice with pineapple
and Pad Thai
were by-the-book dishes, balancing the four basic flavors without the boldness of Uniq’s curries and soups.
Thai iced tea delivered fresh cream resting on top of the beverage.
A complimentary dessert of coconut gelatin provided an unexpected treat.
Bottom line – Uniq makes some of the best Thai food around, with or without TV commercials blaring.
Uniq Cuisine
1903 EP True Pkwy, West Des Moines, 225-1547
Daily 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Side Dishes
Top chefs are restless this spring. Pastry Chef Jessica Dunn moved from Baru66 to Crème Cupcakes… Sean Wilson left Cuatro and Kirkwood Lounge to buy Proof. Hal Jasa became his sous chef. They changed almost nothing about lunch service but will be expanding dinner in their own creative ways… Tony Lemmo and Phil Shires (Café di Scala) bought Flour and are remodeling. The menu, name and look will change.
This column first appeared in Des Moines’ Cityview magazine.
