PGH Dining: Pusadee's Garden

We dined at Pusadee's Garden on a night it monsooned in PGH. The rain was coming down so hard that it almost bent my umbrella. Seriously.

Pusadee's has a lovely patio, adorned with plants and cozy seating, but we didn't get to enjoy that {OBVIOUSLY}. Instead, we were seated at one of the white-tableclothed tables near the window in the front of the restaurant, with a view of the monsoon. It seemed so pleasant from the inside looking out. We were pleased with the simple, yet complete, Thai menu. There were spring rolls to curries, and tom yum soup to lighter dishes like eggplant basil stir-fry. 

We started with the garden roll, which was filled with vegetables and served with a chili-carrot sauce. The cilantro and mint combination was refreshing in the roll.

 We then moved on to the tom kar, which is a coconut soup. We ordered it with vegetables only, since we had a curry coming. It was delicious! {But then again, we love anything with that creamy coconut milk inside.}

Mushrooms, broccoli and carrot simmered in a coconut broth.

To finish off out appetizers {haven't we had enough appetizing?!}, we had the grilled shrimp salad with chili lime dressing. This salad was nothing like the description on the menu. We never though it'd come with stewed tomatoes on top, and the lime flavor must have been masked by the tomato mixture. It was good, but NOT what we were expecting to arrive at the table. 

 Finally, we shared the pumpkin curry with chicken, kabocha squash, zucchini and carrots. It was a fabulous dish, but we hardly tasted the pumpkin. There was a hint of squashiness, but it came from the kabocha. I missed the pumpkin!

 The meal ended with my noshing down on a bay leaf:

Isn't that a sign for good luck? If so, I'll take it, especially since it was in the shape of a heart!

Pusadee's Garden was good, but not overwhelmingly. I'm sure that if we were to have sat on the patio for dinner, our view of our meal would have been even more enjoyable. Also, the menu was somewhat misleading, and we missed a few of the majorly advertised flavors in multiple dishes {i.e. lime, chili, and pumpkin}. The waitstaff was excellent, and we'll likely be walking over to give it another shot sometime this summer.

Neighborhood: UpLa, Upper Lawrenceville

Good For: Dates, BYOB, Family Dinners

Gems: Patio Seating, Well-Rounded Menu

Drawbacks: Misleading Menu Items

PGH Dining: Smiling Banana Leaf

Last Friday night Husband and I were wanting to celebrate my success with all of the interviews I've been having {answers should be coming soon!}, but we've been going out A LOT lately. We decided on Smiling Banana Leaf, because of it's great reviews on Urban Spoon, it's close-by, and it's affordability. AND, it's Thai. Can't go wrong with that combination.

Located in Highland Park/Morningside, which is a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from us in UpLa, Smiling Banana Leaf is somewhat hidden in a residential area. After eating there, I might consider moving! 

We parked alongside the restaurant, and walked in to notice it's a TINY place. There's probably only room for 20 people to have dinner. We were asked by the hostess if we had a reservation {No?}, then were seated almost immediately in the only open table available. The one waitress came over shortly, and handed us one page, front-and-back menus. We proceeded to order two appetizers: Wonton Soup and Thai-Style Samosas.

Wonton Soup

The soup was filled with good-sized pork-filled wontons. They were cooked perfectly, and were complimented by the meaty broth. The mushrooms in the soup were particularly good, and weren't super normal or of the expected type. 

Look at that goodness!

The Thai-style samosas were MUCH smaller than I expected, as I was used to the pea and potato variety that are the size of your palm. These, however, were dainty and small. Their flavor was much more subdued, without the heavy spices of the normal samosa. These were still filled with potato, but were lighter. They were served with a sweet cucumber sauce, but were great with or without it. I wish there were a few more on the plate, because of the price {$5}.

For our main dishes, we ordered the massaman curry and the pad ped talay {Stir-fried mixed seafood with garlic, chili paste, onion, Kaffir lime leaves and green beans}.

Massaman Curry

The curry was "the best I've ever had," according to Husband. He's had a few curries in his time, and this one is his favorite, mainly because of the creaminess and the richness of the spices used. We could detect cinnamon, star anise and clove. Outstanding dish.

I took charge of the seafood dish, and ordered it very spicy. The plate was overwhelmed with tons of calamari, scallops, shrimp,  and fish fillets. Everything was cooked well, and nothing was hard and rubbery. The sauce itself was the essence of what Thai food tastes like to me: spicy and complex. You might only be able to pick out 3 of the blended ingredients, but you know it takes many to make it delicious. The green beans were such a nice surprise, too!

The portions were large, as expected, and we had enough for a lunch the next day. I cooked a generous portion of sushi rice, and poured the containers over top. 

Smiling Banana Leaf is one of our new favorites, and we can't wait to go back for more. One word of caution - for those that like to eat their Thai food with chop sticks, you have to ask for them! The tables are outfitted with forks only. {*Update: I've been privy to some information about chop stick availability...It's not typical for Thai cuisine to be served with chop sticks. I just prefer it!} Take your next date to have Thai food, and dine in a cozy restaurant!