The comment section of Owensboro Times tends to lose its mind every time a new restaurant opens, lamenting our food scene’s lack of diversity beyond chicken tenders and coffee shops. And we get it. But tucked in the corner of a strip mall at 2601 West Parrish Avenue sits a little gem of a place you shouldn’t overlook. Chef Will and I headed over to Thai Food Owensboro to open up the spicy floodgates.
The appetizer menu starts off unassuming enough with eggrolls, samosas, and a fresh shrimp spring roll, all delicious and made in-house. But the real MVP? The sauces. If you think neon-red sweet and sour sauce is the standard, we would like you to broaden your horizons past the sickeningly sweet goop that slides out of fast casual chains or the bottle you find on the shelf at Kroger. Instead, dip absolutely anything into Thai Food Owensboro’s version, crowned with crushed peanuts, if your allergy intolerances allow. You’ll be on a different plane of existence. And if you want to step completely out of your egg roll dip box, they serve a peanut sauce that you can literally dip anything in … maybe even a chicken tender from one of the plethora of places we spoke about earlier!
While we were dining, a table of at least 10 firemen was holding court in the center of the restaurant. If you want to know if a place has excellent food, follow the firemen. They know how to handle the heat!
Chef Will really wanted to try the drunken noodles, but he is a better man than I and elevated the heat level to a Scoville I was not prepared for. He added pork, which I may or may not do again, but they arrived glistening and delicately glazed in a savory and sweet, and incredibly spicy, sauce. The flavors pushed beyond the heat, and although at the time I was worried about more than the extinction of my taste buds, ultimately the heat subsided, and the layers of flavor won the war.
Next up was Gang Keiow Wan, green curry paste and coconut milk, with shrimp, kaffir leaf, Thai eggplants, and red peppers. This is already spicy before they ask you what spice level you want, so I had to put a hard stop on adding any additional level of burn to this masterpiece. Served with white rice, this is my favorite dish. It’s the one I DoubleDash to myself when the children want chicken tenders (do you see a theme here?). I always ask for extra eggplant. I didn’t even know I liked eggplant until I discovered these small, round, green jewels of the vegetable garden.
Our next dish may seem basic, like the chicken-cheese-and-rice of Thai food, but it had to be done for science. Thai Owensboro serves some incredible Pad Thai. You can add a protein, but why mess with perfection? Silken rice noodles, a sauce with that telltale tamarind flavor, spicy and a bit sweet, cabbage, eggs, topped with chopped peanuts and fresh chives. This dish is never going to miss here and is a great place to start your Thai Food Owensboro adventure. It may just become a replacement for your chicken tenders.
The menu here is stacked with dishes from the family’s heritage that you may have never heard of, but they walk you through every bite, and always make great recommendations. Think of it as a culinary vacation from ranch dressing.
We highly recommend you go on this food adventure. Take great pictures of the landmarks that get delivered to your table. Step outside your comfort zone, or if you are in the know, maybe it’s time to head back for a repeat trip. Owner, Nang Crowe, is the perfect tour guide for your adventures beyond the chicken tenders of the world, and her food is absolutely Forks Up.
