Week 6: Thai Me Up!

I distinctly remember my first experience at a Thai Food restaurant; I was a sophomore in high school on a field trip in Boston. Our group decided to break out of the hotel room at night and head down the street a few blocks to one of my friends favorite Thai places. This was absolutely, without a doubt, the most rebellious thing that I had done up until that point in my life...I can still taste the iced tea and remember the low tables with floor cushions instead of chairs.

But jumping forward about seven years, it's 2009, and I must admit, I don't frequent Thai restaurants.

I blame this on the fact that I have zero tolerance for spicy anything. If I enter a restaurant where it is necessary to give a spice index on a scale of one to ten, I immediately break a sweat, request a negative five (-5), and pray that there isn't an accidental mixing issue behind the swinging doors.

I must admit, however, once I actually receive my food, I love it! This seems to be true of so many fears in life...(but that's for another blog entirely).

So, now you know, I'm a wimp when it comes to the sensitivity of my taste buds.

I learned about Thai Me Up from my roommate: "Oh, man, Kel --- I was walking around our new neighborhood [the South Side], and I looked into this restaurant --- it was called 'Thai Me Up.' It's a bold name for a restaurant, but I like it!" So did I, and that's how Thai Me Up was added to the Sweet-Cakes and Milkshakes queue.

I went to Thai Me Up today for dinner after classes with my previous roommate, excited to watch the South Side prepare for potential protesters through windows of one of the only remaining restaurants that has not yet boarded its entry.

Here's what the meal entailed:

- Thai Iced Tea: AN ESSENTIAL

- Fried Won Tons for an Appetizer: Chicken won tons, deep fried, with plum sauce (which I believe is the same thing as what I call "duck sauce," or if it isn't, I sure couldn't tell the difference). These were hands down the highlight of the meal (and so healthy, too).

- Thai Fried Rice with Shrimp: no spice index necessary. The menu describes this as having "a special brown sauce," as opposed to just soy sauce . I don't know what its ingredients were, but it was very special indeed.

The Bottom Line:

( ) Witty name? - Check

( ) Window seating for G20 watching? - Check

( ) Non-Spicy options for the weak ones? - Check

(Despite the aggressive name of this restaurant, they'll be gentle)

( ) Price wise, does it fit easily within a students once a week budget? - Check

And as a side note...

In eating our meal, we saw three out-of-county fire trucks drive by, two state troopers ride past, and one group of cell phone protesters (or at least we think that's what they were protesting) walking down the street. I couldn't be more excited that the G20 is in Pittsburgh --- so, readers, go embrace it tomorrow. Enter Pitt's campus as an aware world citizen, and be sure to get some delicious food to celebrate Pittsburgh Welcoming the World!