The Lunchbox: Fool me thrice?

After vowing to never return to the little ol lunchbox in downtown Gainesville, I found myself starting at its menu yet again. I knew the original owners had sold the place and was assured that quality had actually improved. As far as the original owners, I can't think of a better move for someone so out of touch with culinary skills. The new owner, unfortunately, hadn't changed the menu at all and I was faced with the same 4 boring choices. To reiterate, they are:

1. asian sandwich
2. asian style taco
3. latin style taco
4. rice bowl

To each of these, you'd add a protein (ribs, chicken, baked tofu, fried fish) and voila, lunch. For some unknown reason, they love pickled cabbage, pickled onions, and cilantro. In fact, those seem to be the only ingredients available to them as each of the above 4 choices comes with them on top/inside. I'd venture to say that nothing is less appealing than baked tofu with a few pieces of cilantro and some pickled vegetables.

Today, I decided to do my last resort test for any place in town, venture into the carnivore realm. I'm trying to avoid meat, but consider myself at best a non-strict vegetarian; therefore, I tried the chicken latin-style tacos.

In all honesty, they weren't bad. The tortillas and the chicken were pretty fresh and tasty, and even the garlic-lime mojo sauce was pretty good (albeit weakly flavored for such bold ingredients). I didn't feel ripped off and I didn't think the meal was totally lacking of any quality. I do still feel with all my being that the pickled vegetables HAVE TO GO. Also, I got more than 4 tortilla chips this time but they tasted fishy as they were surely fried up in the same oil as the fish.

All in all I wasn't blown away, but I was hopeful. If the new owner reads this, there's no reason you can't be better than what you bought. First off, ditch the baked tofu. It's terrible. This is a tempeh town. Hook up some great tempeh from one of our local providers. Fry that shit up or bake it and it will be infinitely better than the tofu.

New Owners at Bahn Thai: I'm worried

I've already reviewed Bahn Thai on this blog and gave it a pretty favorable review. Certainly it's in a shady part of town, the decor is kinda creepy, and the fact that their front wall is emblazoned with photos from 1992 makes you wonder the last time they cleaned up the place. But all in all, it was good. It was a Mom and Pop operation, with Mom up front and Pop working the kitchen. You somehow trusted their preparation practices and food quality because they were personally connected to the business. Also, they'd been doing it for ages.

Upon recently re-visiting the place twice in the past few months, I realized something was up. The first hint was a remodeling job that half the restaurant underwent. Chairs, tables, and sculptures that were clearly bought at a restaurant goods bankruptcy auction replaced the old dingy tables, and the walls received some fresh paint (which upon closer inspection was very poorly done). They also were offering sushi and japanese food items.

I quickly realized something was up.

Upon the dinner visit (at 8:30 on a Saturday), the lunch buffet was still out, all congealed and crusted to the pans some 7+ hours after it was last touched. Furthermore, I noted that the sushi coolers had heavy condensation. After looking closer, I realized that the doors were open. All this RAW FISH was being exposed to the open air in suboptimal refrigeration conditions.

The new owners purchased all the old recipes and the regular menu items were still accurate to the originals. But they stopped the complimentary dessert! It was a small gesture, but certainly a welcomed one and a favorite item of many long time locals.

If you need advice on when to be skeptical about a place's sushi, you shouldn't be eating sushi at all, but I'd strongly, and with all my powers, urge you to AVOID their sushi. The Thai still seems acceptable, but I'm not feeling too hopeful. There wasn't one other party eating dinner on a Saturday night in the whole place.

Bahn Thai was never the best Thai Restaurant in the world, but it was certainly the best we had in this town. If the new owners don't get their act in gear, it will be a shame to lose it.