Thai Restaurants in Arapaho

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For Shelly Nan, the decision of whom to put in the kitchen of her new restaurant, Bambu Asian Cuisine, was a simple one—her mother. Together, the pair has created a home-like ambiance that draws patrons and wayward teddy bears almost as much as the food. Dallas Observer food critic Hanna Raskin gushed that the “warmhearted owners and servers will explain everything to you (including, by your second visit, your own likes and dislikes).” Nan had connections to the defunct Sushi Rock, and some of its Japanese-style dishes made it to Bambu. However, the heart of Bambu’s menu is Esan-style cuisine, regional specialties from the northeastern part of Thailand. Some dishes spell out their affiliation—as with the Esan waterfall beef salad tossed with cilantro, fresh mint, scallions, red onion, and crushed, toasted rice—while others sneak it in. Dallas Morning News columnist Leslie Brenner said the Esan dishes “set [her] heart aflutter,” particularly the crying tiger beef with sticky rice, whose grains can be balled up and used to pick up both the beef slices and citrus-chili sauce. Like Raskin, Brenner also became quite attached to chef Bounmee Nanthaphak, admitting that “if someone condemned me to a desert island with only three ingredients, I’d ask if we could make it two ingredients and include Bounmee Nanthaphak to cook them.”

1930 N Coit Rd