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Friday, March 24, 2017

Squid Eats: East West Cafe

via yelp
Saturday night was Vermont Symphony night for us.  We went to East West Cafe for our pre-concert dinner.  A relatively new Thai place in downtown Burlington, East West is tiny with seating room for maybe 15.  It's popular, too.  We had the place to ourselves when we arrived around six but it was full when we left, with a steady stream of take out customers, too. 

No wonder.  The food was great.  We shared gyoza and duck salad for appetizers.  I had pad kra pow for my main course.  They are not wimpy with the spices!  Mind you, I like heat but this was just short of painful.  I expect we'll definitely be back but I'll request medium spicy next time.  Of course, mango sticky rice for dessert makes everything better.

It was a nice concert, too: the Adagietto from Mahler's 5th, Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto and Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony.  The Mahler was especially lovely.  Joseph Kalichstein was the pianist for the Beethoven.  His is a wonderfully elegant touch.

18 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. You know, one of the first dishes that truly made me fall in love with Thai food was a squid dish. I'd forgotten about it until just now.

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  2. We have an East West cafe here, but it's not Thai food.
    We don't have any really good Thai places left around here. The one that we loved got bought out some years ago. Afterward, the quality of the food went down and the prices went up.

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    1. That's a shame. You'd think there'd be plenty in California.

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  3. I like heat too as long as it's not too painful! the food sounds delightful and the music is great atmosphere. Thanks for sharing such a sweet review, and I'm wishing you a def Friday Armchair Squid.

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  4. You two are adventurous.

    Love,
    Janie

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    Replies
    1. The girl does pretty well, too. She's not as keen on Thai as the two of us are but even she said she'd go back.

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  5. The food looks just wonderful ! I always order medium till I know their spicy level. Or you get the one day where the chef is crazy mad.
    The music sounds lovely. Nice way to start the weekend.

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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    1. In my experience, especially around here, restaurants aren't too daring with spices. It was actually a pleasant surprise. But yes, I think I'll ask them to tone it down next time.

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  6. Awesome. The food look good!

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  7. Sounds like an awesome night! I like heat- but heat doesn't always like m. :)
    ~Jess

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  8. Sounds like a good night. Don't remember the last time I went to the symphony or opera (I prefer the opera, it's the storyteller in me). I also haven't had Thai food in a while (been on an Indian kick) but this place sounds great.

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    1. Sadly, we don't have an opera company in town. In truth, I am more of a symphony enthusiast anyway, a little surprising in that as a performer and teacher, I am far more a vocalist than an instrumentalist.

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