Venue Review: Thai Garden

GEORGETOWN — Around the Bluegrass, a vast majority of Thai restaurants Americanize their curries, noodles and soups. The result is a hyphenated set of compromises, American-Thai, that eliminate surprise and substitute safety. Financially, that's rational, but gastronomically, some diners want more.

Thai Garden is a small, sweet and fun dining spot that has great service but also is making the case for pushing the envelope.

The least-pleasing dishes were those most generically Asian and the least Thai, lacking the thrill of chilies, lemongrass or doses of fish sauce typical of authentic Thai cuisine. Examples include the Thai roll ($4.99), a fried egg roll that could easily be found at a buffet; and steamed dumplings ($5.99), fabulously light won tons encasing a predictable filling of pork and cabbage. Also, the yum woon sen salad ($8.99), with lots of clear noodles, shrimp and squid, sliced onion and iceberg lettuce (but no pickled garlic), was not more exciting than that.

Now to the ones we liked.

Everything sauce-based at Thai Garden was rich yet light. The excellent tom yum soup with chicken ($7.99), warm with galangal (mild ginger root), bright with lemongrass and lime leaves and judiciously spicy, hit the mark brilliantly. Red curry with tender beef, zucchini and peas ($7.99) got the coconut milk ratio just right: silky but not too thick.

Pineapple's presence in the pineapple fried rice ($7.99) with pork and eggs, peas and corn, gave it its Thai personality. Chicken pad thai ($7.99), although in need of more scallions, was generous on the chopped peanuts. Pad cashew with tofu, a simple stir-fry with bits of pineapple ($7.99), did a nice job of balancing sweetness and salt.

On the whole, it was a good dinner. But, shortly before closing time, curiosity got the better of me and, emboldened by staff friendliness, I asked whether the kitchen would make us something they and their Thai friends and family might eat, something not on the menu.

Eureka!

We were brought salty and sour chicken tenders ($7.99), sautéed but not breaded, with a small side of sticky rice (a textural treat), lettuce leaves to make wraps and a dipping sauce for chili flavor. Seeing our enthusiasm and interest, a warm dessert ($4.99) arrived, consisting of sweet sticky rice, the best mango slices anywhere and a gentle sweet coconut sauce on top. Both were delicious, and both are not found elsewhere.

The moral of the story? There are two: Give Georgetown's Thai Garden a chance, and it never hurts to ask for what you want.

Dinner for four, consisting of nine dishes, with tax but not tip, was about $75.