Celadon

Today was Bert's bday and he chose Celadon as our dining destination. This post was actually written on 9/9, but I had in it blogger on 9/8!

Joining us was Lotus (sans Thor who was in Dallas for work). You can see Lotus and TC about to enter the restaurant, located on 3671 5th Avenue in Hillcrest. This was the former site of MIXX which closed several years ago. Here is a recent review from a local food blogger and Yelp's . Celadon has had three locations over the past decade. Their first location was across the street on the site of Hash House a Go Go. Then, it moved to University Avenue, near the Hillcrest sign and took over the former Thai Foon restaurant space. We had a memorable dinner there a while back with a "free show" by a pair of amorous lesbians (with one in male drag). Now, Celadon is back on 5th and has a new look. Black and white...very modern. This is the lounge area. You can see me (ha ha! my first appearance on my blog) on the far left corner.
When we walked in, I remember feeling a bit of deja vu. Then I realized, this used to be Mixx, which I hadn't been to since TC was born. After passing the white baby grand, you go up a short flight of steps into a fairly long and dimly lit dining area. There was also a patio out in the back.

Bert had the Thao Tini ($11---yikes!) which consisted of Absolut Pear, Absolut Vodka, sweet and sour, triple sec and pear juice. There was also a very alcoholic maraschino cherry at the bottom of the glass. He ended up having two of these. I was the designated driver last night.

Our appetizer was the Fresh Spring Rolls ($8.00). It was your standard spring rolls with glass noodles, tofu, carrot, mint, and lettuce. The sauce was peanut plum. TC really enjoyed hers (eating 1 and 1/2 pieces). We told her that night, "No fried rice because Mommy makes it better at home anyways!". She was going to eat what we were eating. As usual, she was the only kid in the place.

The ceilings were a lime green and the decor stark black and white. I didn't take too many photos here since it was dark, but as it was, no one paid attention to me snapping away with my meddlesome flash.

I liked their wall paper though!

We had the first booth in the corner by a wall with built in shelves.

While waiting for our courses, I accompanied TC to the bathroom. They had this blingy chandelier in there. These were those pyramid shaped studs that you see on punk rocker belts. Very Billy Idol.

It's hard to see, but the sink was a glass bowl over a black cabinet. Very cool.

Even the bathroom had nice wallpaper!

This was the Larb Pla ($21) which was steamed (but you could also get it fried) red snapper served with green mango, red onion, scallions, Thai herbs and spices, and lime juice. The spice level was mild since we had TC with us. Fish is something we hardly ever order, but after this dish, I'd try it again. It was so tender and just melted in your mouth.

We also had the Papaya salad ($9.50), which had shredded green papaya, tomatoes, carrots, cilantro, green beans, dried shrimp, peanuts, and a wedge of green cabbage with a chili lime dressing. We ordered this mild as well, but if we didn't have our daughter with us, it would have been spicier. I'm glad that Lotus liked this dish. She was expecting orange papaya not green papaya which tastes much different.

Something about a strawberry as garnish in a Thai restaurant doesn't seem right to me...Hmmm. Well, this was the Gai Qua ($15) which was a noodle dish. It had wide and flat rice noodles with chicken and squid (we also added on pork), scallions and, according to the menu description, egg (which I didn't really see or taste). But wow, this dish was really good! We liked the texture of the rice noodles and the sauces. I wish I had asked our waiter more about what was in it.

A close up of the rice noodles:

While we're on the subject of waiters, the only think we didn't like about this place was the overeager waitstaff who hovered (uncomfortably so at times) to take away our plates. Our main waiter who was Thai was very helpful in describing our items. The non-Thai guys (busboys?) tried to take away one of our plates while it still had food on it. This happened several times. I forgot which one of us, but we told him we weren't done yet. Duh! They could have waited from afar instead of at our backs. Most good servers can tell when their customers are through and will discreetly come and whisk your plates away.

The food was so good, there were no leftovers to take home that night! Our child enjoyed all of the dishes (she's not picky, thank goodness) and we had great company with Lotus. Afterwards, we had a slice of cake at our places before taking her home. Another visit to Celadon will definitely be in the works...