Na Na Thai Restaurant Review

Friday afternoon, Julie called me at work, checking on dinner plans. I had left work early to go to a retirement party for Les Miller, recently retired from DCFS. I suggested that I could bring home carry-out First Wok, a small family owned Chinese restaurant in Lincoln. Instead, she was hungry for Thai food and anxious to visit a local Thai restaurant so that we could send pictures to Apple. Apple is our soon-to-arrive exchange student from Thailand. She will be coming to live with us next August, attending school at Olympia for the 2008-2009 school year.

I believe there are now three Thai restaurants in Bloomington. Because Bloomington-Normal is home to Illinois State University, Mitsubishi Motors, and State Farm, there is a sizable Asian population in the community. The king of all Asian restaurants is surely Ming's Buffet. It is always packed and as such commands a hefty $12.00 a piece for dinner. While I love Ming's, I hate crowds. Plus, our original intent was to eat Thai. So we chose to eat at Na Na Thai. They are located in what I refer to as Kmart plaza, directly north of Eastland Mall. As a side note, I would expect Eastland Mall will become a favored attraction for Apple. While the Shoppes at College Hills is a much newer mall with a number of upscale shops, its not enclosed. Our only favored store at College Hills is Gordmans. On to the food....
We always start our meals with our favorite appetizer, Crab Rangoon. We are rather convinced in our conversations with Apple that this appetizer is not native to Thailand nor any other region. But like many other foods that are transformed in America to something greasier, higher in fat, or generally unhealthy, Crab Rangoon hits the mark. Their version is slightly different, focusing on smaller portions. As a result rather than the 4 or 5 portions that most other restaurants serve, they offer 8. Additionally, I opted for Thai Eggrolls. They didn't contain the cabbage found in most Chinese eggrolls. Instead, they contained some glass noodles, bean sprouts and minced chicken. If anything, they were simple. Both the eggrolls and Crab Rangoon were presented with sweet and sour sauce.

Since the names were literally in Thai, I chose my entree based on ingredients. I chose a dish composed of wide rice noodles, chicken, and broccoli, sauteed. Julie tells me it was called Pad See Eew.

Julie's was similar, but instead containing green onions, tomatoes, chicken, and jalapeno peppers. Both were served with a scrambled egg on top. She is not sure of the spelling but believes it was called Pad Kee Mow.

Na Na Thai is a hit for us. The service is prompt. Its rarely crowded. And the food is of decent sized portion. But instead of leaving a chinese buffet bloated from overeating, you leave Na Na Thai with a content feeling, being satisfied by a made to order dish.

Longhorn Steakhouse

Saturday evening we met Julie's parents, Grandma, plus Jennifer, Edward, and Jake at Longhorn Steakhouse in Springfield. I can sum up the meal in one word - overrated! Our goal was first to locate a restaurant that took reservations or at least had call ahead seating. The only two that came to mind were Red Lobster and Longhorn.

It was a good thing that Julie called ahead. Even with the call ahead seating, we stood for nearly 45 minutes waiting for a table. For those who have never been to Longhorn, its easy to get confused. There are many other similarly named and themed restaurants including Lone Star Steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse, and Logan's Roadhouse. We prefer Texas Roadhouse over others both for the price and atmosphere, but alas there was not Texas Roadhouse in Springfield, the optimal halfway point for all of us.

With 8 of us in the group, the orders ranged from the Rocky Top Chicken to Top Sirloin. As for Julie and I, Julie opted for the Cheeseburger and fries, adding a salad. I have a soft spot for Prime Rib, so I went with the longhorn sized Prime rib - 10 ounces, I think. The steak came with au jus for dipping, plus a horseradish sauce. I ordered my steak medium with a baked potato, butter and sour cream, and a salad with honey mustard dressing. The salad was fine, nothing to write home about, but good none the less. The prime rib was average. It had quite a bit more fat that I would have expected. The horseradish dip was a pleasant surprise and had an eye opening flavor. My biggest disappointment of the evening was the baked potato. It was rather blah. If you're gonna be known as a steakhouse and everyone who orders steaks usually asks for a potato, you'd think the would place some emphasis on good potatoes. The potato was flavorless as was the sour cream. At least at Red Lobster they have a bit of salt crusted on the skin. I found myself continually dousing the potato with salt and pepper, giving it what flavor I could. In the end, I did clean my plate, but I doubt I'll be returning for another round at Longhorn unless someone else is paying. I've had better prime rib at St. Croix Casino in Turtle Lake or Gil's Restaurant here in Minier.