Original Thai for lunch - $

When an Asian restaurant has an A-rating, it's always a little suspicious in my book. I mean, I'm Chinese. But, let's face it. My peeps don't keep the cleanest kitchens. Compared to what goes down in the motherland, I'm sure that even the worst C-rated restaurants here would be considered sparkling clean over there. So, when I see an A-rated Asian restaurant, I figure the "A" stands for Americanized.

Case in point, when I see brown rice on the menu, I know they're catering to a health conscious L.A. crowd because tried and true Asians don't care. Although, I did order the brown rice because I'm a tried and true Asian who's been raised in L.A.

Our guest Dinette was the one and only star traffic reporter of the skies - Ginger Chan. (aka Anna Chan - my sister.) She was very excited to be a guest Dinette and her boyfriend was super jealous, as he should be.

Free stuff: none. phooey.

Ambience: They've remodeled. It used to be the usual strip mall kitsch with pleather booths, unflattering overhead lighting, and pix of psuedo-actors on the wall. Well, they've upgraded! Ginger: "Borders modern/hip. It's probably better at night." The color scheme is earthy with browns, greens and beige. Ginger: "You know how some Asian places have that sort of hip nightclub look? It's like they're going for that." It works. But, we have to remember that we're in a 7-11 strip mall, and that always takes away from the ambience, no matter what. Still, a great date place. If it weren't next to the 7-11 and there wasn't a homeless guy camped out in the parking lot, this would be a great 1st date place. But, right now, it's better as a 3rd date. That is, for those of you who are dating. As for me, I ate with my sister and Laurie. But, that's another story. Anyway, ambience - 4 forks.

Bathroom: The actors' pix are in the hallway on the way to the bathroom. Nice bathroom. Freshly painted, beautiful oval mirror above the pedestal sink. They just need a coupla things - replace the cracked full-length mirror, and PLEASE please please install toilet seat covers. I know they don't really work, but I like living in my fantasy world. 4 forks.

Food: Lunch combos are $5.50 and come with soup or salad, egg roll, and entree. Laurie: Padsee yew with wonton soup, and brown rice. This was a carb lovers feast. She also had a thai iced coffee, which was de-lish for only $1.50! What a steal! 3 forks.

Ginger: BBQ chicken with brown rice. The chicken was a little dry, and her brown rice was a little mushy. Maybe brown rice isn't indigenous to Thailand, and they don't realize that it's supposed to be crunchier than white rice. We'll forgive. Thai iced coffee was "really good, especially for the price!" That's my sister! Good bargain shopper. 3 forks.

Me: Yellow curry with chicken, brown rice, and salad. Can we just hear it for Asian salad dressing? LOVE IT! There were potatoes in my curry, but they weren't cooked all the way. I mean, c'mon. Why make the rice mushy and leave the potatoes hanging like that? But, I had no problem with the mushy rice. Brown rice is too crunchy for my taste anyway. 3 forks. BTW, we all agreed that the egg rolls were really fresh. i.e. just got out of the oil and onto the plate!

Service: Excellent. Our water glasses were never half empty.

Overall rating: 3.5 forks.

Next stop on the Riverside tour of duty: Star Wok Chinese cafe. Gotta see what my peeps are cookin' up on the corner of Riverside and Lankershim.

Hot Spot Cafe - $$

When we walked in, there wasn't really anyone to greet us. Well, there was a guy who didn't speak a lick of english, so the word "greet" is used very very loosely. He was smoking outside and motioned for us to go in. Then, he handed Laurie a menu. Apparently, I was invisible that day. I picked up my own menu, thank you very much. So far, not so good. I had to fight a big fat urge to say, "Let's go somewhere else." But, that would not be true to the Dinette pledge.

Ambience: Budget quaint. Small round tables with tablecloths, fake flowers, and paper napkins stuffed in the glasses. Jazz music. NO a/c! Aack! It was 100 in the Valley!! Faux brick walls, and white lights. The lights were off when we walked in, and when we ordered. Good thing the menu had big pictures. Point and eat! They turned on the lights when we got our meal. Sometimes it's good to see where you put your fork. Not always, but sometimes. Maybe he wanted us to see how the plates were presented. I gotta say, they looked spectacular. And, he gave us our very own ice bucket! It made us feel very special. We need to get out more.

Free stuff: I ordered 2 drinks - a yogurt drink, and a soda. When he rang it up, he said, "One is complimentary." AWESOME!!

Food: Laurie - veggie sampler which had roasted tomato, rice pilaf, roasted eggplant slices, cucumber/tomato salad, hummus - all were yummy. But, the falafels were dry. She had a pear-apple soda, which was fabu. 3 forks.

Me: Kabob combo plate = 1 to-die-for-melt-in-yer-mouth chicken kabob, and a nothing-to-write-home-about-I've-had-better ground beef lule kabob. It also had hummus, which had too much tahini, rice pilaf, salad and tomato. I had a tarragon soda. Yep, tarragon. As in - the spice you use once for a chicken dish and throw out a year later. Who'd have thunk to make a soda out of it? I wanted to try something new. That was DEFINITELY new. It tasted like licorice. 3.5 forks.

Bathroom: Well...hmmm...I'm no interior designer, but after sitting there for a minute, I decided that there are 2 colors you should never paint a bathroom - yellow and brown. Actually, you shouldn't paint a yellow base with a dark brown texturing technique. It just reminds me too much of...well...the bathroom. Otherwise, it was clean and not being used for storage!

Service: The owner, who spoke english, came out and took our order, served us, and then left us alone. Just the way we like it! Just drop the food off and no one gets hurt. It's that simple. He'd pop his head up every so often to see if we were finished. 5 forks.

Overall: This place started with some negative points, and like a phoenix from the ashes, renewed our hope in them. It's too bad we were the only ones in there the entire time. The food was good, sodas were interesting, and the service was nice. We'd definitely go back. 4 forks.

Next up: Original Thai Restaurant in the 7-11 strip mall.