Ruan Thai Restaurant, Wheaton, Montgomery County, Maryland

I can’t believe I’ve let this slide so long. It was a good meal and a great time, but my super-power is letting things slide, and this one has slid into the In Deeper Box. And that’s a shame. Nancy and I had dinner with Stan and Barb Garfield at Ruan Thai, which sits at 11407 Amherst Ave in that Wheaton cluster of great small ethnic restaurants near Georgia Avenue and University Boulevard, steps from Mi La Cay and Full Key. Stan and Barb were in Silver Spring visiting their son at Thanksgiving — and Stan also had a knowledge management conference at which he got an award. Here they are.

I’m a Stan fan, not because of knowledge management, but because he’s a great guy (being married to a great wife helps, although as I prove, it’s no guarantee) and the genius behind the blog/weekly newsletter, The Fave Five. Every week, Stan reports on one or more best bets among books, restaurants, musicians, and sports figures. That’s four. He also includes a photographic pun that will make you groan, smile, and laugh out loud. It has something for everyone, including you. Yes, you. I’d read The Fave Five and then met Stan during the Great Cincinnati Road Food Crawl — 23 restaurants in 3 days. I was excited to see him again and to meet Barb (and show off Nancy).

On to Ruan Thai. We met at the restaurant, which sits in a pocket shopping center that boasts, in addition to the restaurants shown, the Fajita Factory, two Dominican Salons, and Son’s Auto Clinic.

The small shopping center across Amherst offers Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants, a French/Hispanic bakery, a bodega, a Dollar Tree, and an office for sending remittances. I love Wheaton.

Inside, Ruan Thai has a spacious dining room with pretty arrangements that redeem the green walls.

The host seated us promptly and we soon had water and menus. The server kindly kept an eye on us while we talked and got acquainted before swooping in and gracefully initiating the idea of ordering. After a few minutes of grace we settle on some appetizers. Barb started with an impressive house salad ($9.95),

with a good variety of fresh ingredients, while Stan chose a small cup of Tom Yum, the Thai soup with lemon grass, galangal, garlic, chiles, and in this case chicken ($7.95), that he seemed to enjoy.. We (I) added an order of three spring rolls ($6.95) for the table. Here’s one —

and Kanum Jeeb ($9.95) which the menu describes as six shrimp dumplings stuffed with ground chicken.

Sorry about the photo. The dumplings deserved better. The pleating of the dough was pretty, and the ground chicken had been seasoned by (some guess work here) a touch of garlic, some coriander, onion, and fish sauce. It was delicious, and I definitely would order it again. The spring rolls also were pretty standard — tasty, and, in this case, nicely fried.

Our main courses followed. Nancy had chosen the Green Curry ($16.95 with tofu, eggplant, bamboo shoots, peppers and basil leaves),

while Barb ordered the Pad Thai with chicken ($15.95).

Have you ever had a Pad Thai that you didn’t enjoy? Barb seemed to enjoy hers.

Stan had the Pad Kha Tiem Prik ($15.95)– chicken with white pepper and garlic.

Stan gave me a taste, and I was surprised at how much I liked it. It had a good bit of garlic, including some chopped and crisped garlic and onion. I may even break out of my rut and order it some time. Maybe. This night, true to form, I ordered Pad Kha Prao ($17.95), which translates as “Holy Basil Stir Fry.”

It’s a divine combination of pork, Thai chiles, garlic, bell pepper, and basil leaves with soy and fish sauces. This was a good version of my favorite Thai dish, with good heat and better flavor. I may be in a rut, but it’s a deep, comfortable, delicious rut.

This was a fine dinner, with good food seasoned with good conversation and the pleasure of getting to know charming people. That’s hard to beat, but Ruan Thai is well worth a visit on its own merits. You should go there. And you really should do yourself a favor and take a deep dive into The Fave Five.

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