L'Thai Organic Thai Cuisine & Wine Bar (Tucker)

Toddler Foodie Rating:  4 out of 5 Gummy Bears

:) =  Family friendly yet zen-like dining room decorated with trees, plants, and a fish tank for kids to enjoy.  Yummy Thai dishes made with fresh, organic ingredients - and a really good dessert menu.  Extensive wine menu for mommies and daddies that includes organic wine selections.  High chairs.  Friendly staff dressed in colorful Thai attire. 

:( = Food is a little pricier than other Thai restaurants.  No changing tables in the bathrooms.  The restaurant's location may be inconvenient for folks who don't live in the Tucker/Stone Mountain/Lilburn area.  It's tucked away in a plaza that really isn't near any major highway exits.  But if you're in the area, it's worth a visit!

Clockwise from top:  3-year-old Toddler Foodie, Softshell Crab with Red Curry, Beef Lard Na, Crab and Shrimp Fried rice

To celebrate Earth Day this year, we decided to try L'Thai Organic Thai Restaurant and Wine Bar, a somewhat unsung Thai restaurant in the Tucker/Stone Mountain area.  Mommy told us it would be appropriate to celebrate Earth Day at L'Thai because they're the only restaurant in Atlanta that specializes in serving Thai cuisine made with organic ingredients.  (We suspect she also likes L'Thai because they have an amazing wine menu.)

We arrived around 6:30 PM on a weekday to find the place had a few other guests, including... kids!  Seeing other kids at restaurants always makes us happy.  We were even happier when we saw L'Thai's neat, earthy interior.  When you first walk in, you're greeted by lush green plants and a small, zen-like fountain decorated with stone turtles and live bamboo.  Then you walk into the dining room and find... a TREE.  Yes, a huge tree right in the middle of the room.  We love reading The Giving Tree at home, and that's exactly what we thought of when we saw L'Thai's dining area.

"This tree is happy."

The hostess dressed in traditional Thai attire walked us to our table, right past an awesome freshwater fish tank.  Of course, we had to stop there for a few minutes to check out the fishies.  And we're giving L'Thai one Gummy Bear solely because of that fish tank - there's no better toddler distraction than colorful live fish.

We were all ravenous and drooling over the extensive menu, so we ordered our entire meal 5 minutes after taking our seats.  Here's what we ordered:  satay chicken (traditional Thai grilled chicken skewers served with peanut sauce), crab fried rice (fried rice cooked with shrimp and lumps of crab meat, Panang Soft Shell Crabs (panko battered and fried soft-shell crabs served with panang curry sauce and steamed broccoli), and the Pad Lad-Nar (pan fried wide egg noodles served with egg and a special thick soy sauce-based gravy) with chicken.

Clockwise from top:  Pad Lad-Nar with chicken, crab fried rice, Panang Soft Shell Crabs

All the food we ate was pretty good.  Our favorite dish was the Panang Soft Shell Crabs, although the sauce was a bit spicy for us.  The crabs themselves were crunchy and flavorful - we didn't even need the panang curry sauce.  We loved the Pad Lad-Nar, too.  Those wide, chewy noodles get us every time.  The crab fried rice didn't move us - we probably won't order it again.  And we gobbled up the chicken satay.  Peanut sauce is one of our favorite things in the world.  We'd drink it out of a cup with a straw if Mommy and Daddy would let us!

After eating all our dinner, Mommy let us peruse L'Thai's awesome dessert menu.  We got really lucky because Mommy was craving sweets, so we ended up trying two different desserts:  house-made coconut ice cream and durian served with organic black sticky rice, drizzled with warm coconut milk.  Wow, what an awesome treat!  We liked the coconut ice cream best.  It was rich, creamy, and had little chunks of coconut in every spoonful.  Daddy and Mommy liked the durian and sticky rice best.  They eat durian whenever they can, even though they always talk about the smell before they eat.  That doesn't make sense to us, but we all know parents are just illogical most of the time.

We left L'Thai with full tummies and felt great knowing we had an all-natural, organic meal in honor of our dear Mother Earth.  We're really thankful for all the yummy food she provides to us.

Until next time, friends, eat well and prosper! 

*****

 

COUNTDOWN TO THETODDLERFOODIES.COM: 
15 days to go!