Sampler: Hoosier Thai

Longtime readers of this column will recall my general rule of never dining below ground level.

There are occasions when the temptation of a particular culinary delight is enough to overcome simple prejudice.

Happily, the occasion recently arose once again with the opening of Nashville’s newest restaurant: Hoosier Thai, at 15 South Van Buren Street on the corner of Main and Van Buren streets, one level below the Nashville House.

Any sort of eatery serving ethnic foods is a welcome sight in this midwestern restaurant scene. Since Thai food is a favorite in my family, we were all overjoyed to hear about it.

Accordingly, I took the leap of faith, technically a flight of steps, into the cozy and intimate underground space of Hoosier Thai for a delightful dining experience.

The appetizer menu is excellent, and it was all that I could do to stop myself from making a meal from the “starter” selections.

There’s a chicken satay, grilled, marinated chicken on a skewer with peanut or cucumber sauce. There’s a Thai spring roll deepfried and served with sweet and sour sauce, or a Thai salad roll with choice of chicken, tofu or shrimp. There are shrimp cigars, vegetable tempura, and floured and fried sweet Thai calamari rings.

In the end, I chose the Thai dumplings, steamed soft wontons filled with ground pork, shrimp and veggies, and the crab Rangoon with crab meat, cream cheese and onions in a wonton wrap. Yummy!

They were both delicious and filling and, as I say, nearly a meal in themselves.

Mrs. Sampler loves the sweet Thai iced tea, but I insisted on the hot tea, jasmine, ginger, or chrysanthemum, in the cute little teapot.

Now, perhaps I should inject a word of warning about the restaurant’s décor, which I can safely say is unlike that of any other Thai restaurant in the world.

That is because the previous occupant, the venerable That Sandwich Place, left behind their extensive collection of Bob Knight memorabilia. I am a little melancholy that I need to explain to some that Bob Knight was a former men’s basketball coach at Indiana University whose teams won a couple of national titles.

The wall space at Hoosier Thai is taken up with photos, posters, schedules, and every other kind of IU basketball ephemera—from trophies and memorial basketballs to little Bobby Knight dolls.

By chance, I was seated beside the most iconic of all Bob Knight photos ever taken: the infamous chair-throwing scene at Purdue 40 years ago. A moment frozen in time as you await your pad Thai.

The entrée menu is extensive.

There’s Pad Gra Prow, Thai spicy basil with stir fried meat in a homemade spicy sauce with green beans, onions and bell peppers; Eggplant Thailand with eggplant stir fried with veggies and the special Thai sauce; and sweet and sour sauté with pineapple and mixed vegetables.

I was drawn to an item appearing on the menu simply as “The Cashew Nuts.” I guess that says it all, although you do get carrots, onions, mushrooms, water chestnuts, bell peppers, and those little bitty tiny ears of corn.

Where do the tiny ears of corn come from? Is there a tiny little vegetable farm out there somewhere growing miniature food?

Thai food is generally spicy, and you can request the level of spiciness you enjoy, from one to five. I do not love too much spice, but I have learned that a certain amount of heat is part of the Thai food experience. So, I have been gradually increasing the amount of heat I request each time I visit a Thai restaurant.

Mrs. Sampler is a fan of curry dishes, and Hoosier Thai is the right spot for that, with seven curry offerings on the menu, ranging from Massaman and pumpkin curry, through green, red and yellow curries, to roasted duck with red curry and Panang curry with kaffir lime leaves.

From the “chef’s special” menu, she chose “Pad Bus Sa Ra Com,” a three-flavored dish with pumpkin, pineapple, carrots, onions, mushrooms, corn cooked in a creamy coconut milk sauce flavored with yellow curry powder, bell peppers, and basil.

The chef’s special menu also includes pineapple curry (“Gang Khua Sup Bah Rod”) with shrimp and chicken; Bancock seafood, mango curry, chicken and shrimp, and Pad Emperors, a delicious combination dish with beef, pork, chicken, shrimp and calamari, stir fried with onions, carrots, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, corn, and bell peppers.

We didn’t even make it as far as the Thai noodle soup menu, which proffers pork noodle, duck noodle, and beef noodle soup, with meat balls. Also Khao Soi (curry noodles), traditional northern style egg noodles served with a special coconut curry, bean sprouts and cilantro with crispy egg noodles and lime on top.

The service was excellent, the food top-notch, and we can’t wait to go again. I’m determined to try everything on the menu, but Mrs. Sampler said, “If I went there tomorrow, I’d have the exact same thing.”

As you may know, I have a bit of a problem—I always end up wanting what the other fellow has ordered. In this case, after I had happily received the food that I had ordered, the patron seated next to me was brought their choice—a spectacular “pineapple boat”—a whole pineapple hollowed out and stuffed with shrimp and fried rice.

I was so envious that I asked them if I could photograph that beauty. Entirely for your further edification, mind you.

Stuffed to the gills and suffused with a feeling of goodwill toward all mankind, we made our way up the stairway, into the spring light of an early evening downtown Nashville. People were milling around, dodging traffic, the outdoor terrace of the Nashville house was packed with folks having a good time and there was music in the air.

And we were profoundly satisfied.

Hoosier Thai offers carryout and online ordering at 812-200-1597 and hoosierthai.com .