LL<\/a> to join me, and for posterity I’ll record the full range of choices on the menu (decoded from "#1"-"#16") in the faceoff below. A full one half of the menu will be virgin territory for me. Check back for updates as we make our way through the ~15 meals necessary to decide on an ultimate winner. Round 1 was tough (as we didn’t plan in advance and so began with two top seeds), but the edge went to #10.<\/p>\n![\"Thai](\"\/wp-images\/food\/ThaiTomFaceOff.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
UPDATE (7\/14\/2006):<\/strong> While #7 (Sweet and Sour Chicken) was a tasty surprise, it wasn’t enough to best #16 (Panang Curry)<\/p>\nUPDATE (7\/23\/2006):<\/strong> #5 (Spicy Broccoli) has a nice taste of garlic, but #12 (their take on Pad See Iw) took this match.<\/p>\nUPDATE (8\/13\/2006):<\/strong> #4 (Thai Sauce Chicken) handily disposed of #13 (Poor Man’s Noodles), which was good for a few bites, but then a little boring overall.<\/p>\nUPDATE (10\/22\/2006):<\/strong> #6 was a decent mix of fresh vegetables and basil flavor, but I’m a sucker for garlic, and #9 (Garlic Pepper Chicken) was a runaway winner on flavor.<\/p>\nUPDATE (11\/20\/2006):<\/strong> Today was supposed to be #2 vs. #11, but they were out of wide rice noodles! We had to perform a quick swap of #3 for #2 (chart updated). This was the closest match since our opening meal, but the nod went to #3 (Cashew Chicken). I can still heartily endorse #11, a surprise contender of awesome peanut sauce atop vegetables and chicken.<\/p>\nUPDATE (12\/07\/2006):<\/strong> Again out of wide rice noodles, so another swap had #1 (Pad Thai) vs. #8 (Garlic Beansprouts). #8 is by far the worst dish at Thai Tom’s. Unless you adore beansprouts, stay away. I like bean sprouts well enough, but couldn’t eat more than a few bites. So #1 cruises to round 2 with a lucky draw. Thai Tom’s pad thai is quality, though I’m not much of a pad thai fan in general, and I forsee a round 2 exit for pad thai since it will be up against the fabulous #3…<\/p>\nUPDATE (01\/13\/2007):<\/strong> Went out in the snow to finish up the 1st round today \ud83d\ude42 Wide rice noodles were in stock, so we were finally able to order #2 (their version of Pad Kee Mao). It was really really good, but I just couldn’t get enough of the peanut sauce in #15, the winner of this final match in round 1.<\/p>\nUPDATE (03\/11\/2007):<\/strong> Round 2 began with an upset of top-seeded #10, with Swimming Rama coming up tops.<\/p>\nUPDATE (04\/11\/2007):<\/strong> After a break for Passover, Panang Curry handly overran #4 (Thai Sauce Chicken).<\/p>\nUPDATE (04\/17\/2007):<\/strong> Cashew Chicken cruised to an easy win over the popular, but less exciting, Pad Thai.<\/p>\nUPDATE (04\/24\/2007):<\/strong> Completing round 2 was a close match between #9 and #12. At the end the garlic was king for Garlic Pepper Chicken.<\/p>\nUPDATE (05\/02\/2007):<\/strong> They were out of Panang Curry (next time I’m instituting a forfeit rule!). So it was a back-to-back Garlic Pepper Chicken appearance, but it was no match for Cashew Chicken.<\/p>\nUPDATE (05\/12\/2007):<\/strong> In the closest match yet, Panang Curry squeaked by Swimming Rama (probably #1 and #2 seeds in next year’s match :))<\/p>\nUPDATE (06\/20\/2007):<\/strong> The winner of the 2006-07 Thai Tom crown is….Panang Curry!<\/p>\nThai Tom
4543 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105-4510
206-548-9548<\/p>\n
Daily: 12:00AM-9:00PM (Lunch and Dinner)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rating: When it comes to Thai food, we are severely spoiled here in Seattle. From downtown to the Sea-Tac airport, you are never far from solid Thai. Inevitably though, I am often asked "what’s the best Thai food in Seattle?". Given that the ambience and variety of cuisine varies broadly amongst the possible contenders, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[89,68,90,78],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","tag-food","tag-review","tag-seattle","tag-thai-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennyw.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"\/wp-images\/food\/kennyRating.jpg\")
![](\"\/wp-images\/food\/kennyRatingHalf.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Thai](\"\/wp-images\/food\/ThaiTomSign.jpg\")
Walking by it looks like another hole-in-the-wall ghetto quick-eat on "The Ave" in the center of the U-District (for some reason University Way<\/strong> is known as The Ave; I still don’t get it). Inside it is the Thai version of the movie Cocktail<\/a>. On Wednesdays and Saturdays you’ll get to witness Tom gracefully manipulating 7 burners simultaneously. Tom and his off-night backup (known as "chef") are the centerpiece of this operation. And the best seats in the house are at the bar in full view of the inferno.<\/p>\n![\"Thai](\"\/wp-images\/food\/ThaiTom14.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Thai](\"\/wp-images\/food\/ThaiTom10.jpg\")
<\/p>\n