Thai food!

One of the things I miss about San Francisco is the abundance of good Thai food. We tried going back to one of our fav restaurants tonight (Le Grapillon) but there was a sign posted on their door saying that they would be closed for a few days. It's interesting how the French just close up shop as they please. It's common to find notes on doors of restaurants saying that they will be back in a few days. Most often, it's because the staff is so small and they're on vacation. It all goes back to the mentality of "work to live" instead of "live to work".

We were disappointed, but strolled down the street to check out what our other options. We found a Thai restaurant, Vieng Siam, just a couple of doors down. It was a small, hidden gem with delicious food. Their menu was very simple, and like most restaurants in Paris, there weren't more than 10 tables in the entire place. I found it odd that most Thai restaurants in Paris don't offer Pad Thai on their menu and began to think that it was an "American" version of Thai food (i.e. like the California roll is not exactly Japanese). I wikipedia-ed the dish and I had guessed right. The "western version" of Pad Thai is much heavier than the drier, lighter version found in Thailand.

Another observation on French culture... It's not often that you will find people waiting for a table at a restaurant, and during dinner, I realized why that was the case. If patrons go to a restaurant when the establishment is at capacity, they will be simply turned away instead of being told how long the wait will be. I had seen this before and saw it again at Vieng Siam. Restaurant-goers kept peeking their heads in only to be told that there were no tables available. I guess it makes sense given that most meals can be up to 3 hours in length, and it would be difficult to gauge when a table will come available.