Sala Thai, Washington, D.C.

Laurent and I were on U Street later in the week and popped in to Sala Thai just in time to avoid the thunderstorm cloud bursts. I've been to their Dupont location before, but this was my first time in the U Street store. We had a great window seat to allow us to watch all the people hustling by with their umbrellas.

We both started with tom yum soup, Laurent's with chicken and mine with shrimp. This soup is made with coconut milk seasoned with lemongrass and ginger.

For our main courses, Laurent got the ka prow, a beef dish with red bell pepper and fried basil leaves in a chili paste sauce, extra spicy. He ate it all, but I think it ended up bothering his stomach. However, he **did** order it "as hot as you can make it."

I was going to order the pottery shrimp, a baked shrimp and cellophane noodle dish, but the waitress suggested the peppery shrimp instead, so that's what I got. A lot of shrimp in a mild white pepper and garlic sauce came with artistically arranged slices of cucumber, tomatoes, and shredded carrot and purple cabbage. Both dishes came with white steamed rice.

For dessert, Laurent had a fruit punch and I had a Thai iced coffee.