Homestyle Thai in My Mouth

Everyone who's not currently sitting in Madam Mam's Westgate location eating the Special Beef Massaman Curry needs to get off their ass and drive there immediately.  No excuses.  If you are currently at Madam Mam's but eating something else, dash your food to the floor, signal your (now angry) waitress and tell her you need a heaping helping of P50.

I love Thai food. Heck, I flew over there just to stuff my face.  But when it comes to Thai food here in Texas I'm usually a bit on the disappointed side.  Like many ethnic foods round these parts it often suffers from the General Tso's Chicken Syndrome.  That is it's been dumbed down a bit or Whited up if you will.  It's a lowest common denominator problem where they feel like the market can't handle all that wacky authenticity so they stream line it; cut out some ingredients, pull back from sour, bitter and heat, sweeten it up and double the portions.

God bless you Madam Mam.  I knew we where in for a delicious treat as soon as I saw the large hunks of slow braised beef nestled up beside some whole golden potatoes and half a tender stewed onion. Big rustic chunks of food is almost always a good sign.

I felt like I was over at my aunt's house if my aunt were Thai and a great cook. The curry had a rich slightly sweet smell with toasted peanuts and tangy tamarind. The vegetables were perfectly done, holding their shape and texture but fork-soft all the way through. The beef was moist and flavorful with that great mouthfeel that you get from all of the connective tissues breaking down while being cooked long and slow.  I wanted to hug somebody.

I will leave you with a warning though.  Madam Mam's has two beef massaman curries. The one on their regular menu is the run of the mill standard version that gets cranked out all over town.  While it may be perfectly serviceable, the one you want is on their specials menu (last listed as P50). It's $12.50 and worth every penny. Get out there and help me support the real food scene in Austin. If they take this off the menu I'm going to hold you personally responsible.

Madam Mam's Noodle & More II

4514 Westgate Blvd. 78745

(512)899-8525

Comments

[Su-Lin]

hot dang.... Saw the photo on Flickr and came straight here. It's much darker than any Mussaman curry I've ever had and I so want some now...

[Krista]

Wow! That looks epic. And knowing how you particularly love Thai food, it must have been damn good to get such a rave review!

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks, you guys! I just ate some leftover for lunch today, and it's just as good as the Mr. describes. Totally unlike any other mussaman I've had!

[maryn]

Isn't it bizarre how sweet Thai food is in the US? I haven't figured out whether it's because Thai cooks think Americans won't go for salty or sour, or whether there's an issue of Thai food being cooked by non-Thais. (In Atlanta a number of the Thai places were actually owned by Lao...) Here in Minneapolis a new place has opened up, Sen Yai Sen Lek, that is owned by a guy whose parents are Isaan, so it's Northern Thai food and street food, and not sweet at all except when it's supposed to be. So happy.

[Boots in the Oven]

Maryn, it is strange! And you bring up good points. Madam Mam's website has a fairly long bio, puffing up the Thai credentials of the chef/owners - perhaps that's in response to Thai restaurants run by non-thais?

That place in Minneapolis sounds awesome. Think they deliver?

[Bill]

Have you done Little Thailand in Garfield? If not, you should, should, should.

It is, as they say, an experience.

[Boots in the Oven]

Indeed we have, and it's fun and great! Further testament to our enormous backlog (or, log of things that never get blogged).

[paul of the clue-by-four]

Ah, good. The RSS feed credits this as having been written by "Girlie," but I wasn't buying it.

God, I need to get back down there and do some eatin'. Are you guys (oh, all right, "y'all") gonna be around during SXSW time?

[Boots in the Oven]

Paul, yes - our RSS feed only shows one author. It would probably make sense for us to add an author, but when we first started the blog, that cost like an extra twenty bucks and we didn't feel like it.

That would be lots of fun if you came down here for SXSW! I *think* we'll be around, but you know the Mr.'s schedule..

[adam]

i satisfy my p50 fix at least once every couple months. also, by the way....shit!!! i wanted to go to the "miracle fruit" mouth trip party dearly, even printing out that nytimes article and passing it out with vigor, boasting how my super cool, jet-setting pals scored this mysterious berry. but alas, opening a new restaurant has consumed my very soul and i was dealt very late saturday night. regardless, thank you very much for the kind invite.