Hidden away amongst a check-cashing place, a dentist and a wing joint, Red Curry Thai Cuisine sits at the corner of Marsh and Frankford in north Dallas. It’s another small and unassuming place that we frequently ordered from during the pandemic but had never visited in the flesh until recently, usually for a quick lunch to spice up the otherwise drab workday from home, both figuratively and literally,.

Their lunch menu comes with an egg roll and is offered at a discount if you pick it up, but we were determined to eat in. We started with some curry puffs, little deep-fried samosa-type things stuffed with minced chicken breast, potatoes, carrots and onions that come four to an order for $6.95. Smaller than a samosa, these can be popped into one’s mouth whole, but if the Totino pizza rolls from my college days taught me anything, it’s that one takes a chance at a burned tongue doing that. Stick to the fork method.
Next came a perfectly portioned $4.95 cup of tom kha soup, this being a lovely flavorful lemongrass coconut soup with mushrooms, tomato, cilantro, and green onion and white chicken meat. This was large for a cup-size at half the price of the bowl. We shared a plate of their chicken Thai fried rice ($10.95), prepared with jasmine rice, egg, tomato, yellow onions and scallions. This was light and seasoned perfectly at heat rating three (out of five). Fried rice is one of those things that seems to taste better on-site; the DoorDash driver’s often serpentine route to our house allows the rice to become denser and slightly soft. This is a much better experience in person.

Finally, we indulged in an order each of pad kee mao and pad see eew, both priced at $9.95 for lunch. The pad kee mao was a flat noodle with pork, egg, onion, tomato, bell pepper and fresh basil. It was a healthy serving and seemed spicier than the requested level three, but then one hears that one’s spice tolerance lowers with age. Perhaps they need a separate AARP-approved spice level chart? Still, it was very good, and the peppers and tomatoes had a slight char that we always like to see (and taste) in this dish.

The pad see eew was another flat noodle dish with chicken, egg, broccoli and bean sprouts. This was a bit milder three spice, with broccoli that was cooked just enough and with the sprouts providing a nice crunch alongside the delicately and flavorfully sauced wide noodles. We enjoyed all of this while seated at a small table near a window, having a meal out in the wild, old-school style along with the three or so other parties who also wanted their Thai for lunch that day. It was a welcome respite from our home office and lunches created from the previous night’s leftovers. I’ll just have to remember to perhaps go with level 2 spice next time.

Red Curry Thai Cuisine, 3628 Frankford Road, No. 255 (Dallas), 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. & 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. Tuesday – Friday 12 p.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday