Smooth noodles

Sniffing out a quality and authentic ethnic restaurant isn't too difficult in the age of instant communication. Aside from traditional media that broadcast food-related reviews and stories into cyberspace, there are numerous online forums, aggregators and consumer review sites where one can spend hours sifting through the chaff for kernels of wheat. But, reader beware, sites like Yelp can only be useful if you have the patience to ignore the more absurd and rambling reviews while understanding that prudence should be used for the remainder.

Through this democratic alternative to restaurant appraisal we were led to the center of Troy and Thai Taste, purportedly one of the best Thai restaurants in southeast Michigan, if the majority of their more vocal customers are to be believed.

They do prepare some dishes quite well. A salad of shredded Granny Smith apple (presumably substituting for the more traditional green papaya), red and green onion, lettuce and roasted coconut is enjoyably sweet and tart, finishing with the long, nutty flavor of coconut. It's sweet enough that you could practically eat it as a dessert. In any case, we suggest sharing it with one or two others.

The appetizer portion of the menu is standard for Thai restaurants with the exception of the stuffed wings. The bones are removed from the major meaty portions of whole, intact chicken wings and then stuffed with a mixture of ground chicken, carrot, onion and glass noodles. They are then deep-fried and served coated in a sweet sauce. It's akin to having your chicken wing and spring roll in the same bite. We suspect they'd be a hit at Super Bowl parties and the like.

We failed to sample any of the traditional soups, such as tom yum and tom kha gai, but even the less adventurous in our group were unimpressed with the wonton soup. Though filled with fresh carrots and snow peas, the broth was shallow and tedious.

Drunken noodle was the other side of the spectrum from the soup. Egg, broccoli, bamboo, white and green onion, green pepper, carrot, bean sprout and basil are all sautéed with wide, tender rice noodles and our choice of beef, also tender. The sauce is wine-based and unexpectedly bright for being so dark in color. The pad ped (red curry in coconut milk) was right on, with balanced flavors and big chunks of eggplant as soft as pillows, and slices of earthy fresh mushroom. It comes accompanied with your choice of white or brown rice.

The flame-roasted duck stir-fried with vegetables in brown sauce was a disappointment, primarily because the flavor was all there. More like a stew than a stir-fry, it would have been a nice dish to warm the bones on a chill winter evening had the major portion of duck been less tough. Furthermore, the staple dish of most Thai restaurants, pad Thai did not rouse us from merely consuming for nourishment.

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