A second terrific meal at Lotus of Siam was spent devouring an assortment of seafood dishes, salads, phenomenal fish soup, deep-fried lobster, and the amazing northern Thai larb, which is essentially a style of cooking with northern Thai spices and no lime juice. We also had northern style sausages called saioua, which are vaguely suggestive of Cajun cooking from Louisiana.  The owner and chef, Saipin Chutima, is a humble, modest woman who prefers to stay in the kitchen unless her husband coaxes her out. She’s all work and no play, but, boy, does she know how to cook.!

We matched the food with an assortment of wines, with the only disappointment being theChâteau Simone 2007 Rosé. The 2007 Donnhoff was superb, and fans of this winery will be pleased to see a huge selection of their wines on the restaurant’s wine list. The Châteauneuf du Papes again showed how well they work with Thai cooking (most of which was seafood). The stars were the Domaine du Pégaü and Beaucastel, but the 1998 Vieux Télégraphe is finally coming out of its cloak of tannin and beginning to strut its stuff, although a few more years of aging will be beneficial. The 1998 Santa Duc Gigondas, their regular cuvée, was good, but nothing special. The same can be said for the Jacques Prieur 1999 Musigny, which revealed tremendous color for a Pinot Noir as well as abundant new oak and a monolithic personality.

I can’t recommend this restaurant highly enough. They also serve a remarkable buffet lunch at a bargain basement price that should explain to everyone why Lotus of Siam has so many fans.