DINING OUT

TEAK OFF (From left) Teak’s main dining area; green curry chicken and a glass of red wine; crispy pork belly with mixed Asian vegetables and a kimchi and anise glaze; owner Chanaka De Lanerolle.

And about that menu: It’s a lot. With a twosided, standalone sushi menu and a wide variety of main plates ranging from small bites to signature dishes, you have plenty of room to craft your own dining experience. For appetizers, we chose the spicy fried calamari as well as an order of the coconut shrimp. The calamari, dusted with rice flour and served with a chili sauce, was a delicious start to the meal, crunchy and chewy, with ka, for that matter) is known for bringing high levels of heat, often featuring fiery Thai peppers traditionally used to preserve food in hot, humid climates. But calling Thai food spicy is, of course, an overgeneralization—there are regional differences in cuisine throughout Thailand, with a variety of flavors at play, from sweet coconut to savory seafood to heavier umami in northern areas closer to China. With that said, there’s no getting around that heat, and spiciness is important at Teak, with the chef using Thai peppers and pepper flakes to dial in different heat levels for its spiciness scale.

The restaurant serves a selection of stir fry dishes that the menu

a subtle sweetness imparted by the rice flour and dialed up by the dipping sauce. The coconut shrimp (which, to be transparent, we ordered two extra servings of at meal’s end) featured an airy, claims are “best of the rest.” I think this is a cheeky acknowledgement that it’s on the back of a two-page menu developed over a couple of decades, but I also believe it reaffirms what I feel is the theme of

crispy breading with strong coconut sweetness coating the big, briny shrimp inside. Teak’s sprawling menu: home. It’s true that the offerings in this section are simple, making no bold attempts to be “elevated.”

The sushi menu has been overhauled from the Mt. Adams incar- From the “House Specials” section, we tried the crispy pork

nation to, according to De Lanerolle, fit better in Over-the-Rhine. belly, a cut of meat popular in Asia that Teak has recently brought in

From the chef’s special rolls, we tried the Playboy, a shrimp tempura to replace pork loin, a conscious choice to upgrade ingredients for the

and avocado roll, topped with deep red tuna and two sauces—a sweet eel sauce and spicy mayo drizzle. The crunchy tempura and creamy avocado made for a nice blend of taste and texture, though the spicy downtown crowd. The pork, cooked just right for texture and flavor, is sliced and served on a steaming mix of Asian vegetables (crunchy, savory green beans, sliced peppers, carrots, etc.), then topped with

mayo could have brought a bit more heat. You’ll find a host of other amusingly named offerings on the sushi menu, from the J. Lo (the chef used to serve the roll’s namesake in New York) to Monkey Brain (fried avocado with spicy tuna and cream cheese). a sweet anise glaze. Kimchi is served as a garnish, which adds a nice funky heat. The dish is served with a bowl of white rice and a separate plate for assembling the perfect bite. The dish is a recent addition, but the Thai menu features the old hits, too, for longtime fans. So

When it comes to the main Thai offerings, it’s important to start with a note about heat. The server will ask you for a number you’ll find jungle noodles, crispy duck, Siam chicken, ginger salmon, and more familiar names among the newer offerings.

from three to 10 when you place your order, and it’s worth a mo- While this was my first encounter with the restaurant, I’m sure

ment of consideration.

Food from Thailand (and De Lanerolle’s home country of Sri Lanit won’t be the last. Maybe it’ll become like home to me. And perhaps I already consider Teak OTR beloved.