Ping Pong

I’ve noted before the inherent problem with the one-to-10 or mild-to-hot systems employed by most Thai restaurants, and that is that it’s impossible to set a standard, so one man’s two will inevitably end up another man’s eight, or vice versa.

So here’s a hint if you decide to stop by Ping Pong, a Thai restaurant near Sunset Park (and not to be confused with Ping Pang Pong, a Chinese restaurant at the Gold Coast): medium is hot, unless you’re well accustomed to very spicy food.

A case in point would be the Tom Ka Gai ($4.95 for small, $9.95 for large). Despite the fact that there were three of us, we ordered the smaller size and it was a good thing, because two of us couldn’t eat it. Ordered “medium to mild,” it ended up pretty speecy-spicy. I was the sole consumer of the traditional soup — I seem to have more than a few self-destructive food preferences — but it was not without a fair amount of burning and some clearing of the sinuses, and my water glass got a good workout.

Which is not to say it wasn’t a good soup; on the contrary, it was excellent, with multiple flavors beneath the fire that were driven by lemongrass, galanga, coconut milk and on and on. And there were a couple of things about this Tom Ka Gai that distinguished it from most of the others served around town. For one, firmer button mushrooms had been substituted for the more commonly used straw mushrooms, and the kitchen also added a few chunks of tomato, which added color as well as texture.

Pad Thai ($9.95) is another classic Thai dish, served in every Thai restaurant here and basically everywhere else, and the version at Ping Pong was superlative. It seems over the years that this dish has become more and more dry, but this one was almost creamy, the broad rice noodles tossed in a mixture that had a prominent tang from a liberal dose of fish sauce, and lots of chunks of the pork we had chosen.

Grilled chicken curry ($13.95) was nearly as fiery as the soup, but again, I wasn’t complaining. What was a little offbeat about this dish was that it was topped by a grilled chicken breast, for a nice flavor boost. The rest of the dish was more like a traditional panang, with coconut milk and slices of bell pepper, and steamed white rice on the side.

I would hope a lot of people wouldn’t be scared off by the name of the beef jerky ($9.95), which was a far cry from that dried-up stuff in our office vending machine. In traditional Thai style, the meat had been sliced into strips, marinated, coated in spices and deep-fried, for a fairly moist, slightly chewy, brightly flavored result that was further enlivened by the chili-lime sauce served on the side.

The menu advised that the jerky be served with sticky rice, but we saved that for last, with coconut ice cream ($5.95). Crushed peanuts sprinkled on the top added color but seemed incongruous with the coconut. The textural interplay and flavor compatibility between the rice and the ice cream were, however, as they should be.

Service throughout was fine, as was the comfort level of the place. Ping Pong seems to do a pretty decent takeout business, but I’d suggest eating in and soaking up the serenity.

Just be cautious about those heat levels.

Las Vegas Review-Journal reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at 383-0474 or e-mail her at hrinella@ reviewjournal.com.