Mara Ginsberg - HER LIFE Magazine

cravingsBlue Spice ThaiBy Joanne DiMarcoPhotos by Todd Bissonettefor By Todd Joanne Bissonette DiMarco PhotographyPhotos by Todd Bissonette forTodd Bissonette PhotographyWhen Angela, the publisher of HERLIFE Magazineasked me to review Thai cuisine, I thought,oh please no. Thai food outside of a big city isusually disappointing. Then I remembered Blue Spice Thai.They have a location on Central Avenue in Albany and a secondlocation in Clifton Park. I met the Chef/Owner, Teddy Somboon,when he won the Iron Chef competition at the March of DimesSignature Chef’s Auction last year.My companion and I surprised them on Wednesday night.Luckily, they had a copy of HERLIFE on the coffee table in thewaiting area, so I opened the page to the review and my pictureand told them I was there to write about Blue Spice Thai. Themanager promptly came over to welcome us and sat us on abanquette in the dining room. The restaurant is decorated in arelaxing shade of, you guessed it; blue with a beautiful waterfeature down the center of the dining room. I knew we werein for a treat when I looked at the menu. Along with typicalThai fare, there was a list of house specialties, as well as anextensive seafood selection, and appetizers and salads, all withtheir own unique twist.I began my meal with the Fresh Basil Rolls. The combinationof crispy carrots, spicy cucumber, aromatic basil andrice noodles made for a light, delicious, fresh tasting flavorexplosion, finished perfectly with the honey tamarind sauce.My companion’s Kanom Jeeb Dumpling was a tasty morselof ground pork and shrimp in a steamed dumpling finishedwith fried garlic and cilantro honey soy sauce. My companionsampled the Singha Beer that he compared to a lager and enjoyedimmensely. If there was one thing I would have changed,it was the wine list. There were only two options available bythe glass, Sterling Chardonnay and Sterling Merlot. I opted forthe Chardonnay. To be fair, the “by the bottle list” was moreextensive.We moved right on to the main course and my SiamChicken was both beautifully presented and incredibly delicious.It was almost addictive. I couldn’t stop eating it. CrispyChicken in a spicy sauce that combined tamarind, peppers,26 HERLIFEnewyork.com