Friday Night is Thai Night

Seattlest and Mrs. Seattlest have been getting take out on Friday nights at Chantanee Family Thai Restaurant in Bellevue for almost 3 years and have found no better Thai restaurant on the Eastside. From time to time, we eschew the styrofoam containers and eat our meal in the gold and purple themed interior. The service? Efficient and friendly.

Mrs. Seattlest is the more adventurous of our duo and has eaten her way around most of the menu, finding some new favorites such as Heavenly Beef or the asparagus and prawns special. When I pressed her on her favorite dish, she reluctantly admitted that it was Chantanee Fried Rice. This dish combines just about every protein on the menu: pork, beef, chicken, prawns and calamari. For us, it's always old reliable – Chicken Panang Curry with 3 stars of spice (#12 at lunch and #39 at dinner).

The Bellevue favorite is hidden in the middle of the block that sits between Main Street and 2nd and 106th and Bellevue Way. It's relatively out of the way downtown Bellevue location is worth searching for--everyone else is--the long lines for lunch and dinner demonstrate how good the food is going to be. A coincidental perk of being hidden on this block is that Chantanee is right next door to the best wine shop on the Eastside- Petes. Pete's will turn a long wait into an opportunity to pick up that hard to find Oregon Pinot Noir that you've been searching for.

Rumors are circulating around the downtown Bellevue water coolers that the continued redevelopment in the downtown Bellevue corridor will ultimately force Chantanee to relocate. We inquired with the host at Chantanee and she vaguely indicated that they would be moving, but that a date had not been set and that it would likely not be within the next year. We'll take refuge in knowing that Pen Thai Restaurant will remain open in Bothell under the expert ownership and management of Julie Chantanee and that I can find my Chicken Panang Curry there.