Best of Fairfax City

Growth in Fairfax City, Fair Lakes, and Fair Oaks means interesting new places to eat.

Pad Thai (inexpensive). The smallest restaurant in this survey, with 38 seats, Pad Thai holds its own against a strong field of Thai places. The brother-and-sister team that runs the kitchen and dining room seems to get everything right. Good starters

Good starters are steamed mussels with a lime-and-chili sauce; hoi jaw, which is crab, ground shrimp, and ground pork wrapped in tofu skin, sliced, and pan-fried; large pan-seared chive dumplings; and several refreshing salads. Exuberant main courses are duck hi-so, bite-size morsels of duck fried with shrimp, onions, and other vegetables with a black-bean-and ginger sauce; deep-fried and juicy soft-shell crabs offered with a choice of sauces; flaming watercress, which is more sautéed than flaming; and, of course, pad Thai, the familiar noodle dish of bean sprouts, egg, scallions, ground peanuts, and a choice of shrimp or meat. Several mixed seafood dishes are offered in a variety of preparations—stir-fried, on a hot plate, in a hot pot, and with curry paste. Pad Thai knows how to prepare seafood.

BARGAIN DELIGHTS-$BIG OPTINS FOR SMALL WALLETS

Located in a strip mall, between a tanning salon and a sub shop, Pad Thai's exterior may not catch eyes the way other restaurant may; however, the Thai food offered inside certainly makes the restaurant worthy of a visit. Moreover, the decor is fun and modern with walls of bright green and orange and chairs that are covered with a darker green, which doesn't really match the rest of the color scheme; yet it somehow works. Adding to that, perhaps due to the ultra small scale, the staff is very courteous and attentive-- although sometimes to attentive. And don't let the name of the restaurant fool you when it comes to the food; there is much more at Pad Thai than pad Thai. To start, order the fried dumplings - eight tiny dumplings that are filled with vegetables, deep-fried to an amazing crispness and served with a wonderful sweet and sour sauce. Just be careful as the dumplings are served really hot. For an entree, order the beef siam - beef, which has been marinated and sauteed with tomatoes, peppers and onion in a somewhat sneakily spicy sauce and served on a sizzling platter, alongside a cup of steamed rice. Another great dish is the pad kee mao, otherwise known as drunken noodles - wide rice ribbon noodles sauteed with a choice of beef, chicken, pork, duck, shrimp, squid, or scallops; fresh basil leaves, sliced onion, halved cherry tomatoes, tiny green onions, and a hot, spicy chili sauce. The hearty dish is a delight to the senses. For dessert, order the Thai custard over sticky rice.