Thai Drunken Noodle & Crazy Noodle

[JolokiaJen]

Hi. I'm going to order from a Thai restaurant for the first time. I love spicy noodle dishes. Which is better- Drunken Noodle or Crazy Noodle? What is the difference between the two? The menu says I can order it as spicy as I want, up to 4 stars Very Spicy, which I'll probably get. Thanks!

[Big Bad Voodoo Lou]

I love drunken noodles, which many Thai restaurants around here will also call pad kee mao or pad kee mow. Usually wide, flat, pan-fried noodles (but still soft, not crispy), tossed with onions, bell peppers, Thai basil, tomatoes, and a protein in a sweet but spicy sauce that coats the noodles, rather than a thin sauce like in that photo. I've never had it come with baby corn (I hate that stuff).

It usually looks more like this: https://www.google.com/search?q=pad+k...

[JolokiaJen]

That does look good, thanks for the photos. I wonder which is better, that or the crazy noodles.

[JolokiaJen]

I ordered the Drunken Noodles today, but they were very sweet. I wasn't expecting that. What noodle dish could I get that is just spicy, not sweet? Maybe the crazy noodles or one of the curry noodle dishes? Thanks!

[Quine]

That may depend on the place. So places tend to sweeten for the "American" palate.

I usually "test drive" a new thai place by the way they make the soup Tom Kae Gai and Pad Thai. Since Thai should be a balance of the four flavors: sour, sweet, creamy and salty, any dish that sticks out more of one over the others, is usually not a good sign.

Here is a review with photos of a new Thai place I tried recently. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/859612
And you might like this site:
http://www.thaitable.com/

[JolokiaJen]

Yeah, this was quite jarring, it was so sweet. I loved those sweet type dishes when I was a teenager, but now as I get older I seem to prefer more savory and spicy dishes than sweet.

[Quine]

This site may help :
http://www.tasteofthaionline.com/nood...

[JolokiaJen]

Thanks. I think I might go with Crazy Noodle. The Drunken Noodle photo looks like it is drowning in sauce.

[huiray]

Drowning in sauce? Not in the least, to me. The amount of sauce shown in that photo seems fine to me. From what I remember from your posts on another thread I gather you hate anything that is wet with sauce. That's fine, they're your preferences - but in that case be warned that a LOT of Chinese dishes, especially Cantonese/Southern Chinese dishes, will be "swimming in sauce" as you view it. Ditto many SE Asian dishes.

[JolokiaJen]

That's why I like Lo Mein, the sauce is cooked into it. I did buy the drunken noodle about a week ago. There was hardly any sauce on it. It was okay, but very sweet.