Bank Atcharawan's Chada Thai To Open on October 12
A few days ago, Chowhound QAW and I were lucky enough to sample a dozen dishes from Chada Thai, owned by former Lotus of siam manager/wine guru, Bank. It looks like John Curtas was served the almost the exact same meal the next day, and his impressions were very similar to mine: http://www.eatinglv.com/2012/09/chada...
As QAW observed, this food is tailor-made for drinking, either a Riesling or beer. The food is intense and varied. I think it was extremely smart for Bank to put an emphasis on Southern Thai cuisine, not just to avoid comparisons with LOS, but because Southern dishes are hard to find in Las Vegas, and much of it is quite different from Bangkok and Northern Thai food.
My single favorite taste was the heart in the lo-ba (a mixed grill of pork offal, which includes tongue and pig's ear), but the black pepper pork belly was a close second. The whole tilapia and the eggplant salad were also spectacular (don't miss Curtas's slide show).
A few attractions of Chada that Curtas doesn't mention:
1. Chada will be open from 5:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. Now there is an alternative to Raku for spectacular, classy food late-night.
2. Chada is family run, including Bank's brother, Jakrapan, the gentle giant who was such a fine waiter at LOS, is "doing a little bit of everything" at Chada, along with Bank's father and significant other in the kitchen.
3. Servings and prices are relatively small. Two or there dishes per person will be more than enough. Just a guess, but I figure $20-30 would be the average check for food (and Chada will be BYOB until the liquor license is granted).
4. In general, there is a tendency to use fatty or rich proteins with light and piquant sauces. It's a winning combination.
I'm always wary of evaluating a restaurant before it opens, but I have little doubt that if the kitchen can produce dishes like we enjoyed, Chada is going to be a hot place sooner rather than later, and deservedly so. Bank is figuring on a no-reservations policy for now. I wish I could be in town for the opening, but hope to visit ASAP.
Chada Thai is located at 3400 Jones, just north of Spring Mountain (in the same mall as China Mama).
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TheCarrieWatson
Jan 25, 2013 04:08 PM
I'm so glad you posted this! Going to Vegas in June, and already had plans to visit LOS (for the first time). Now I'm equally excited to try this place too.
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re: QAW
...and it is quite the deal. I believe you can either order ala carte or a $15 prix fixe that includes egg roll, salad, soup, steamed rice, a main dish (many different sauces with your choice of protein -- a $2 supplement for shrimp), and a glass of any of these wines:
Marcel Lapierre Raisins Gaulois
St. Cosme Cotes-du-Rhone
Chateau Haut-Mayne Rouge
Schloss Schonborn Estate Riesling
Huber "Hugo" Gruner Veltliner
Jean-Marc Brocard Bourgogne BlancLunch is from 11-3 p.m.
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Round Two, with Mr. Feldman, turned out to be another evening of great conversation (what a week for political "junkies" to rehash), gracious service, and excellent food. Still BYOB for a few moments more, but we came well-stocked.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the evening was an off the menu "Pomelo and Banana Blossom" salad, which combined both vibrant favors and some interesting textures - the blossom actually brought to mind a sauteed soft-shell crab. Among the other standouts were the "Pad Hed" - (Shitake and Shimeji mushrooms, with brussels sprouts and lotus root), and the sublime "Century Egg", a preserved egg with a basil/chili compliment. The creaminess of the egg really opened up for the spices to shine, and made for a delightful pairing with our second bottle of Riesling. Kudos to Bank and his crew in the kitchen, and as always to Mr. Feldman, when he graces our fair city.
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re: QAW
I ate dinner at Chada three times last week, and I'm happy to say that Chada has lived up to the promise of the pre-opening meal I tried. It was outstanding and exciting. Chada still doesn't have a license yet, but in each case we brought our own Riesling and the restaurant supplied ice buckets and wine glasses.
Here's my primary recommendation: order items you've never tried before. The more unusual the food is to you, the more likely you'll get to sample what Chada does best. Here are some of my favorites, roughly in order of preference:
1. An absolute knockout appetizer is the fresh oysters with roasted chili, lime, crispy onion and coarse salt. Honestly, if there was nothing else on the menu, I'd be happy to ride out here, order two of these (there are four oysters to an order), and leave a happy man.
2. The Century Egg Basil consists of preserved eggs with basil and chili. Fantastic sauce and not funky at all. Unusual and delicious.
3. The Moo Hong -- Braised pork belly, black soy sauce, palm sugar, black pepper. This dish is very rich but absolutely delicious, especially with sticky rice.
4. Grilled Tilapia, stuffed with lemongrass, Thai basil and lime leaf, salt crust is gentle and clean. The charming waiters will fillet this for you if you'd prefer. I prefer this to the sea bass but the latter has a delicious chili paste topping.
5. Pad Hed, Shitake and Shimeji mushrooms stir-fried with Brussels sprouts and lotus root
This is a great accompaniment to some of the heavier dishes.Chada does offer familiar dishes such as Pad See Eww, Mussamun Curry, tom kah kai, etc.
The menu is online now, although it has been changed slightly to make it easier to navigate. Many of the portions are in-between the usual appetizer and entree, so you have to play a little by trial and error, and we enjoyed ordering a few dishes at a time and adding more.
To me, Chada is the most exciting new restaurant in Las Vegas since Raku opened and like Raku, it's open late night.
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re: Dave Feldman
janetofreno
Nov 17, 2012 08:17 PM
What's the typical price point for dinner? I HAVE to try those oysters!!!
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re: janetofreno
Dishes start at $6 for some smaller plates and top off at 19 bucks for lobster tail. Some other fish dishes are in the high teens. Most dishes are in the $8-14 range. Many of the under $10 plates are small portions (often a little bigger than a typical appetizer portion) but not all.
The fried Cornish hen is only $7 and could be a (delicious) entree. The menu is online at
http://chadavegas.com/menu.html-
re: Dave Feldman
We visited Chada last night for the second time. They are still waiting on the liquor license. The fresh oysters are definitely a must try. Our other favorites are the Seabass Tod Krueng - nice chili paste sauce, Panang Curry, Miang Puo - crab meat lettuce wraps and Nua Nam Tok - rib steak with spicy sauce.
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Beach Chick
Oct 23, 2012 04:16 AM
As a huge fan of LOS and just dined there last month, I'm excited to dine at Chada..sea bass sounds fab.
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re: Beach Chick
Great review of Chada from Max Jacobson: http://vegasseven.com/dining/2012/10/... The big news -- the liquor license might come through as early as this week.
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I am going to try and head here this weekend while I am in visiting and since it is BYOB was thinking of bringing some really good craft beer. Since the owner has such an extensive wine pairing background, would it be reasonable to ask if he had any interest in smelling/tasting our bottles to see if he could offer pairing recommendations? Seems unlikely that he would have tried anything I would bring as it would not be anything distributed to NV and I would not be able to give very detailed tasting notes.
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O.M.G.!! If you like Thai food, or just well prepared food in general, then get ye to Chada Thai & Wine, and make haste!! I just had dinner here tonight, and the food just had flavour!! Some of the dishes had so many layers and layers of different sensations that it really made my taste buds dance. Chada is now one of my favourites in Vegas, and maybe anywhere.
Standouts:
MIANG POU
Lettuce wrap, crab meat, ginger, roasted coconut, peanut, lime and onionPANANG CURRY
Slow cook beef in Panang curry
^ Not your typical rendition of this dish. This one actually had depth to it beyond coconut milk and dried chilis. Sweet, savoury, hot, and just wonderful.SEABASS TOD KRUENG
Pan fried and glazed with chili paste
^ Chili paste was hot, but not overwhelming. Seabass was very fresh, cooked perfectly, with it's butteryness a perfect counterpart to the slightly sweet/hot chili.SEN MEE KANG POU
Crab curry served with thin rice noodle
^ Lots of crab meat, and the shellfish flavour really came through. Very well-balanced.There was also a ribeye steak salad that I don't see on their web site menu (it's not any of the ones on there). It was 2nd or 3rd item from the bottom, far left hand column of their menu in the restaurant, and absolutely fabulous!!
MOO HONG
Braised pork belly, black soy sauce, palm sugar, black pepper
^ Probably the weakest dish of the bunch. Not bad by any means...but just not quite at the same level as the rest.The place was nearly empty when we were there (Saturday night, 8pm). There is no excuse for this. With the quality they're putting on the plate, it should be booked solid.
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WildSwede
Oct 15, 2012 05:12 PM
Thank you for the review. Think I may need to add this to my list of places to try while there next weekend!
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re: Dave Feldman
Sorry Mr. Feldman, but we could not wait until your return. Just finished an outstanding walk through many segments of the menu this evening, with a couple of wonderful BYOB rieslings to wash them down, courtesy of an out-of-town Chowhounder. This time around it included an extremely meaty cornish hen (terrific crunch from the batter), and a superb sea bass, glazed with chili paste. The tamarind sauce for the grilled squid meatballs was also a hit, and as expected, these flavors really do show an enhanced vibrancy when paired with a good riesling (or beer, although that will be saved for another time). It looks like the liquor license will be granted by the end of the month, so we can look forward to Bank's own list on your next visit.
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The full menu is up at Chada's website now: http://chadavegas.com/menu.html
Have any Chowhounds been there yet.
One small correction: it looks like the hours have been changed from 5:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. 7 days a week.
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re: heidipie
I don't write too much about Lotus too much anymore here, partly because it is far from undiscovered and because I fear coming across as an unrepentant fanboy. But my admiration for the place just grows and grows. They have more than doubled their capacity, do hundreds of covers every day, doubled their staff, and yet it is remarkably consistent. I recently had four dinners there. Two of those times, Saipin wasn't even in the kitchen, yet the food was as good as ever, and as soulful. No matter how many awards it wins, or celebrities show up there, it remains a family business, with many employees working with the Chutimas for ten or twenty years.
That's one reason why Chada Thai's opening is such a big deal. Bank and his brother Jakrapan (aka Bon) were like part of the Chutima family. So while it's hard for LOS to lose Bank and Bon, there is no doubt LOS will thrive. And it will be fascinating to see how Chada turns out. What I did not know until this month is that Bank's father, who is involved with Chada, used to own Ruen Pair, an excellent Thai restaurant in L.A. that is still going strong. Chada is a family business, too, and I think that is part of the reason for the soulfulness of the food I tried.
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re: Dave Feldman
WildSwede
Oct 16, 2012 02:58 PM
Wow! Thanks, Dave for the info. Yes, Ruen Pair is highly esteemed down here and very good. I always make it a point to eat at LOS when I am in LV and cannot wait as I will be there again next week. Can you confirm that the opening of Chada is not until 10/30? I am hoping it is before that since I leave on the 28th. Thanks again!
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re: heidipie
Both are great in different ways. Chada is a different experience to LOS. Different dishes, different flavour profile. And, I'd say the portions are a little smaller at Chada, lending themselves well to ordering more dishes and sharing amongst the table. So, no...I wouldn't say that one is a slam dunk over the other. However, at the moment, Chada gets the edge from me because the flavours were so bold, and whilst LOS was fully booked last Saturday night, I was able to get a table at Chada with ease.
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Those flavors were great, weren't they? Perhaps it shows the influence of Bank being very "wine forward" in putting the menu together - there was a vibrancy across the board that will only be enhanced by the kind of wine program that has been almost entirely lacking along the Spring Mountain corridor. Once the ink has dried on the liquor license, we will be among the first to request a few varieties of Tasting Menu's; some Riesling flights with these dishes would make for a special evening.
