Downtown Phoenix has grown tremendously over the last few years. It now offers a wider variety of restaurants and food from different cultures. More places are now offering discounts to students who attend ASU. This lead me to try a few new places near Cityscape.
One of my favorite places was Thai’d Up. I was a little hesitant to try Thai food because I’ve never had it before and this place was just opening up for business.
Before trying this place, I decided to find out some information about the history of Thai’d Up. I decided to stop by and grab menu. I was greeted by three women who I later found out were the owners.
They opened the restaurant based around cuisines from Thailand. The women have combined their recipes, which were passed down from earlier generations, and cooking experience of 30 years to create food adhering to four prominent flavors: sweet, sour, bitter and savory.
The menu was extensive but the dish that stood out to me immediately was L2, the broccoli delight with chicken. (You can pick any type of meat, fish, tofu or vegetarian)
I am a broccoli fanatic. It’s my favorite food to eat especially with Asian cuisine and spices. I knew if I loved this dish that I would pretty much be this places number one customer. That’s how intense my love for broccoli is.
The menu allows you to pick how spicy you want a dish since Thai food is typically cooked with garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. It’s all combined in a wok to created crisp, explosive flavors and textures. The broccoli and chicken is mixed with carrots and the Thai’d up sauce, which has been a family recipe for generations and the owners do not share it with anyone except each other. They won’t allowed anyone to alter the original recipe because they want to keep the flavors as close to the ones right from Thailand as they can.
The dish was very generous in size and came with a side of tofu soup. It was extremely flavorful and the broccoli was perfect. I never thought Thai food would be so tasty and delightful.
The Thai’d Up sauce, which was passed down from generations, was definitely the secret ingredient that made this dish spectacular. It was smooth, spicy and had depths of flavor that adhered to every taste bud in someway. The fact that the owners only use locally grown, fresh produce also made this dish extra special. And to top the day off, Thai’d Up gave me a 10% discount off my bill just for being an ASU student with my sun card. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Not only did Thai’d Up have a fascinating story behind it, but the food was excellent as well. And the best part is that it is college student friendly and supports locally grown produce.
For The Love of Food 