One Meal at Karinya Thai

Who knows what Kirk and Cathy and the rest of the yosoers and FOYs have been doing for today? All we know is that ed (now from Yuma) is sharing his return  to one of his ol' stompin' grounds.

10 years ago, when I was ed (from PB), one of my favorite restaurants was Karinya Thai, located just a couple of blocks from the beach on Garnet. While I never much liked the stirfries that ask one to match a particular meat or tofu choice with selected vegetables, I regularly enjoyed dishes like the papaya salad, some of the curries, and the whole fish.

Recently I realized that I had not eaten at this restaurant in at least five years, so I decided to try it once more for old times' sake.

As before, the fairly large multi-roomed restaurant was nicely decorated with Siamese knickknacks, creating a pleasant atmosphere that is highlighted by classical music playing in the background:

One major difference in the restaurant today compared with 10 years ago is the relative lack of business. Throughout the time that I dined, only one other table in this room was occupied, and few other tables anywhere in the restaurant had customers.

I began with the papaya salad ($6.95), and it was as good as my memory of it:

While Kirk might like a little more funkiness, a hint of fish sauce pervaded the dish. In terms of spicy hotness, I had requested it to be seven (on a scale of one to 10), and the salad did not disappoint. As you can see from this picture, the entire salad was flecked with chips of red and green Thai chilies:

My eyes watered, my nose ran, and my mouth burned. It was good.

The dressing finished with a slight note of sweetness and was a perfect match with the crunchy green papaya strips and even brought out the taste of the bits of peanut scattered throughout.

Service this evening was excellent. The helpful young man who waited on the table recommended a good selection from the modest wine list, kept refilling my water glass, and even brought me a full carafe of water. Several times during the meal he came by to make sure that everything was fine.

For my main course, I ordered whole fish with spicy three flavored sauce. On this evening, the fish was a striped bass priced at $18.95. When it arrived, it looked beautiful - in a fried and sauced dead fish sort of way:

The sauce was supposed to be spicy hot (again I had requested a seven), but very little picante fire was discernible. Instead, the primary flavors were garlic, diced bell peppers of various colors, and a sour note that contrasted with a background sweetness:

When I began eating the fish, I started with fleshy part of one side, giving me several bites of flaky moist fish:

Quickly, however, I ran out of flaky moist fish. Large parts of the fish had been fried to crunchy doneness:

As I was eating the fish, I was reminded of a recent trip to Mar Azul in Yuma, where the waitperson asked if we wanted the whole fish fried light or fried hard. At Karinya, this fish was definitely fried hard. Except for the fleshy central filets on each side, the fish was generally crunchy and not especially fishy in flavor. The following pictures illustrate the condition of most of the fish:

I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed in Mr. Fish. I always say that I prefer whole fish preparations that yield flaky, moist, and tender morsels of fish. OK, that's what I say, but on this evening,  the culinary puritanism in my brain was overwhelmed by the hedonism of all this deep fried crunchiness in my mouth. And in fact, I couldn't stop eating the fish until all that was left was head, tail, and bones:

Even with my conflicted feelings about the fish, I would happily return to Karinya. I wonder if the curries are still good.

It would be nice to finish the record of this visit to Karinya with some conclusions.  Instead, like Mr Fish, this post doesn't have conclusions, just an ending.

Karinya Thai 4475 Mission Blvd San Diego (enter from Garnet), CA (858) 270-5050

Comments

[cathy]

Very funny writing, ed...fied, sauced,dead fish sort of way... My conclusions: A) Papaya salad: 6 ; B) Whole fish, fry light...unless I am in that crunchy mode (which I admit I am in more often than not); C) Try curry and report back. My week is set!

[clayfu]

One of my personal favorites for Thai in SD. Of course.. that's not saying much =P.

Curry is well done, very balanced.

[nate]

Hooo! That fish looks so ono! Flakey is great, but sometimes crunchiness hits the spot.

[janfrederick]

I love it! Your comments about how you were disappointed in the lack of moist bits, and then turning around and talking about how you relished the crunchy bits had me rolling. I'd feel the same way.

So, if you came back, and they suddenly decided to ask customers if they wanted their fish fried hard or light, which would you choose?

[janfrederick]

Too funny! Your comments about being dissapointed in the lack of moist bits, and then turning around and talking about how you secretly liked it had me rolling. I'd have felt the same way.

So, if you went back and discovered that they were asking guests if they wanted hard or light fried fish, which would you choose?

[ed (from Yuma)]

Yeh, Cathy, give it a try. It's been so long since I've had a curry there, Clay, that I honestly don't remember them.

jan, nate, I would order it fried lightly (really I would). That was certainly what I was expecting, and I'm sure that's how the fish used to be fried, but crunchy is good too. It was certainly better in all ways than most french fries I've eaten in the last year.

[sharon]

I've walked by this place countless number of times and I've always been curious. Definitely want to try it out now.

[foodhoe]

wow, you guys dusted that fish pretty well though! I do enjoy it when a meal reduces me to tears of joy from either wasabi or chilies... great pix too!