Leela Thai (Santee)

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog and Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy are the ones who usually do the blogging.  Really, Kirk is the usual one.  Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy help out when Kirk is busy.  Today, it is one of those days and Cathy is writing. 

Santee, incorporated in 1980 within the County-of and not too far East of the City-of San Diego, is home to an established Buddhist Temple, Van Hanh (it's on Fanita, South of Mary's Donuts).Knowing this, it's not surprising that the second location of Sab E Lee,  Sab E Lee 2, opened here in 2009.  After all, Oiishi, a Japanese-Thai restaurant, had been here for three years before I even began blogging with Kirk and before that, it was a wonderful Thai place, run by chefs who had worked at Lotus of Siam, a Las Vegas legend. Almost two years ago, Bua Thai Kitchen opened in this location, it formerly had been three iterations of a Taco Shop. The Southwest corner of Mission Gorge Road at Cuyamaca is anchored by a McDonalds, two banks, a 99Cent Only store, Bevmo and Petco has a large parking lot to accommodate all of the business here.  

I began a post about Bua and after noticing all of my orders were the same takeout items tried (and loved and craved) on my first visit, I thought it would be odd and never got around to finishing it.After about a year and a half, Bua closed and the Leela sign appeared.  The interior was redone and the hours changed in that Leela was open on Mondays (when Sab E Lee 2 is closed).  

When we inquired, we found out that Bua is still the chef here, but that the business was bought up by the same owner as Aroma Thai, located in Imperial Beach, which cc had blogged about earlier this year.  (The menus are very similar, with lower prices by about 50¢ at Aroma).Our meals began with an excellent vegetarian soup.Deciding we needed to 'test' the 'standards' here, an order of Satay Chicken ($6.95) was an easy choice.  The chicken was moist and well marinated, the Satay sauce had a nice bit of heat, but nothing too crazy.  The Leela Basket ($9.95) was ordered at a heat level of 4/10.  It was.  The freshly made noodle basket was filled with chicken, pork and shrimp, vegetables and cashews.  It was served with two cream cheese filled wontons and rice.  The freshness of everything was impressive.  We enjoyed this dish a lot.Once I knew Bua was in the kitchen, I also ordered the pork larb ($8.95) (also at a heat level of 4/10) and it was as I remembered: perfect...the crunchy rice powder, the mint, the perfect heat level.  My cravings for this simple dish have returned.

Leela Thai 9725 Mission Gorge Road Santee 92071 (619) 334-4019

Leela Thai Cuisine 9725 Mission Gorge Road Santee 92071 (619)334-4019 Open seven days 10:30-9:30

Comments

[caninecologne]

I didn't know about the connection to IB's Aroma Thai.

Larb is always a good choice by the way! :)

[Cathy]

Yes, when we asked the gentleman about the new ownership, he mentioned Aroma (and another location, North of here). I had the Aroma menu you gave me at home and immediately compared...layout and order of the menu is exactly the same with a few different items at Leela (Buas specialties). It's nice to have a choice of Thai styles close to home.