Much as I'd like to have claimed to have discovered Amina Thai, keen-eyed Honesty prevents me from doing so. Washingtonian magazine--World's Most Boring Personals or your money back!--selected it for its 2006 Cheap Eats list.
The first thing to know about Amina Thai is that it is the first and only halal (food permissible under Islamic law) Thai restaurant in the Dee Cee area. What that means is that you won't be seeing any pork on the premises, you won't be quenching chili fires with cold Singha (try the mango juice, instead), and you will be enjoying a considerably-more diverse clientle than you might at your average stripmall Thai joint.
The next thing to note is that Amina Thai is named for owner Amina Toopet. She will visit your table. She will smile in a motherly way. She will recommend dishes for this time and remind you to try others next time. She will not lie to get you to order more food than you can reasonably consume at one sitting. She is a Presence in the dining room.
The food, then. Larb gai, an appetizer of minced chicken with cilantro in a vinegarette, was hot. Not melt-your-eyes hot. But blow-your-nose hot. And saltier than the norm, both for the same dish at other establishments and for other dishes at Amina. Tasty, though. And the kitchen will cheerfully exclude items like raw onions from a dish upon request. Pad thai, a benchmark dish for Thai restaurant evaluation, was generously portioned, to understate things considerably. The lush mouthfeel of sweetish noodles offset by the firmness of the chicken and shrimp and the crunch of ground peanuts. Quite good. Red curry with chicken medium-hot in sauce enrichened by coconut milk, bulked by eggplant and bamboo shoots, and spiked with anise-scented Thai basil. Rice accompanies the meal. Extra rice costs a buck a bowl. This may interest those of you who, like this reviewer, inhale at Thai and Indian and Chinese restaurants quantities of rice that could feed a Southeast Asian family for weeks.
If you have any room in your digestive tract after this or a similar meal, a) you are made of sterner stuff than I, and b) a modest dessert menu awaits your perusal. The green tea ice cream scoop surrounded by fried banana slices looked particularly good.
The aforementioned meal came in at under $35, so it's a bargain, besides.
So, to recap, cheap, good, friendly, unique. And the dining room hasn't fallen prey to the Purple Neon Peril that afflicts so many area Thai restaurants. Go. read more