While most of the tourist restaurants in Amarillo are located along I-40, those who are more adventurous may want to head to Historic US 66 (Amarillo Blvd.) where several southeast Asian restaurants are located. One of the most prominent is the Thai House, which actually serves as an anchor for some smaller Asian restaurants and shops in a small strip shopping center behind the restaurant.

Although the Thai House advertises "Thai and Chinese," the owner is from Laos and specialties from his homeland are some of the most interesting items on the menu. So far most of the fun has been in exploring new dishes--I cannot say I have found any one item that is truly memorable. The Kao-Lao Soup comes close, however--made with chicken broth and delicious spices, this Laotian specialty would probably be my number one recommendation for the restaurant.

The Papaya Salad here is sweeter than others I have had, and I did not like it as much as at Lan Xang or Houang's.

I have not found the Thai food here to be as exciting as the Laotian dishes, for instance the Lad Na has a rather ordinary sauce and below average cuts of meat.

I have ordered the Phad Thai several times and enjoyed it with the hot chiles that are on the table. I have been told that both Issan and Lao styles are available, but when I have asked some of the waiters they had no knowledge of it, and I suspect that you can only get these dishes when the owner is present.

The Sticky Rice is interesting because it comes with chile sauce on the side. I have received two different kinds--one was pretty much the same kind of chile that they place on each table but the other was a delicious dark sauce that made it worth the hefty price they charge.

Thai tea is a little sweet and thin, but it has all the flavors I think should be there.

The restaurant is almost always open--it serves until 1:00 a.m. Sun.-Wed. and 1:45 a.m. Thur.-Sat. I have even eaten here on Christmas day (and the restaurant was packed).

It is usually not a good idea to come when the restaurant is crowded because smoking is allowed throughout the building, but late at night when there are only a few people, I find it to be an ideal place to enjoy some interesting Asian food with a mix of people who enjoy the same thing including a growing number of Asian food conoisseurs.