The Thai restaurant with servings as ornate as its flavors

By Eleanor Ostman

So I was chomping egg roll salad at Stone Pho, gathering an opinion for the recent review of those Vietnamese delights, when I glanced east across the parking lot on Perimeter Drive and saw another restaurant: Karta Thai. “Hmm, haven’t been there,” I thought.

A little research revealed that a karta is an all-purpose wok-like cooking utensil essential to Thai cookery. The Roseville restaurant that honors that tradition has been here for a couple of years after relocating from the Como area. It is sister to a Minneapolis location, both owned by a native of Thailand who emigrated to Seattle, then relocated in the Twin Cities.

My Friday dining group is always looking for a new destination, so I proposed we take a swing at that high-powered cuisine. Five of us took the challenge, and all of us ordered classic dishes such as Pad Thai (my favorite, and the best-seller at any Thai restaurant in the world) or curries with red or green sauce, red being spicier, green tempering spice with sweetness.

I can report my Pad Thai with brown sauce was a delight. When I was working downtown at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and long-gone Dispatch and didn’t feel like making dinner, my husband and I would get a take-out order of rice noodles with chicken at Ruam Mit on Wabasha Street. It was acceptable, but Karta Thai outshines it. I ordered the shrimp version and was pleased at how many populated my plate, along with peanuts, bits of egg, onion and bean sprouts scattered amid the noodles. Such a generous portion that a take-home box was essential.

When one dines with friends on a weekly basis, there is an inevitable offering of shared tastes. So I was happy to accept samples of the Panang (the way Karta Thai spells it) red and green curries. Both brought memories of eating in Penang, Thailand on two trips. On the first, we stayed at an ethereal new hotel where diaphanous drapery billowed in the breeze. When I returned a decade later, that hotel was a ruin, but the curries sampled in an open-air restaurant at town center maintained classic flavors. Roseville’s Karta Thai echoes them perfectly.

My second Karta visit was a revelation. I invited Sommer Wagen, editor of the Roseville Reporter, to join me so we could meet for the first time. I worried that Thai food might be too spicy for them, but they were enthusiastic, and we ordered two stellar entrees I’ve never encountered on a Thai menu here, or in Thailand.

First to arrive at our table was Pineapple Fried Rice. Not a mere plateful, it was heaped on a half pineapple, spiky greenery and all. Think typical fried rice, but add enhancements of cashews for crunch and pineapple for sweetness. Not only flavorful but beautiful. It remains on the menu year-around.

If you want to experience the second showstopper we tried, hurry to Karta Thai because it may disappear during winter. They call it a pumpkin, but it looked like a hefty acorn squash filled with squares of tofu, pea pods and compatible vegetables in a savory sauce to be spooned over rice. It didn’t shout spice, rather satisfaction. Its squashy cover kept it hot on the way to the table. That “container” is purchased at local farmer’s markets and Karta’s supply is waning. But there’s always next summer. If squash is no longer available, young coconuts become serving dishes.

Mango with sweet sticky rice was our dessert— the most popular meal-ender in Thailand, and for good reason.

Also on the menu are other creative offerings not usually seen in Thai restaurants, such as walleye curry, indicating that the owner has adapted to her adopted home. Worth another trip.

Karta’s bar offers beer and wine. If you’d rather dine at home, their drive-through lane can be the source of your Thai experience. Call ahead to order: 651-756-7173. Then head to 1889 Perimeter Drive for take-out.