When all else fails, find a Thai restaurant

Thursday evening, finally touched down in Connecticut, Ani with the CT Veg Fest picked me up from the airport. We were both starving, but neither of us were terribly familiar with vegan-friendly restaurants in Hartford. We bounced a couple of ideas back and forth, until I said, "Do you like Thai food?"

"I LOVE Thai food!"

"Let's get Thai then." A quick Google search and we were on our way.

Folks, you can ALWAYS count on Thai food. If you can't agree on where to eat with someone, or Happy Cow isn't yielding many (or any) results, or you're in an unfamiliar area, look up a Thai restaurant. This has served me well in Des Moines, Iowa, and Middle-of-Nowhere, Idaho, and everywhere in between. Just make sure the vegetarian dishes don't contain fish sauce and you should be golden.

The man with the convention center called while we were in the car and he highly recommended a place to us - Tamarind Grill - and gave us turn by turn directions. I've seen a lot of pretentious-looking eateries in the Hartford area before and I wondered if this place would be similar, all fancy-pants and overpriced. I ended up being pleasantly surprised.

We started with edamame and a pot of High Mountain Green Tea. $3.50 for a pot, plus refills, is a darn good deal.

Normally when I'm at a Thai restaurant, I have a hard time straying from Panang curry or some kind of peanut sauce, but I went with the Mango Tofu this time. Something about reading "famous mango sauce," made me think I should try it. I'm so glad I did.

This was great! I can see why the mango sauce is "famous." I was particularly taken by the tofu, though. They were like tofu fries: long pieces of tofu, fried until perfectly crispy.

Ani ordered the Phatt Ruom Mitt, which is sauteed vegetables with tofu in a brown garlic sauce.

Great mix of vegetables in a savory (with a touch of sweet) garlic sauce.

$10 a plate for generous portions is nothing to share a stick at, either. (Is that how the saying goes?)

Ani and I had lots of festival things to talk about over dinner. I was very excited about the weekend!