Existential-ly Noodles

There's something about Pad Thai that is simply magical. Just as Life must be lived through experiences or ‘le vecu’ as Jean Paul Sartre called it, Pad Thai is a dish that must be described through experience. To Sartre, the concept of vécu is based on a mixture (un mélange) that gets integrated into a whole. That, in a nutshell, is the recipe for Pad Thai.


Pad Thai begins with rice in its most passionate form - noodles. Long, slightly sticky, and deliciously chewy, rice noodles. You can find them in the Asian grocery stores bearing the Vietnamese title "ban pho".

Sartre said that "We must act out passion before we can feel it." So let's find someplace quaint, charming and cozy.


Genuine Pad Thai, the real thing, has a fiery temper, a breath of desire, a hint of appreciation, and the missing kiss of a lover that is gone and never coming back. The recipe has the four ingredients expressed as a kind of temporary madness: Tamarind pulp for it's sour flavor), Fish Sauce for its salty bitterness, Palm Sugar for its gentle sweetness, and a red hot Thai chili powder for transcendence.

Fry in some egg, bean sprouts and onion. Add crushed, roasted peanuts to taste.


Serve it with rice.


Pad Thai may teach one to love, but not how to stop. Try, just try, I dare you, to put down the chopsticks or fork and walk away before feeling stuffed. Just be sure to try it at the Siam Pad Thai restaurant. It's THAT good!


Siam Pad Thai
3027 Wilmington Pike
Dayton, OH 45429-4001
(937) 293-9606