Busaba's Thai Cuisine

Roy Pope keeps a frenetic pace as he whirls in between the crowded tables and kitchen area of Busaba’s Thai Cuisine. While there are no clanging pots or bustling waiters, he assures swift service at lunchtime, which is important to patrons on the clock. Located in the block just west of Bienville Square, this airy ethnic restaurant does a brisk lunch business and a quiet dinner. And with a lunch consisting of three courses, time is of the essence.

Roy and his wife began their venture several years ago to introduce Thai food to LoDa. From its earliest days, lunchtime has been successful. Dinner is less so, but I have found that nighttime is a more relaxing experience due to its quietness. About once a month, I get a craving for spicy curry and Busaba’s is a nice walk from my office—just enough to exercise off the lure of dozing off after a large lunch. The other day I selected Busaba’s to visit with a longtime friend whom I had not seen in awhile. This is a good place for conversation, as the room has tremendous ceilings and is just loud enough to mask your talk without overwhelming your ears with noise.

Busaba’s has a menu that can be overwhelming in selection, but offers dishes for the novice, timid ethnic eater to the expert. The menu is divided among appetizers, salads, house specialties and entrees. All of the lunch entrees come with a spring roll, two fried wontons, steamed jasmine rice and soup of the day. I tend to stick with curry dishes but most times I am with others who branch out. For the wary, several of the entrees lean toward the more typical Chinese offerings in appeal in addition to several fried rice selections.

A three-star spicy rating is applied to each of the main menu items. One star is mildly spicy, two is spicy but manageable with three being extremely spicy. Three stars is the authentic Thai style.

Laab is a spicy dish of chopped chicken, beef or pork browned with green onions, red onions, dried chili peppers, rice powder and lime juice. It is served with raw cabbage and cucumber. I have tried both the pork and chicken laab. This dish, along with pad thai, is an excellent introduction for first-time eaters. Pad thai consists of stir-fried rice noodles with chicken breast, eggs and bean sprouts, lightly sprinkled with crushed, roasted peanuts.

All of their curry is good, I have had every one of them, but my favorite is the red curry. The curry dishes can be prepared with chicken, pork, beef or tofu. In addition to tofu curry, there are four other vegetarian dishes, mostly different combinations of stir-fried vegetables. I have tried the imperial mushroom tofu that contains black mushrooms with tofu, garlic and green onions and it is very tasty.

I chose the Gang Dang, red chicken curry, three stars while my friend ordered the Gai Him-ma-parn (cashew chicken) with two stars. Immediately after ordering our first two courses arrived in tandem. While the spring roll and two wontons are on the small side, the abundance of food elsewhere in the meal compensates. Both are not greasy, but crisp, light and served with a tangy, slightly sharp sweet sauce.

Piping hot and spicy bowls of Tom Yum Gai soup then set the stage for our entrees. This is a spicy chicken soup of clear broth with tender breast meat and mushrooms. Another favorite soup is Tom Kah Gai made with coconut milk and is the soup of the day on Wednesday. You can order any of their five soups any day and at dinner. Dinner servings are substantial and when paired with an entrée this is more than enough to fill you up.

The cashew chicken takes stir-fried breast meat with cashews, carrots mushrooms, onions and bell peppers in a light, brown sauce. The cashews bring not only an extra crunch to the crisp vegetables, but also lend flavor to what could be a bland dish. My chicken curry was blended with bamboo shoots, carrots, bell peppers and zesty basil in a red curry base. People either like curry or don’t. Red curry is my favorite. It is slightly sweet and is soft in taste that lends well to the spicy pepper infusion. All entrees have an abundant pile of moist jasmine rice. The servings are generous.

While Busaba’s has a full liquor and beer menu, their thai tea is what excels. This is a sweet tea that I find not as overly sweetened as some Southern iced teas. From what I understand this tea includes ground star anise, orange flower, vanilla, clove, cinnamon, sugar, half-and-half and black tea. I highly recommend it.

The dinner menu is the same as lunch with significantly larger portions to share. One of the more unusual and delicious entrees I have had at dinner is the Gang Pla, or fish curry. A large piece of crispy fried flounder is served with bell peppers and basil leaves and sauced with red curry paste and coconut milk. It is incredible.

Busaba’s is open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11-3 and dinner from 3 until 9. It is great for a quick late lunch. They are open until 9 p.m. for dinner on Fridays and are open on Saturday from noon until 10. Our lunch bill was $16—a great bargain for an abundance of well-prepared food.

Kinnon Phillips is Lagniappe cuisine editor. Contact him at kphillips@lagniappemobile.com.

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