The Justice

Media Credit: Max Matza Fnu Dino, Baan Thai's new sushi chef, looks on as his wares are displayed in a traditional sushi case. Dino hails from Indonesia.

Dining hours at the Brandeis University dining halls are not exactly ideal, and judging by the line of delivery cars waiting to drive up to Ziv Quad every Friday and Saturday night, one might suspect that local Waltham restaurants have a secret deal with the University to keep the incomprehensibly minimal dining hours in place. After a couple of years at this school, many of us just fall into a comfortable habit of weekend spending on tried and true delivery favorites.

One of those favorites, Baan Thai (659 Main Street) offers a 10 percent discount for all Brandeis delivery orders and will honor the discount for eating-in with a valid Brandeis ID. Many students admit to having Baan Thai programmed into their cell phones, and others acknowledge that they've never set foot in the actual restaurant. Most of the time, they don't even have to look at the menu online anymore. In this lax familiarity with a known favorite, however, one might miss out on new changes at work.

As of Oct. 21, Baan Thai has returned sushi to its menu. Back when it was known as Tumrubthai, the local Thai favorite offered sushi in addition to Thai dishes. The owners did away with the sushi for quite a few years but, for some reason, began experimenting with their menu in 2008. For a brief stint, Baan Thai offered dim sum on the weekends. This was discontinued about four months ago, likely due to lack of popularity. Now, in compliance with the general trend of increasingly generic pan-Asian restaurants in the area, Baan Thai has once again joined the masses of ethnic restaurants that branch out in completely arbitrary directions.

The restaurant now has a white sign advertising "SUSHI" on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Baanthaifood.com also opens to a page marked "Specials-Now featuring Sushi." Had I blindly ordered pad thai for delivery as usual, I might not have seen any of the advertisements for this huge change. I drove out to Main Street with an express craving for pad thai, but I changed my mind upon seeing the new menu. I should have stuck with the pad thai.

For a sushi menu, the menu actually includes very little raw fish. It has many cooked and vegetarian options including California rolls ($4.95), eel avocado rolls ($5.95), asparagus rolls ($3.95) and mushroom rolls ($4.50). As a true test of its new sushi capabilities, I chose the Sushi Deluxe Combo-$16.95 for eight pieces of tuna and avocado rolls, 10 pieces of assorted sushi and, supposedly, a bowl of miso soup.

Continued...

Page 1 of 3 next >

Article Tools