Five Star Restaurant
268 S. State St., Salt Lake City ; 801-366-9367
(see
map)
Thai, Chinese and Filipino cuisines. Great selection of specialty drinks.
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Cuisine: Thai, Chinese
Price: $$
Hours: M-Th, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; F-S, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Liquor: Full Service
Reservations: Accepted
Accepts:    
Recommended Dishes: Pad me leungh (yellow noodles and vegetables), panang curry.
November 12, 2004
By Nancy Hobbs
The popularity of Thai food continues to grow throughout the valley, with a new restaurant touting the "most authentic" ethnic cuisine appearing almost weekly. Five Star Restaurant in downtown Salt Lake City is among them, though in a way, it's not new at all. The original Five Star has been thriving for almost six years in Roy, and it was customers who work in Salt Lake who talked the owners into opening a satellite restaurant so they could dine there for lunch as well.
Manager Shane Turner, son of company president Bunjov Turner, says the commuters have stayed true to their word. Three months in, lunchtime at Five Star is busy. Dinner is less intense.
Turner is determined to make the restaurant work for diners at every meal, and personally hustles things along to help ensure a 30- to 40-minute turnaround at lunch. The high-energy manager muscles trays to tables, explains the nuances of specialty meals and how to use accompaniments, and chats with customers about the food, all the while juggling managerial tasks.
One reason for the lunchtime popularity is price: $4.95 or $5.95 for Chinese or Thai food, respectively, includes hot-and-sour or egg-drop soup, a small egg roll, rice, a choice of main dish and, of course, a fortune cookie.
Dinner is more expensive, but still reasonable, topping out at $12 for shrimp in a hot Thai curry sauce.
The liquor is what can kill you. The colorful menu of specialty drinks is enticing, but the specialty Rita -- a supposedly gussied-up margarita -- was nothing to shout about . . . until I got the bill: $7.50 for a cocktail that came in a draft beer glass with very little ice and a smidgen of salt on the rim. It tasted the way you might expect, with 1 ounce of tequila, and a touch of flavoring, drowned out by about 9 ounces of mixer. If you are going to drink, you might want to stick to the limited, but less costly, wine and beer selection.
Food is the draw here, and Thai cuisine is Five Star's specialty. Though spicy in general, the "authenticity" of spiciness is happily cranked up for those who request it, Turner says. Either way, most anything on the Thai menu is more stimulating than the numerous Chinese selections, which Turner himself describes as "all-American Chinese favorites."
My preference was the Thai cuisine, with everything from more familiar pad thai to spicy panang getting thumbs up around the table. The panang starts with a sauce of wonderful flavors, including red chili, coconut and Thai basil, combined in my dish with pieces of chicken (you can choose beef, pork or shrimp instead). By itself, the sauce packs a sinus-clearing punch; spooned over steamed rice, the mellowing effect is perfect.
The pad me leungh was a new adventure, and well worth experiencing. The dish is made of fried, wide yellow noodles mixed with vegetables: crunchy broccoli, primarily, but also onions and mushrooms. It is delivered to the table with three garnishes: granulated sugar, jalapeno-steeped vinegar and red pepper flakes.
According to Turner's instructions, you first spoon a little vinegar over the noodles, then follow with a sprinkling of sugar. Pepper flakes are added at your own risk. He suggested starting with a 2-to-1 ratio of vinegar to sugar, then adjusting to personal preference.
The mix of textures and flavors was delicious.
Five Star is the first tenant on the ground floor of the newly renovated Brooks Arcade building on the corner of 300 South and State. Rather than being enclosed within the original facade, however, the restaurant is in a mostly windowed addition. Inside, the walls and beams are decorated with colorful, hand-painted umbrellas and fans, with bits and pieces of Asian art throughout.
Beware the south wall in the small waiting area. I sat on one end of what looked like a faux-rock "bench," leaned back and started perusing the menu. When my friend arrived, I sat forward and suddenly realized I had been leaning against a fountain, with water running down a ribbed wall painted to look like bamboo. The water had yet to soak through my wool coat, but had splashed into an outside pocket of my purse and wiped out my cell phone.
On a return visit, we overheard someone asking the hostess if anyone ever leans back into the fountain.
Her response: "All the time."
Readers are herewith forewarned. I'm admitting my blunder to save others from similar humiliation. Go to Five Star for Thai food at reasonable prices, but watch out for the water.
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