DINE OUT: Blue Moon delivers bold Thai flavors

A clever marketing scheme by Vitaminwater pledged last month to give one lucky winner $100,000 to give up their smartphone for a year.

The internet responded by explaining how awful our smartphone addictions are in articles largely read on smartphones.

It also led to endless conversations that went: “It it wasn’t for my job, I’d be happy to give up my smartphone.”

I think 90 percent of those declarations are baloney.

Like most things, my reliance on my phone has good and bad aspects.

I spend too much time on Twitter and play mindless video games.

On the other hand, I always have a camera with me when I see something great. My map talks to me while I’m driving. And I can now find great Thai food while running a random errand in Attleboro.

Barbara had to pick up some items on a recent Saturday afternoon, and while I waited for her, I pulled out my phone and looked up restaurants nearby. I checked out the mostly positive reviews and flipped through some customers photos from Blue Moon Thai Cuisine and Bar and we were sold.

Blue Moon is a hole-in-the wall. It’s kind of hard to notice, located just before a busy intersection, in a squat brick building with two other storefronts next door.

It was also farther into town that we actually had to go, ensuring we never would have tried it had Google not plucked it from the ether.

Behind the front door, short bar with several stools and a couple TVs dominates the left side of the room. Through a doorway to the left we were show into a surprisingly spacious and scrupulously clean dining room with a couple more TVs on the wall and a large Buddha dominating the landscape.

We ordered waters and a Diet Coke, but the well-stocked bar out front was evidence a healthy drinks menu is also available.

The menu has all the Thai classics from curries to familiar stir-fried noodle dishes like pad Thai and drunken noodles.

There were also a number of chef’s specials like tropical salmon ($16.95), a salmon fillet sauteed in spicy peking sauce with green beans, snow peas and bell pepper; and the mama on fried ($16.95), mama-noodles in yum soup with jumbo shrimp, bean sprouts and scallion. Served with a side of white rice and steamed veggies.

We decided to start with a couple family favorites: a bowl of edamame ($5.95) and the fresh rolls ($5.95), soft rice paper stuffed with vegetables and shrimp served with peanut sweet chili sauce.

For entrees, Barbara surprised me by not ordering her beloved tom yum soup. We instead decided to share some dishes, including the yum today ($10.95) a seafood salad with grilled assorted seafood on a bed of fresh green vegetables served with a spicy chili lemon dressing.

I picked my Thai go-to, the massaman curry, with carrot, tomato, onion, potato and peanuts. I picked shrimp for my protein.

We also ordered the seafood hot pot, a take on Barbara’s tom yum soup listed among the chef’s specials. This included seafood in hot and sour tangy lemongrass soup with lime juice, fresh mushroom, tomato, onion, scallion and basil leaves, served with a side of white rice.

Of note, we ordered the salad with medium heat and both entrees hot. We like our Thai food to bring a tear to the eye… literally.

The appetizers arrived first. The edamame was salty and perfect. The fresh rolls were tremendous. They were packed with lettuce, carrot, cucumber and some rice noodles.

Happily, the shrimp in the rolls were not ice-cold, which gave them better flavor. There was just the right amount of basil folded in so that it added to the flavors, but didn’t dominate them. The peanut sauce was filled with diced peanuts, a creamy peanut sauce and also the perfect amount of chili oil to give it a bit of heat. It added a spicy, salty, savory flavor that played perfectly with the mild lettuce and shrimp in the rolls.

We order fresh rolls often, and these were among the best we’ve had.

The salad came on a massive platter filled with iceberg lettuce, what appeared to be grilled or cooked tomato slices, large chunks of green onion, shredded cabbage, some fresh cilantro and a mound of rice noodles. It was all topped with large shrimp, petite scallops, calamari rings and a couple large mussels.

As we dug in, two things quickly became evident: The seafood was fresh and delicious and this dish had some serious heat.

A lot of heat.

It was hot. I mean HOT.

We loved it. The lettuce and noodles were cooling, but a swipe through the dressing at the bottom of the plate brought fire. The shrimp were plump and tender with a nice briny flavor. The calamari was not tough, and the scallops were sweet and creamy. The mussels were a bit chewy, as they can often be.

We really enjoyed the dish, but the heat concerned us. Two things were possible.

1: If this was medium, our hot entrees were going to be like eating the sun.

2: Our orders were crossed and the salad had been prepared hot and out entrees were going to be medium.

Turns out the latter was true and that was disappointing.

Mind you we weren’t disappointed that we weren’t trying to eat lava. But I wish they had gotten it right. Both of our entrees would have been more interesting with a little more heat.

That being said, both were very good, with some slight misses.

The hot pot was also loaded with perfectly cooked seafood. It was tangy and salty with fresh nice bold flavors.

The slight miss was the amount of basil added in. The large leaves were all but impossible to eat unless you got a whole one and that really overpowered the rest of the flavors. We ended up picking it out.

In the curry, the shrimp were again briny and cooked well. The curry sauce was smooth and flavorful and the vegetables were cooked nicely. The toasted peanuts tossed in were crunchy and brought a pleasant flavor to the party.

Overall, it was every bit the creamy, decadent dish I was looking for on a cold winter day.

But oddly it was loaded with red bell pepper slices. The menu didn’t mention peppers and traditional recipes don’t include them, either.

As I’m not a big bell pepper fan, I also picked most of them out.

We were well full by the end of the meal, but a huge portion of the hot pot remained, which we asked for to go.

Our server, who was tremendous throughout the meal, brought us a soup container, which presented a problem.

The soup was served in a striking hot pot with two tea candles at the base of the center chimney and the soup was in a moat of sorts surrounding the chimney about four inches from the table top.

I used my fork to fish the burning candles out, spilling wax in the process, but it was still quite awkward to half-landle, half-pour the soup into the container.

I wish the entire production had taken place in the kitchen. I’m sure whoever cleaned the table afterward wished the same thing.

But all told we had a delicious meal with just a couple hiccups and out bill came to just under $60 before tip.

And then my smartphone told us how to get home.

Blue Moon Thai Cuisine and Bar

Thai

Address: 183 Pleasant St., Attleboro

Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 9:30 p.m. on Fridays; 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturdays; and noon to 9:30 p.m. on Sundays. Closed Mondays.

Handicapped access: Yes

Credit cards: Yes

Reservations: No

Phone: 508-222-1000

Online: facebook.com/bluemoonthaicuisine

Food: 4

Service: 4

Atmosphere: 4

Cleanliness: 5

Price/Value: 4.5

Dine Out's reviewer visits restaurants unannounced and at his or her discretion. The newspaper pays for the meals reviewed. The reviews merely reflect one diner's experience. Ratings range from 1 to 5 stars.