My eyes widen as the chu chee Maine lobster tail hits the table at Sorn Thai Restaurant and Bar in McLean. Striped with grill marks and perched on top of its red shell, the lobster meat is surrounded by a fragrant and fiery red curry sauce and flanked by colorful slices of zucchini and red pepper.
Chu chee refers to the sizzling sound the curry paste makes when added to hot oil, and this dish is as visually stunning as it is a wake-up call for the taste buds. The sauce is bold, but not aggressive, and a complement to the sweetness of the shellfish. And the modest price—$27—is a welcome jolt in this era of $40 entrees.
Sorn Thai, which opened in March, is the second restaurant for chef and co-owner Supisa Teawbut, who goes by “Boom,” a nickname conferred upon her by her mother. Her first eatery, Donsak Thai Restaurant in D.C.’s Woodley Park, is named for her birthplace, Don Sak, a district in southeastern Thailand.
Teawbut, 34, first came to the U.S. in 2013 on a work-study program in Maine. She later made her way to the nation’s capital, lured by the city’s large Thai community, and landed a job at Beau Thai restaurant in Mount Pleasant, where she stayed for seven years, utilizing the cooking skills she’d learned from her family and working her way into a management position. The restaurant’s owners sponsored her green card and supported her decision to strike out on her own.
In McLean’s Chesterbrook Shopping Center, she found an ideal space for her second venture, with ample parking. The 3,000-square-foot restaurant seats 78 inside, including 10 at the bar and 12 on a covered outdoor patio. The atmosphere is modern but nondescript, with white and mint green subway tiles, an open kitchen and exposed ductwork. Cane-backed bistro chairs and pots of fresh orchids are the main design elements.
Joining Teawbut in the kitchen is her sister, Prapassorn “Wym” Teawbut, 28, who until recently was cooking at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, California. “I told [her] she had to come and be my chef,” says the restaurateur. “She knows all the family recipes.” Both sisters live in Fairfax. Sorn Thai is named after their late grandmother, a culinary mentor.
The vast menu features some 75 dishes, not including sides. To save yourself from feeling overwhelmed, start with an order of deep-fried chive cakes and some steamed shrimp and pork dumplings. The pleasingly chunky filling in the latter is an indication that the ingredients are chopped by hand, not factory produced.
Cocktails designed by bar manager and co-owner Liz Syndner are well-balanced, leaning toward tart, rather than overly sweet. A pineapple Aperol daiquiri and an Aviation-like Water Lily (gin, Cointreau, crème de Violette, lemon juice) are cases in point.
Make a beeline for the dishes listed on the menu as Sorn’s Obsessions. Khao yum, a southern Thai rice salad, is a head-turner, anchored by a mound of rice cooked with butterfly pea tea, which conveys a periwinkle hue. The rainbow of fruits and vegetables surrounding it includes bean sprouts, green beans, mango, carrots, red cabbage and grapefruit segments, plus a hit of umami from powdered dried fermented fish. The tangy dressing on the side is a heady mix of lemongrass, ginger, galangal, shrimp paste, sugar, lime juice and corn juice. Toss everything together and the result is a mind-blowing explosion of sweet, sour, salt and acid.
Moo hong, a hearty pork belly stew with hints of cinnamon and star-anise, gets a kick of heat from dried chilies. It’s served with a fluffy, deep-fried milk bun and a vinegar-based dipping sauce.
“You take a bite of stew, dip and eat the bread, and go back and forth,” Teawbut instructs. “That balances the sweet and sour.”
Other specialties are just as intriguing. Haaw-mohk, a delicate whitefish mousse tinged pink from red curry, is drizzled with coconut milk and topped with fried anchovies and micro-cilantro. Tempura beech mushrooms dusted with black truffle powder and Parmesan cheese make a delightful snack to pair with cocktails.
I’m partial to tum luang prabang, a Laotian version of papaya salad in which the green fruit is shaved into wide, noodle-like ribbons, rather than shredded. Shrimp paste and dried shrimp add funk to the usual dressing of fish sauce, palm sugar and lime juice.
A couple of poultry dishes didn’t quite hit the mark. Duck rolls wrapped in chewy roti pancakes were overwhelmed by a dipping sauce that was too sweet. And a batter-fried duck stir fry billed as “crispy” was instead flabby and lackluster. But my palate immediately kicked back into gear with a bowl of geang kua—meaty mussels steamed with coconut milk, makrut lime leaves and red curry.
I always order my favorite noodle dish, pad see ew, in Thai restaurants, and Sorn’s version is one of the better ones. The wide rice noodles were chewy and slightly smoky from wok hei (the flavor imparted by a well-seasoned wok), and the soy-garlic sauce was nicely caramelized.
The pandan creme brulee topped with fresh berries is a fine Thai rendition of the French classic, its custard barely set and indicative of good technique. A similar offering—a warm and saucy creme anglaise made with pandan and topped with swirls of evaporated milk—turns out to be even better. It’s served with steamed puffs of sweet brioche for dunking. If the brioche weren’t there and no one was looking, I’d happily drink that sauce like a beverage.
What To Drink
Twelve craft cocktails ($14 to $16) lean heavily toward Asian flavor profiles, such as the Tom Kha Sip (lemongrass-infused gin, rum, coconut milk, sweet vermouth) and Mango Sticky Rice (Cognac, mango syrup, coconut milk, lemon juice, sesame).
The wine and beer offerings, though not extensive, are thoughtfully curated. There are five draft beers ($8 to $12) and five canned brews ($9 to $10), including Humble Forager flavored seltzers.
Sixteen wines are available by the glass ($10 to $20) and bottle ($40 to $80), including two sparkling, one rosé, six whites and six reds.
Sorn Thai
6224E Old Dominion Drive, McLean, 703-564-0630
Hours
Monday through Friday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Parking
Plenty of free parking
Prices
Appetizers: $7 to $14
Noodle and rice dishes: $16 to $22
Entrees: $16 to $28
Desserts: $7 to $10