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But last night, I couldn’t get take-out Thai off my brain.  It’d been a long weekend, and I decided to step out of my rut.  (Funny, perhaps, that getting out of my rut means ordering in?)

Dice is a Thai restaurant located at 268 Prospect Park West, or, as I like to call it, “that street by my apartment that has a lot of shops.”  I decided to walk to the restaurant and order, rather than having someone bring it over, and my heart dropped a bit when I saw that it was right next to Yama, an Asian bistro that I had bad luck with last month.

But Dice is very clean and it’s decorated nicely enough.  Plus, there were three groups of people eating, despite it being almost 9:30.  If you ask me, the only thing indicator worse than cockroaches on the table is an empty dining room.

So yes, Dice does both take-out and sit-down service.  The paper take-out menus are divided into logical categories – appetizers, soups, salads, noodles, fried rice, entrees, specials, “currys” (curries?), side orders and lunch specials – and nothing on it is more than $14.95.  (The most expensive dishes clock in at exactly that, and they are crispy duck basil, duck curry, duck rama, duck mango, duck sweet and sour and padcha.  So, basically duck.)  The menu also includes desserts, but for a little perspective, four out of the seven listed are fried.

I asked for an order of crab rolls ($4.95) – minced crab meat with “thai herb” wrapped in tofu skin.  Now, we all know that ordering crab for take-out = ordering imitation crab.  I was okay with that.  It was really the fried tofu skin I was after.  The dish included five small medallions that were decadently browned, and a small mise en place cup (culinary school has ruined me forever; it was just a plastic container) of translucent, sticky-sweet plum sauce.

I also ordered drunken noodles – fresh flat noodles with egg, tomatoes, Thai basil and chili in basil sauce.  Spicy and coated in gooey sauce, this was just what I was looking for.  The noodles were really delicious and the heat meter was just right, but the eggs had been cooked a bit too much – they had turned a grayish, coagulated color and stuck unappealingly to the bottom of the bowl.  I’d ordered the dish with extra vegetables ($7.95), but it also comes with chicken, tofu, beef, shrimp, duck or vegetarian duck ($8.95).  (Is vegetarian duck made from tofu?  Seitan?  Tempeh?)  

While I waited for my order, I craned my neck around to get a look at the kitchen, which one must walk through to get to the bathroom.  (It’s New York; space is at a premium.)  It looked impeccably clean, and the staff cooking seemed to be a well-oiled machine.  The only oddity about the whole thing was a selection of magazines left for diners waiting for pick-up.  Included in the stack were a Time from April and a catalog of menu choices for restaurant owners.  I read the catalog.

I’ll certainly be back, and though I doubt I’ll eat in, I’m looking forward to exploring the rest of the menu (Samosas!  Larb!  Panang curry!) on my living room couch.

(I’m sorry I used so many asides in this post.  Just think of it as me whispering to you.)