Pearl Thai in Benicia

You're looking at the best item I've had at Pearl Thai in Benicia: the Calamari Salad, cooked perfectly, the calamari still slightly warm, and dressed with a mix of lime, garlic, chili, ginger/galangal. This wakes up the palette, that's for sure.

Best salad dish in Solano County, by a wide margin.

Their version of Drunken Noodles is great for the variety of vegetables perfectly cooked, the texture of the noodles, and the sauce within, and that basil which tastes like it was just harvested. But the accompanying chicken was incidental and so bland it bordered on irrelevant. We noticed this last time. I'm guessing that the rent is pretty high in Benicia and the owner's gotta cut corners somewhere. Plus, Solano County is known for bland tastes.

Finally, the Red Curry, which was fantastic, and again, so were the vegetables, particularly the eggplant. But the 6 shrimp were pretty plain--they were good, there was no marriage of the protein and the sauce. I think back to the Thai restaurant I used to go to in East Austin--the curries here are so much  more vivid, I'm thinking those others must be made from mixes.

That said, this is easily the best Thai restaurant this side of El Sobrante. Embarassing how much more accomplished Pearl Thai is compared to Thai restaurants here in Vallejo.