Kittiwatt Thai Kitchen

This year's flu season has been pretty heavy hitting. The ED has been packed to the brim with patients (one night there were 90 patients in our waiting room!) and our house hasn't escaped it either. What started as a cold for Justin unfortunately turned into the full-blown flu this week and I am just praying I don't get it too. Before he got really sick I thought it would be a good idea to take him for some spicy Thai food to clear his sinuses. There is a pretty new restaurant in Frederick, MD, called Kittiwatt Thai Kitchen, which I had stumbled across from a post on Facebook from one of Justin's favorite stores in the area, Citizen Frederick. A Friday night about 2 weeks ago we headed there after a day of vintage shopping to sample their fare.

We dined at the grandparent hour of 5 so Justin could get home to rest and we almost had the place to ourselves. It's very industrial with exposed duct work, but also has a really cool image on the back wall in Thai. The opposing wall contains a large rectangular box filled with real vegetation, bringing an earthy contrast to the modern feel of the building. Wooden shelves on the wall hold small artifacts from the nation.

Usually Justin goes for his beloved Thai iced tea, but because of his cold opted for jasmine tea. It comes in a cast iron tea pot and is authentic tea leaves. Perfect for opening up the airway and warming the throat.

Nothing tastes better when you're sick than a nice hot cup of soup. His pick: the Tom Yum Koong, spicy and sour lemongrass with shrimp, mushrooms, scallions and cilantro. Unfortunately I didn't get a bite of his soup before he dug in but I was assured that it was delicious with a little bit of a kick, allowing his nasal passages to clear up so he could really taste his food.

I chose the appetizer special, shrimp with tails and garlic chicken in a crispy wrapper, served with sweet Thai chili sauce with peanuts. Talk about yum. Shrimp are one of my many obsessions and the chicken was seasoned perfectly without being overly garlicky.

My favorite Thai dish is Pad Thai so I ordered the dish with shrimp of course. You can never have too much at one meal! This was thin rice noodles, egg, tofu, shallot, scallions, sweet radish, bean sprouts, and peanuts. I love how tender rice noodles are and they go so well with whatever you top them with. This combination of flavors is always fantastic.

Justin picked the Pad See Euw with beef, flat rice noodles, egg, and Chinese broccoli in homemade black bean soy sauce. This I was able to get a bite of first and it was really good. The beef was tender, the broccoli not too soggy, and I absolutely love flat rice noodles. They're very similar to drunken noodles and soak up broth and sauce so well.

Overall we really enjoyed this place and will more than likely be back in the future. It's located in a small strip mall and really easy to get to with parking lot spaces. Definitely my favorite Thai place I've been to so far!