*

Yesterday I popped into Belmont Pearl on 28th & Belmont, which used to be Bangkok Kitchen until some new owners took over a few weeks ago. Bangkok Kitchen was one of the first restaurants I ever ate at in this fair city, but a recent visit had me wondering how they could survive in ths town where you can’t throw a piece of tofu without hitting a Thai place. I wish the owners of Bangkok Kitchen the best, but they had really let the quality control slide in there over the years.

Belmont Pearl, on the other hand, was super tasty, with a pan-Asian spread. The menu was slightly confusing, but it may have just been the eager new owner pushing all her favorite recipes on us (“It’s very famous,” she was fond of saying). It wasn’t easy to discern the vegetarian options at a quick glance, but sharp cookie that I am, I sleuthed it out pretty fast. I wound up with their “house roll,” a tempura sushi roll that did not age well on the drive back to the office; Orange Tofu, which had a surprising little kick to it; and Vegetables Schwezwan, which was very fresh and tangy. It came with eggrolls and these delicious little crab puffs, and would have come with soup, we were told, but not for to-go orders. Grand total=$17! Not bad at all, huh?

The only drawback—the restaurant’s interior is exactly as it was left, meaning it has all the ambiance of a Winchell’s Donuts.

Bottom line—good food, dreary setting. That’s easy enough to improve, or at the very least, good news for anybody who needs a good lunch to go.

*This photograph is obviously not from Belmont Pearl.