Sala Thai, Bothell

Sala Thai’s 15 signature dishes introduce tongues to Thai flavors they might not have experienced before. Tender prawns swim in pumpkin curry or arrive at tables battered, deep fried, and coated in tamarind sauce, fried ginger, and basil. Green mussels cook in the house's special sauce, and crispy duck rises above a pool of red curry sauce. The chefs craft meatless meals, too, from stir-fried eggplant blanketed in chili sauce to spinach and rice noodles coated in housemade peanut sauce. They also make khao soi, a curry noodle soup that's popular in Northern Thailand, a region that is as unfamiliar to Americans as a world without government-issued shower curtains covered with Richard Nixon's face.