House Special Noodles from Erb Thai Xpress. (John Serba | MLive.com)
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The Erb Thai empire continues to grow with Erb Thai Xpress, the third restaurant in the local chain.
The newest filled a vacant Michigan Street NE building that was formerly populated by a Donk's Mexican restaurant, and many years prior to that, a Hot 'n' Now drive-thru. The other two Erb Thai locations are on Wealthy St. SE, the flagship, and on Lake Michigan Drive in Walker.
Erb Thai has a reputation for offering an affordable means of satiating your desire for some spicy Asian fare, as well as meatless options. The food is "rooted in traditional Thai cuisine, but also made to accommodate health conscious and special diets," reads the menu.
I recently called the Xpress location for some takeout:
Fare and fees: Noodle, traditional and fried-rice dishes are priced from $7.75-$8.75, curry dishes from $8.25-$9.75, all depending on your selection of veggie, beef, chicken, pork, tofu, shrimp or crab. Soups and appetizers range from $1.75 for a single egg roll to $8.50 for shrimp egg noodle soup. A variety of bubble teas are $4.50 each.
Ambience: As the name suggest, Xpress is the most casual of the Erb Thai restaurants. Order at the counter and eat at one of a handful of tables and booths in the dining area, or call ahead for takeout (our order was ready in about 15 minutes).
How was it? My Thai craving is always about noodles, noodles, noodles. So I chose the House Special ($8.75), my comfort-food selection at Thai joints. The dish eliminates the indecision of selecting a meat, and tosses shrimp, chicken and beef in with thin stir-fried egg noodles - think classic ramen-style - and egg, carrots, pea pods, broccoli and bean sprouts. Tagged as a customer favorite, the dish featured two medium-jumbo shrimp, a few tender slices of beef and a larger portion of equally supple chicken, all in a light brown sauce with a slight tanginess. The veggies were crisp and fresh. I ordered it mildly spicy but received it without spice, rendering me unable to judge whether Erb Thai is conservative with the heat, or more appealing to those who like to gargle kerosene and swallow a lit match.
My wife, Stacy, opted for a rice entrée, chicken cashew ($7.75), which tosses bell peppers, green onions, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and cashews in a brown sauce that's a bit richer and darker than the House Noodle. It comes with a healthy portion of white rice (or substitute brown rice for a buck); she ordered it without spice.
We also sampled two appetizers: Stacy can't go out for Asian without ordering crab cheese ($3.75), four fried flowers of wheat wonton filled with a crab-cream cheese mixture; served with sweet-and-sour sauce, they were fine and crisp, but traditional and unadventurous. More interesting were the crispy roll bites ($4.75), minced chicken with carrot, clear noodles and onions wrapped in rice paper and deep-fried; they came with a delectable sweet chili sauce with crushed peanuts. The sauce had the consistency of light honey, and I dipped the crab cheese in it too, proving it might make better anything bland.
The final word: No complaints here. Erb Thai Xpress is a good, solid option covering the Thai basics reasonably well. It will easily satisfy those trafficking the Medical Mile and looking for a quick curry or noodle fix.
John Serba is film critic and entertainment reporter for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jserba@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.
House Special Noodles from Erb Thai Xpress. (John Serba | MLive.com)
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