Prior to our good friends, Darcy & Carolyn, introducing us to Boda in January, I’m slightly embarrassed to say (although in no way knocking the cuisine) that Thai food was little more than lazy weeknight takeout to me. When Meredith would go out of town for weddings and leave me to fend for dinners on my own, I’d just as frequently grab an order of drunken noodles and crab rangoons from the place around the corner, as I would a pepperoni pizza. Insert a spectacular evening with friends and a sampling of a good portion of the Boda menu, and that definition went from “lazy takeout” to “fantastic night out” at the drop of a hat.

We’ve been meaning to do a Boda visit from day one with Map & Menu, but it’s taken us a few months to find the time, and since Boda is a dinner-only place, we wanted to wait for the brighter evenings of summer to get some really good pictures. We started (as every person that reads this post should) with an order of the Pork Satay and the Brussel Sprouts. The satay is always delicious (and the peanut sauce, unbelievable), but the Brussel Sprouts will quite literally blow your mind. “Fried and seasoned” is all that the menu reads, but I’m pretty sure that there’s a little bit of heaven mixed into the seasoning. If they were open for lunch, this would be a daily must. Our drinks, although nothing exciting (a Manhattan and Old Fashioned), were very well prepared, and had we lived in the West End, I might have ordered a few more with the meal. Meredith ordered the Shitake Shewers and an Apple Salad for her meal, and I ordered my favorite, the Beef Panaeng. I think Meredith really enjoyed her salad, and having had the skewers on a previous visit, I’ll vouch for them. The Beef Panaeng is a wonderful dish of braised Wolfe’s Neck Farm (just next to one of our favorite hiking trails) beef with coconut cream, that melts in your mouth, with a large helping of jasmine rice. I highly recommend the dish, but having tasted a few other items on the menu, I’d be willing to bet that you can’t go wrong with any of the choices.

I almost forgot to talk about another huge drawing factor for us to Boda – it’s decor. Boda has a comfort in its minimalism, that leaves you wanting to hang out for hours. We’re definitely going to have to add a late-night bar visit to our to-do’s. Long story short, we wouldn’t post about it if we didn’t love it, and Boda is definitely one of our favorites in town. You should check it out.