As a big fan of Asian food, I was particularly saddened by the demise of Asian Vietnamese Restaurant, which, oddly enough, suffered from an excess of business that overwhelmed the owner who was simultaneously operating the Asian grocery store on Broadway Avenue.

Asian Vietnamese is gone, and the grocery store is under new management. Such are the vagaries of the restaurant business.

While I can do the occasional American-Chinese buffet if I’m particularly hard up, it’s not what I prefer. So, I had been looking forward to the opening of a new Thai place. But when Thai Express opened on U.S. 31-W By-Pass, I must admit that I was a bit skeptical. Having retained most of the old Krystal layout, the place still looks like a fast food joint. Patrons walk up to a counter and place their orders, then pick the order up again at the counter. It all seems very fast-foodish. But the visual is where the similarity ends. While the service is similarly quick, the food is a giant step up from everyday “express” food.

The menu is filled with mostly chicken dishes, including such Thai standards as pad Thai, a variety of curry dishes that reflect Thailand’s historic connections with India, fried rice dishes, Chinese-influenced drunken noodle, cashew chicken and a variety of rice dishes.

We started with the egg rolls, fried tofu and crab wontons for appetizers. While fried tofu might not be everyone’s cup of tea, the process of deep frying the bean curd gives it a crispy flavor, while the side ground peanuts and sweet chili sauce impart an excellent flavor that everyone should try at least once. The oddness is mostly in the texture. The egg rolls were good, as were the crab wontons, which in Chinese restaurants are called crab rangoon.

For the main course we had drunken noodle, chicken with vegetables, red curry chicken and pad Thai. The drunken noodle combines green peppers, chilis and onions with the traditional use of basil and an oyster-and-fish-based sauce. All of this is cooked with broad Thai noodles, giving it a deep, rich flavor. It was very tasty and not at all spicy – though I could have ordered it as hot as I liked. The chicken with vegetables was a standard mix of vegetables and chicken, stir-fried in a light sauce.

Done well, pad Thai is an exquisite dish with a rich combination of flavors that run the gamut from sweet to sour to salty. Although its origins might be Vietnamese and it does seem a close relation of the Vietnamese dish pho, pad Thai is the national dish of Thailand. At various times, it is served as a way of rallying Thai nationalism, cutting back on labor-intensive rice consumption and of promoting economic recovery after World War II. It normally combines stir-fried noodles with red peppers, tamarind, eggs and bean sprouts, as well as shrimp, chicken or tofu. Finally, the dish is often garnished with lime, cilantro and chopped peanuts. In Thailand this is “street food,” sold the same way that vendors sell hot dogs on streets in the United States.

The pad Thai was fine the first time – neither excellent, nor bad. I’ve had it again since that initial tasting and it was very good. The noodles were cooked very well, and the blend of peanuts with the sauce brought out some subtle flavors. I’d order this again. The only subpar dish was the red curry chicken, which was a bit on the watery side and without a great deal of flavor.

Honestly, nobody will mistake this for high cuisine. But make no mistake – this is good food. Just as importantly, this is an excellent lunch locale. It is centrally located on the by-pass, and service is quick. Thai Express also delivers in the evenings – one of the few Asian food places in town to do so. Good food combined with fast, friendly service means that Thai Express is just the kind of place to visit when you want a quick Asian food fix.

— Our anonymous food reviewer gives new restaurants a six-week grace period before reviewing. To comment, contact Managing Editor Mike Alexieff at 783-3235 or via e-mail to malexieff@bgdailynews.com.

THAI EXPRESS

1511 U.S. 31-W BY-PASS

• 796-3614

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday, noon to 9 p.m. Sunday, delivery 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. daily

Cuisine: Thai

Price range: $7 to $9

Specialties: Chicken, rice dishes

Libation situation: None

Smoking: No