France and Thailand meet in Chandler, Arizona

I have a new restaurant recommendation: Latitude 8. It's a newly opened Thai restaurant in what's apparently known as Historic Downtown Chandler (which means the there are buildings that are older than my parents!) All joking aside, in the middle of Chandler which is the archetype for urban sprawl (anonymous strip malls, big box stores and stop lights) Downtown Chandler appears as a welcoming 2-block oasis with nice little restaurants and mom-and-pop boutiques.

Latitude 8 is a modern Thai restaurant that just opened a few years ago and does not yet have a license to serve alcohol so until next week it's BYOB. So, five of my wine buddies and I descended with car loads of French wine and boxes full of Spiegelau glasses. We wouldn't dream of using restaurant glasses! ;-)

We ordered two sets of 10 or 11 different small plates to share, and most of the dishes were excellent. The standouts were: a spicy beef salad the Pad Thai (dryer than I'm used to but very nicely seasoned.)

And, not too pricy either for such a feast: $31 + tip all-in-all (no corkage fee). Here is a review of the place, with some good pictures of the food and Dave (the owner) who took excellent care of us: http://thedish.freedomblogging.com/2008/05/15/first-taste-latitude-eight-impresses-in-debut/