Red Basil Thai Fusion Cuisine

In the midst of all these choices, Red Basil is trying to occupy the upscale Thai niche, but there are several factors working against them. First, they are located in a run-down shopping center next to Style Furniture, which is where they purchased some of their slightly tacky "modern" furnishings. And then there's the sign out front, proudly proclaiming that they are part of the New York Group of restaurants.

In fact, Red Basil's chefs, Pirom Pinitpan and Surari Yimmonkol, both trained in New York under Premon, but they are Thai. Somebody needs to tell these folks that nobody around here is impressed with Thai chefs from New York. We like bagel bakers from New York, but we like our Thai chefs from Bangkok.

When Red Basil's chefs actually do Thai fusion, as in the steak sushi, the results are fascinating. But much of what they call fusion cuisine, like the papaya salad, is just dumbed-down Thai developed for people who don't like it spicy (New Yorkers, for instance).

My lunch special came on an hourglass-shaped white plate. On the left, there was an "NYC dumpling," a fairly standard Chinese-style wonton stuffed with ground chicken and drizzled with hot and sour soy sauce. On the right, there was a weird-shaped bowl full of drunken noodles with pork.

The remarkable drunken noodles at Red Basil are made with uncut sheets of mung bean pasta that resemble lasagna noodles. They're seasoned with an exhilarating combination of garlic, chiles, oyster sauce, Thai basil, onions and peppers. Along with the pork, there's also creamy eggplant slices, tomato and bell pepper. It's by far the most innovative take on drunken noodles I've ever tasted.

Lunch is the best deal at Red Basil Thai Fusion Restaurant. The prices range from $6.99 for the silver (tofu) column, $8.99 for gold (beef, pork or chicken) and $10.99 for platinum (shrimp or salmon) selections. Each includes soup or salad and your choice of three appetizers. Then you pick one of 13 entrée possibilities including rice, noodles, curries and stir-fried dishes, to go with your tofu, meat or seafood.

The salmon spring roll appetizer, which is an option on the seafood lunch special, is outstanding. It's a fried rice-paper wrapper roll stuffed with salmon, jicama and cilantro and served with a lime chile basil sauce. It's even better at dinner time, when the fried rice-paper roll is stuffed with salmon and cheese and served in a pool of lobster bisque.

Red Basil recently expanded the menu and dropped their prices, a sign that things aren't going very well. Unfortunately, what works in New York isn't working in Houston. It's too bad, because much of their Thai food is astonishingly good. The traditional curries may be the best in the city. If you love Thai food, the place is worth a visit.

But if Red Basil is to survive, the New York Group will have to come up with a version of Thai fusion cuisine better suited to Houston tastes.