Nora Grace-Flood Photo
Lunches at "It's Thai Time" on Orange St.
It’s Thai Time Restaurant
181 Orange St.
New Haven
Mexican restaurant owner Brenda Jain took a chance on her lifelong love for Thai food and decided “It’s Thai Time.” We decided it was time to check it out for ourselves.
The salty, sweet, spicy, sour, and creamy favors of authentic Thai food were on clear display as the Independent’s restaurant review crew dined in at Jain’s newly opened downtown restaurant.
For nearly three hours, the four of us enjoyed the restaurant’s airy and quiet setting and enjoyed the tastes of Jain’s passion project.
The crew with Jain (back left).
When it came to ordering, we filled the table with the menu’s lunch combinations of ginger chicken Pad Thai, ginger chicken drunken noodles, massaman curry, and panang curry.
I tried my first-ever Thai iced tea, thanks to a push from Dereen, and am eternally grateful I agreed, with the condensed milk maintaining an earthy-and-sweet balance. Laura sipped on a hot coffee and Nora a Thai iced coffee, both to replenish their caffeine intakes mid-day.
The lunch combos were served in bento box style dishes with veggie rolls and Thai dumplings.
Dereen’s chicken Pad Thai was full of nutty and citrus flavors that she said were balanced well. She added that the Thai iced tea was refreshing.
“I like how the coconut cream is slightly spicy, a little fatty, and very salty,” Nora said about the panang curry. “I got low sodium levels, so this is like a savory Redbull for me. I recommend.”
Ginger chicken drunken noodle dish.
Laura described the vegetable and tofu massaman curry as sweet, mild, and soupy, with crisp, absorbent tofu and a rainbow of vegetables. The meal is “ideal for a sense of coziness on a rainy day,” she added.
Many of the foods caused us to reflect on each of our relationships with ginger. Laura said she generally likes ginger in small to medium quantities. Dereen agreed she too really enjoys ginger, just not when it’s sweet. Nora, on the other hand, said ginger is a welcome ingredient in dishes both sweet and savory. And I admitted I am kind of scared of ginger because of past experiences with it being too overpowering.
Chicken drunken noodles are my safe food pick at most Thai restaurants. Jain’s version stood out because of its light hints of ginger and warm broth soaking the still crisp vegetables.
A guessing game became entertainment for hours as soft instrumentals like “Married Life” featured in the animated movie Up played followed by an electric violin rendition of “Let Me Love You.”
At the end of our meal, Jain, who doubled as our server, brought out a golden bowl full of small crumbled papers. She urged us each to pick one from the bowl in celebration of the restaurant’s grand opening to try to win freebies from the menu like fried ice cream, a $25 gift card, or free spring rolls. (We all struck out.)
Maya McFadden Photo
Jain, a Hill Regional Career alum, described herself as a picky eater who fell in love with Thai food while working in Thai restaurants since she was 17 years old.
She met her husband, a construction worker who helped to remodel the space, at a Thai restaurant. She has four children, two of whom attend Engineering and Science University Magnet School.
While her passion for celebrating the goodness of Thai cooking is mighty, Jain, who opened the restaurant in October, said she was afraid to open the restaurant because she is from Tlaxcala, Mexico and feared customers would not consider her food authentic.
“But I know what my chef can do,” she said.
Her favorite item on the menu is the duck salad because of its different infusions of sweet and sour.
Despite currently living in West Haven, Jain was raised in New Haven and knew it was where she wanted her restaurant.
“This is where I grew up and I wanted it to be forever,” she said.
She is next working on getting a liquor license to open the restaurant’s bar.
Have a recommendation for where the Independent’s restaurant review crew should go next? Leave a comment below, or contact the author by clicking on the“E‑mail the Author” link at the top of this article.
See below for previous writeups by the Independent Restaurant Review Crew.