The Wake

In a car, red means stop, yellow means slow down for some (hit the gas for others) and green means go. At the Uptown restaurant Tom Rup Thai, a lifetime of color conditioning must be cast aside. Red means “mmm,” yellow means yum, and green means go on and gorge, because it’s just that enticing. These are Tom Rup’s three homemade curry options—red (gaeng daeng), yellow (gaeng daeng kah ree), and green (gaeng kiow wahn). Even though the Thai names are foreign to the American tongue, I promise that is far from what your body’s reaction will be murmuring in pleasure while your hands abandon their struggle with chopsticks and grab for the spoon, a more reliable food-shoveling device.

The interior of Tum Rup is cozy but urban, ethnic yet trendy. From their warehouse-style ceiling hang ornately decorated lamps, illuminating voluminous windows and burnt red and mustard yellow walls. The comfy booths echo the restaurant’s earthy color scheme and are paired up with dark wood tables and chairs. There is a sleek, full bar in the entrance and, a rare gem for the Twin Cities, a good-sized, free parking lot in the back.

My friends and I entered through the doorway bordered by bamboo poles and were greeted by a friendly host and a basket of chocolate mints, which were good before the meal, after the meal and on the car ride home. Usually, any sort of Asian cuisine menu overwhelms me—there are just far too many choices for my hungry mind to comprehend. But at Tum Rup, just about everything is appetizing. The dishes that made my taste buds sing,dance and cha-cha-cha were the curries. I had tried the red curry and shrimp before, so now it was on to the sweet green curry, which comes with wok-seared red, yellow, and green (there they are again) peppers, Japanese eggplant, squash, green beans, zucchini, peas, scallions and Thai basil. I ordered the green curry with shrimp, squid and scallops at a medium-level spiciness. Each curry dish can be customized to fit your meal mood—choose what curry, choose how spicy, choose the contents: from veggie ($8.95), to tofu, mock duck, pork or chicken ($9.95), and all the way up to my chosen seafood feast ($15.95). My meal was perfectly coconut sweet and spicy and enough for a leftover lunch the next day. (I am eating a plump shrimp with jasmine rice as I type this review.)

The menu at Tom Rup offers appetizers, soups, salads, stir-frys with rice or noodles, Thai fish entrees, a unique selection of fried rice, and of course the commendable curries. There is also a bountiful beer selection as well as a wine list. I had good, friendly service both during the weekday and on weekends, even through my odd requests of “less squid, more shrimp and scallops” and “could you put $9 on this card and $22 on that card?” Not to mention our mint-hording actions, which the host gave us a playful scolding for. I intend on keeping my new definition of yellow until I have tried that flavor of curry as well. Hopefully, it won’t affect my driving.