Baiyok Thai Cuisine

Baiyok Thai Cuisine is located just a couple blocks north of E Burnside on NE 82nd Ave. in Portland, Oregon. One of my former professors alerted me to this place because he knows I love spicy food.

Lunch menu (December 2011)

Nice..."3 Flavors Halibut" (salty, sweet, sour)
Now add "spicy" to that dish, and we're in business!

I arrived at the tail end of lunch hour...and at least managed to score the more reasonable lunch prices. I got an extra spicy yellow chicken curry ($6.95). Potatoes, carrots, onions, bell pepper, and a spicy yellow curry sauce join some lovely sliced chicken. You can also get vegetarian, beef, or pork for the same price. Shrimp or squid is $7.95, while a seafood (presumably shrimp and squid?) is $9.

How was it made extra spicy? Sprinkle some dried chili flakes on there -- in all likelihood some type of Asian chile. Maybe those are dried red Thais....

Yellow Chicken Curry (extra spicy)
(Baiyok Thai Cuisine)

I really liked the creamy curry here. It was also temperature-hot, so it really did come straight off the stove just minutes earlier. The vegetables were all perfectly cooked. While adding the chili flakes made the dish spicier, I was hoping the curry itself would have gotten a makeover. Spicy broths and sauces...I live for those, man! Otherwise, I didn't think the curry sauce itself was spicy. Perhaps I should tell the chef to make it "stupidly hot Thai spicy to the point where I cry for mercy" -- or equivalent.

Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent dish. It's just that I like to mess with the bull a bit more regarding the spice. One day, I'm gonna get my innards gutted by some destructive spicy dish...again. I apparently don't learn from my mistakes, but I just love playing with fire. 8.5/10