Step into the functional, simple Thai Kitchen in Longmont.

Squeezed into a strip mall just off busy North Main Street in Longmont, Thai Kitchen is a serene, pleasant refuge from its noisy chain-store surroundings. The decor is simple — a few wooden carvings from Thailand, some seashell-inspired art — and so are the functional tables, with utilitarian place settings. This place is about eating, not fancy ambiance.

Nearly everything on the lunch menu costs $6.50; even the wallet-buster, with seafood, remains well under $8. The price includes a small bowl of the soup du jour, a satiny rice porridge studded with vegetables and tofu strips. A little salty? Maybe, but also delicately spiced, and just the ticket for a day reluctant to yield winter to spring.

We tried the pad Thai, the ubiquitous noodle entree that’s a mainstay at Thai restaurants, and an order of kanom jeen, a curry served on rice noodles.

The servings are more than generous. My daughter, age 11, looked at the small mountain of pad Thai and immediately said she’d need a take-home box.

But she worked her way through more than a third of her order. Liberally sprinkled with crushed peanuts, bright-green scallion circles, tiny clouds of scrambled egg, and unctuous rice noodles, the only odd ingredient was the chicken.

It seemed like chicken, anyway, kind of minced into submission, like a cross between a paste and a dumpling. It wasn’t bad, just weird, with a texture reminiscent of the textured vegetable protein used by vegetarian cooks in the 1970s, before people figured out that vegetarian dishes didn’t have to feature something that looked meatlike.

The odd chicken also made an appearance in the kanom jeen, which arrived with bright diced green beans and bell pepper, carrot shreds and ethereal rice noodles swimming in a vibrant curry. The chicken crumbles bobbed around in the broth, absorbing the spices rather like tofu.

The lunch beverages are limited to soft drinks, conventional hot and iced tea, all $1.95, or Thai coffee or tea, $2.50.

THAI KITCHEN
Thai. 2130 N. Main St., Longmont. 303-772-7800. Lunch: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. weekdays; noon to 2:30 p.m. Saturday. lunch prices $6.50 to $7.75.

Front burner. Delicate, lively spices; attentive but not obtrusive service.

Back burner. Avoid the chicken.

– Claire Martin