Thin Wheat Line: Pad See Ew

Noodle: Pad See Ew with Chicken

Source: New's Noodles, 8576 Greenwood Ave. N., 784-2234.

As far as Thai noodles rank in the public imagination, pad see ew doesn't have the cachet that pad thai does. In fact, pad see ew's Facebook page only has 134 fans -- Roxana Arquette to pad thai's Patricia (16,194 fans), but better off than pad kee mao's 38 fans -- Alexis all the way. Still, pad see ew's the safe Thai noodle, the one you order when you want nothing on your plate to alarm, pique, or stimulate you.

With its Mondrian-esque garage door and candy-colored walls, New's Noodles looks like a warehouse squat occupied by Rainbow Brite. (Look up, and you risk becoming hypnotized by the multicolored ceiling fan.) The Thai owners serve pho as well as noodles in tom yum soup (heresy to a certain sect of foodie); judging New's Noodles on "authenticity" would be ridiculous.

Nevertheless, the pad see ew stays true to breed, a Chinese-Thai dish with slippery wide rice noodles stir-fried with garlic, Chinese broccoli, meat, and dark soy sauce. The noodles stay largely intact, coated in oil and the syrupy, salty sauce whose sugars char in the wok, making you wonder if the owners waved the plate over a bonfire en route to your table. New's pad see ew is a much better dish than its pad kee mao, where the same noodles have been wok-whipped into mushy shreds coated in chile paste. Will the pad see ew awe you? Are you ever awed by a Choco Taco? The indiscriminate food lover says there is a time and a place for every dish, and for a Thursday lunch with a friend you haven't seen in a few months, New's pad see ew seems mighty ideal.