My daughter and I recently traveled to visit family friends in Texas. Since my daughter is 16, I know my days traveling with her are numbered. Soon she will enroll in college and after that, she will probably start to branch out on her own. Our Texas friends met us at the airport and we spent the remainder of the day at the State Fair of Texas.
Neither of us has spent time in Dallas and we benefitted from having an insiders tour. I was delighted to hear that Thai food at a Thai Buddhist template was in the plan. A couple of years ago, I enjoyed visiting a Thai Buddhist temple in Chino Hills and so I had an inkling of what to expect.
Fortunately, the Buddhist Temple of Dallas was not far away from our hotel. One of our friends lives in nearby Richardson, picked us up from the hotel and soon after, we arrived. The temple is majestic and ornate as you might expect. I found the grounds to be beautiful and serene. A koi pond added to the zen-like feeling.
We made our way along the side of the temple and found the row of food stands. Thai families staffed each stand, some proudly displaying prepared food. If the weather was cold, I would have tried Thai Boat Noodle Soup. Another booth had a menu of items that were prepared on a smoking hot wok. Our friend purchased a bunch of pork skewers and shared them with us.
I was in awe of some of the food I saw. One stand had a few stockpots with simmering curry (and I’m sure that was delicious). A lady removed the plastic wrap from some serving trays to expose her noodle dishes. I thought to myself, I wish I was home so that I could order food to try later.
The pork skewers were nicely marinated and grilled. I had to restrain myself from eating just one so that I could save my appetite for other things. Our friend admitted that he usually orders the pad kra pao. This is a stir-fry made with ground pork and served over white rice. The difference with this dish was the use of holy basil instead of Thai basil which adds some heat and some interesting spice-like elements.
I selected a serving of crab legs that were steamed and prepared with crushed garlic. Unfortunately, I forgot the proper way to crack crab shells which caused me to work too hard. I detected some flavorful spices that I typically don’t experience with pad see ew in LA. The sauce definitely had a more pronounced taste of fish sauce.
Because the temperature hovered in the mid-nineties, we drank a lot of cold water. I did manage to try an iced green tea. They mixed it with a small amount of condensed milk. This was a pleasant variation of regular Thai ice tea.
There’s a wonderful sense of community at this temple. People of all ages are here and most of them are in groups dining together. You can see families (including small children), couples and groups of friends enjoying themselves during a Sunday afternoon.
The food stalls are open from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and are cash only. You can feel good that 100% of the profits are donated to the temple.
Buddhist Temple of Dallas, 8484 Stults Rd, Dallas, TX 75243