Restaurant Spotlight of the Week:

By Darien Bates

Duangrats, located on Route 7, in the Culmore area of Falls Church, is a popular and polished dining experience that has long been serving up Thai food, good enough to garner local and national acclaim.

Moderately priced and elegantly decorated, the restaurant is a great place to get consistently good food, while enjoying an atmosphere much nicer than the prices suggest.

The restaurant is like a comfortable silk shirt. The red-dominated color scheme is warm without being overwhelming and the tables are elegantly decorated with linens and fresh flowers, glamorous enough to make you sit up straight, but not so much that you start counting forks.

The serving staff is decked out in Thai dress, which they wear naturally enough that the garments don’t come across as stage costumes, but rather, a genuine part of the dining experience.

The interior decoration, in the dining room and at the bar, emphasizes the Thai themes, balancing traditional motifs and designs with paintings that blend Thai images and contemporary art.

While the winter weather doesn’t allow it now, as the weather warms the outside eating area will also be open, allowing for more of a casual café-like feel than the inside dining room.

The menu is lengthy, with the traditional favorites as well as some interesting variations, especially among some of the seafood selections, well worth being tried.

Among the appetizers are the traditional spring rolls and wings, but more adventurous diners can try the calamari, which rather than being deep fried, are lightly cooked with onions and lemon, fresh and exciting.

While the entrées beckon, it is a good idea to try the soups, which include a subtle corn and crab chowder. The sweet corn, paired with the quiet and smoky crab meat, is gentle and yet surprisingly interesting. The crab meat is well blended within the soup, but still manages to make itself known.

Usually a good measure of a Thai restaurant, and always a safe bet, the restaurant serves an excellent pad thai. The classic noodle dish is carefully spiced, and the noodles don’t fall into the trap of being overly heavy. Served with shrimp, the portions are generous and the quality of the dish is satisfying to the point where one might not venture beyond the dish.

That decision would be a shame, though, with many other options deserving equal attention. One of those choices, the Panang Chicken in peanut curry sauce and basil, is tender and rich, and practically melts in the mouth. The flavor of the curry is sweet and nutty, but it doesn’t lose touch with the zest, requisite in curries.

The restaurant also offers some interesting choices, hard to find elsewhere, such as the garlic crusted rock-fish. Desserts include favorites like mango sticky rice and green tea ice cream. Despite the elegant flavors, the prices, other than some of the seafood and specials, generally remain $12 and below, far less than one commonly pays for dinner in equally pleasant settings. Overall, it’s nice enough for dinner, while also being a good place to do lunch.