The Pad Thai at Blue Ocean Thai Cuisine can be served with your choice of chicken, pork, tofu, vegetables, beef, shrimp or squid. Photo by Alex Pajunas.

When prepared correctly, Thai cuisine is a marvelous mélange of colors, tastes and textures, as well as an artistic harmonization of the four main contrasting flavors: sweet, salty, sour and spicy.

If you’ve yet to sample the wonderful rewards of authentic Thai cookery, Blue Ocean Thai Cuisine in Astoria might be an excellent place to begin.

And once inside, a good place to begin is with the appetizers. Fresh Basil Rolls ($5), chewy rice paper wrapping stuffed with prawns, pungent leaves of basil, cucumber and rice noodles, come with peanut sauce for dipping. And one must be sure to utilize the accompanying sauces, as the flavor profile is otherwise incomplete.

The menu doesn’t do the dish justice when trying to explain Curry Puffs ($5). A lot like miniature pot pies, the little pillows are dry on the outside and amazingly moist and flavorful on the inside. Tender chicken and onions spiced with yellow curry reside within. The sweet dip includes cucumber, red onion and diced carrot, all raw, providing a wonderful texture contrast.

Ka Nom Geeb (steamed chicken dumplings, $5) are among my favorites. These are very similar to Chinese pot stickers, only of a slightly different shape. Chicken, cabbage and chopped vegetables inhabit the “pouch,” and the honey/soy dipping sauce completes the dish. Ka Nom Geeb Tod ($5), is the fried version of the same dumpling and equally enjoyable.

Fried Tofu ($5) was a lot better than I thought it would be. The pale tofu is a bit golden after the deep-frying and appears dry. The inside is almost egg-like in its fluffyness. Since tofu is naturally bland, a veritable sponge that takes on the flavor of its surrounding ingredients, the sweet chili sauce (and a little soy) is a must. To soak it in a sauce after frying would certainly diminish the wonderful texture.

Blue Ocean offers eight soups, of which I tried three. Thai Dumpling Soup ($3 per cup, $7 per bowl) contained several small dumplings, chicken, pork and shrimp, in a clear, consomme-like broth. Very tasty. Tom Kha Goong ($4 and $8), is a hot and sour shrimp soup with a little coconut milk, mushrooms and galangal root (a ginger-like rhizome). Many soups of this nature are neither hot nor sour, but Blue Ocean gets it right, and I like that the soup is not thickened with a corn starch slurry, which is common. Jelly Noodle Soup ($3 and $7) contains Napa cabbage, chicken, carrots, scallions and glass noodles. It’s quite flavorful.

The Crispy Duck Salad ($8) was not quite what I expected. I found much of the duck meat to be tough and stringy, probably due to the fact that the previously crispy fried duck was tossed in the spicy lime dressing. That aside, this dish works well. Thick juliennes of red and white onion, fresh cilantro leaves, white scallion bulbs, pineapple chunks and the lime dressing all converge into a flavor explosion, though I had difficulty assembling the perfect forkful. The tomato wedges are out of place on this salad, as they are most everywhere else I find them in Thai cuisine. Even with a full-bodied summer tomato, I really don’t find them welcome, merely intrusive.

Fresh basil rolls with cooked shrimp, noodles and lettuce are wrapped in rice paper and served with sweet chili sauce and ground peanuts at Blue Ocean Thai Cuisine. Photo by Alex Pajunas.As I always do when visiting Thai restaurants, I ordered the Pad Thai ($9.95 and up depending on your meat choice) and was not disappointed. Blue Ocean’s version is less sweet than I usually encounter. The pan-fried chewy rice noodles are tossed with bean sprouts, ground peanuts, scallions and (in this case) squid. I applaud the chef for not overcooking the calamari tubes, which is frequently what I encounter, but must also complain about the lack of tentacles, my favorite part of the squid. As this dish was not as spicy as I’d hoped (with the exception of a couple of curry dishes, most of the menu is mildly spiced), I requested some chili paste from the kitchen. I was brought a tray of four different variations. One of dried chili flakes, another of vinegary sambal sauce, one dark garlic and chili paste in oil, and finally, a salt-cured chopped pepper sauce. After a few adjustments, my dish was complete. I much prefer this do-it-yourself method to the 1 to 5 spice level choice when ordering.

The house specialty, Pineapple Fried Rice ($11.95), is as beautiful as it is delicious. Served in a hollowed-out half pineapple, the fried rice contains chicken, shrimp, onions, cashews and plenty of pineapple. These flavors and textures marry well, making this an exemplary Thai dish.

I recommend Blue Ocean Thai Cuisine and look forward to returning.

– The Mouth

mouth@coastweekend.com