Spice Thai Cuisine

Sometimes you stumble across a little gem merely through good fortune. Other times it’s by virtue of being so directionally challenged that you accidentally wind up in a strip mall surrounded by industrial parks in what you think is Eagan. Spice Thai Cuisine is just the type of place wayward foodies hope to find to fill their rumbling stomachs. Here, safe bets get a little spring in their step with twists, such as spring rolls sided with tamarind sauce ($4.95 with meat, $3.95 vegetarian) and crisp water chestnuts tucked into cream cheese puffs—Minnesota’s favorite perversion of Asian fare—for less than $4. Green papaya salad with carrots, tomatoes, lime, and garlic sauce is the ideal refreshing lunch to have while imagining sitting on a sandy Thai beach—and, at less than $6, a lot cheaper than a flight. For $8.95, the brown curry with coconut milk, ground peanut, and mock duck is rich and fiery. (Words to the wise: The heat meter is running at Spice so start mild and dial up from there.) I’ve been back several times, and it looks as though a local crowd is beginning to catch on to the treasure within their midst. 

3989 Co. Rd. 42, Savage, 952-882-9272