Thai Me Up

A week or so ago, StB and I wandered by Thai Me Up after eating at Minca.  Obviously we were stuffed but I recalled having read about the place on Cheap Ass Food and hearing that not only was the place cheap, it was filling and pretty tasty.  We made plans to return within the week.

**Some of you may have noticed a change on my site from the delicious but expensive foods to the cheaper but still delicious foods.  Most of my friends are now encumbered with mortgages, having bought their own places throughout the year, so we are all on tighter budgets.  No friends to eat expensive with means eating cheap, but we’re being creative with where to fill our tummies with the yummies, so to speak, since despite wanting to spend less, we still want to eat well. 

The menu is fairly sparse, but the main attraction to us were the $6 “Thai sandwiches”, basically stir fried veggies (see above) and meat with your choice of sauce on a baguette.  Since it was a hot day and the place wasn’t very well ventilated, we both opted for the over-rice-noodles option as opposed to the heavier bread, expecting noodles along the line of Vietnamese bun dishes.  (Perhaps because we kept thinking the place was “Thai version of bahn mi”- I forget where we got that impression…)

The orders came fairly quickly while we sat at a high table in the back.  There were a few other people eating, talking loudly, clearly NYU students- Thai Me Up’s location by Union Square right next to Palladium/the NYU dorms makes it a prime cheap-eats spot- enjoying their sandwiches.  I overheard the proprietor or the cashier- I’m not sure if he was just one or both!- telling them that the best/easiest way to eat it was to hold it in the tinfoil in which it’s wrapped and peel it slowly as you eat, instead of taking it out to eat.  Most reviews had said these would be very saucy so the noodles option appealed even more.

StB’s order of the beef with white ginger over rice noodles.  She said… (click here). 

My choice of the beef with black pearl sauce over rice noodles was very tasty, but admittedly more like a Chinese dish than I’d care to admit.  $6 makes it a great deal when you’re in that part of the city, but of course you can get the same, better and cheaper in Chinatown (or from Mom’s kitchen).  It all depends. 

We also ordered Thai iced teas for $2 but as StB noted, there was hardly any or no sugar in them at all, making them very bitter.  Neither of us seemed to mind- we didn’t complain- my sauce was very sweet (and plentiful…) so I didn’t see the need for more sugar.  But if you’re not into bitter drinks, you may want to speak up, or maybe he just forgot.

Yvo says:  I definitely would go back in a pinch for what to eat around that area for cheap- there are plenty of good restaurants but not necessarily as cheap or as easy to get a seat.  It was good, and if I did go back, I would try a sandwich just to try it; I might ask for a little less sauce though because the bottom of my bowl wasn’t just a pool of sauce; it looked like I hadn’t finished drinking my strange soup.  Very tasty nonetheless.
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