Thailand bound in Stittsville with Pookie Rolls

• Name + address: Pookie Rolls, 1280 Stittsville Main St.

• Diet: Meat, seafood, vegetarian

• Appetizers: $5-$9.50

• Mains:$14.50-$16.50

• Wheelchair accessibility: Yes

• Website: www.facebook.com/Pookierolls/

Ottawa has seen the closure of a number of good Thai restaurants over the years. Last year we saw the departure of Anna Thai on Holland and Pookie’s Thai on Carling.

Recently both Talay Thai and Tuk Tuk closed their doors and it will be interesting to see if new Thai will crop up to replace them.

Covid came through leaving a lot of wreckage in its wake and many folks like Pookie and her husband Blair fought valiantly to keep their doors open.

Pookie then reinvented her business and rolled out as a food truck now stationed along Stittsville Main Street.

I first discovered Pookie’s Thai when I returned to Ottawa from Vancouver and it quickly became a bit of a standard bearer for what better Thai in Ottawa looked like.

Their soups, spring rolls, fish cakes and noodle dishes were always made from scratch and the room was exotic with Thai art and warm colours. You really could feel transported and I often made it an oasis.

Looking at the menu I ordered two appetizers straightaway. I always enjoyed Pookie’s spring rolls and was excited to try them again and I noticed something she’d not had on her restaurant menu, Thai rice balls.

The rice balls were the highlight. I thought of them as a Thai version of Italian arancini seasoned with chopped lime leaf, basil and a small amount of red curry. They’d been deep fried resulting in a crisp shell with an aromatic and creamy centre. A nicely constructed treat.

The spring roll was wholly different from my beloved restaurant version. On this day it was rolled super tight which under normal circumstances would be appreciated, but the pork was under seasoned. There was little salt and I found one tiny bit of noodle and carrot for seasoning. I have no doubt that this would not meet Pookie’s standards but then again this would not be my last disappointment.

There is perhaps one food more than any other that does not travel well and that is any rice noodle dish. In short order these noodles will clump together and reheating them is a challenge.

So if you are ordering these from a food truck and you’re in the mood, have a few bites while they’re still fresh before heading home. In this way you’ll at least know how they’re meant to taste.

As we know, traditional Pad Thai noodles are never made with ketchup yet this is how they are most often served in the west. Sadly Pookies was no exception.

I tried a few forkfuls and while the shrimp was large and sweet, the noodles were also under seasoned and tasted almost exclusively of ketchup.

Once home I added a small amount of water to this clump of noodles in a pot so as to steam them apart. I had little success and the noodles turned mealy and the flavour was even more dilute.

My suggestion to Pookie is to revisit the recipes and what the menu offers. There is no reason why a woman with such talent should let her good name be remembered in this way.

Would I go back? Not as things stand.