A Favorite Linda Vista Comfort Food

Pad Thai Noodles at J & T Thai Street Food

A place for Linda Vista comfort food

Imagine having a really bad day. You know what I mean by a bad day.  Let’s say in the morning you write an email that includes negative comments about your boss’s appearance, and you don’t notice his/her name is on the “copy to” line until you hit “send”.  Then right before lunch, everyone (including the boss) sees you nodding off during an important Zoom meeting. And then later that afternoon, when you are supposed to be working hard at home, you run into your boss while shopping at the Fashion Valley Mall. And then when you go out to the parking lot to rush back home, you find out your car has been stolen.             

What’s a person supposed to do to feel better under such circumstances? 

There’s only one thing you can do at the end of such a bad day, and that’s to reach for a heaping dish of your favorite comfort food.  

What do I mean by comfort food?  According to the Urban Dictionary, comfort food is the kind of food that “provides consolation or a feeling of well-being, typically any with a high sugar or other carbohydrate content and associated with childhood or home cooking.” As one article titled How Comfort Foods Act Like Prozac put it, “consuming comfort foods soothes us in the exact same ways as wearing our favorite clothes or watching our favorite TV shows.” 

In the past, some of the foods traditionally recognized as comfort food have included the following: Macaroni and cheese, pizza, meatloaf, French fries, ice cream, mashed potatoes, burritos, and fried chicken. 

However, if you live here in the diverse neighborhood of Linda Vista, you don’t want to necessarily limit yourself to food associated with the nostalgia of childhood or home cooking. There are just so many different comfort foods associated with different countries and cultures, and so many of them are available from all the various Linda Vista eating establishments we have at our disposal. If you live in Linda Vista and are in the habit of relying on comfort food, chances are good you have adopted some favorite Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Filipino, Korean and Mexican comfort foods. 

Accordingly, I want to make the case that one of the best comfort food dishes available here in Linda Vista is the Pad Thai noodles served at J & T Thai Street Food. 

J & T Thai Street Food is located at 5629 Linda Vista Road (located near the intersection with West Morena Blvd); it’s one of the many interesting eating establishments located at this strip mall. 

J & T Pad Thai noodles with shrimp

In case you’re not familiar with Pad Thai noodles, they are rice noodles stir-fried in a sweet tamarind sauce with scrambled eggs, cabbage, citrus, peanuts, green onions and cilantro. You can order them accompanied by beef, chicken or shrimp.  They can be ordered with various degrees of spiciness, depending on your tolerance level. 

Needless to say, there is something very comforting about eating this dish. Maybe it’s the texture of the warm noodles, or perhaps it’s the exotic peanut taste combined with the citrus flavor. Or maybe it’s the comforting feel produced by carbohydrates.  

I never tasted Pad Thai noodles until I was 30 years old, and yet when I eat this dish, I am flooded with warm, nostalgic childhood memories. How does that happen?  I guess that’s the magical power of good comfort food!!  

If you are a beer drinker, then you are in for a special treat because there are several beers that can be paired with this dish. According to the website Serious Eats, “Yeasty beers like hefeweizen, witbier, saison, and golden Belgian ales make perfect partners for Pad Thai. The combination of yeast and malt gives these beers a pillowy sweetness that is a great match to the dish's sweet side and a counterpoint to the salty/savory. Light citric acidity adds additional balance and pulls out that subtle hint of lime in the dish. These beers also tend to be highly carbonated, giving them extra palate-cleansing power. Saison and strong Belgian ales can work with any variety of Pad Thai.  Witbier is very light and best reserved for meatless versions.”

To tell you the truth, you don’t need to experience a bad day to appreciate Pad Thai noodles. I heartily recommend you order them even when you’ve had a great day.  Don’t wait for the boss to stress you out.    

J & T Thai Street Food Menu

Of course, there are other great dishes available from J & T Thai Street Food. The Drunken noodles are also great.  The Tom Kha soup is also very popular. And it’s hard to resist all the delicious curry dishes.  Don’t be afraid to experiment with the menu. 

In this time of pandemic, when most of the news seems so scary, it’s good to know we have access to a relatively inexpensive comfort food that can make us feel a lot better. 

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Do you have a favorite Linda Vista comfort food?  Leave your recommendations in the comment section.