Thai one on (A Review of Sweet Basil -Delaware Ave)

My 'hood The Delaware Ave neigborhood has really been booming with deliciousness the past few years-Mingle, Emack, New World, Ultra Violet, Andy's, Carndona's and the new cheese shop are all making my belly very happy and my runs a little more difficult each morning. The newest addition to this great food line up is Sweet Basil located right next door to Emack & Bolio at 370 Delaware Ave.

The restaurant is a former hot dog joint, sushi place and a hibachi restaurant. None of those places lasted long and none were all that awesome on quality of food. Sweet Basil is a clear step above those and I hope that as it is less than a five minute walk from my house it doesn't go any place!

Daughter and I settled on some take out for tonight and took a walk down as we didn't have a menu. The interior has about 6 tables-mostly 4 tops as the spot is tiny. It is clean, softly lit, elegantly and sparsely decorated and has linen tablecloths and napkins. Nice enough for a dinner date, comfy enough for family night.

We ordered Chicken Satay ($6), Potstickers ($6), Spicy Sweet Basil w/Chicken ($12) and I just had to have the mango with sticky rice ($5).

The Satay was 4 plump skewers of juicy chicken with a cup of mildly spiced and peanutty sauce. My daughter declared them among the best she ever had and ate all 4 of them! The Potstickers were a veggie and chicken variety with standard dumpling sauce on the side. Our bad for not specifying steamed/fried etc so we got boiled and didn't love them. A little mushy and lacking in flavor for us. I may reheat them in a frying pan tomorrow and give them another whirl. They were the only thing we didn't really enjoy. The Spicy Sweet Basil with Chicken was everything that I associate with Thai-crispy lightly sauteed fresh veggies like red pepper, mushroom and zucchini, an abundance of sliced white meat chicken, LOTS of Thai Basil to add a fragrant taste and a mildly spiced sauce-with a side of white rice. The portion size was perfect for one meal. The sweet rice with mango which is one of my favorite desserts anyplace was a hit. Sweet rice shaped into a heart cookie cutter, topped with a sweet coconut syrup and a few black sesame seeds ins paired with a full half of sliced mango. Amazing...and I have never seen that much mango with a single portion.

You should know that parking is on the street but generally easy to come by, it is very kid friendly, they do not have a website or menu online...yet. They told me 15 minutes for our togo order and it was done in about 7. It was neatly packaged and stacked in a bag to bring home.