My stomach may not have been fully prepared for the effort, but I pressed on. Eating my way through the voluminous menu at Astoria Thai Cuisine, item by item, was the only fair way to appraise this restaurant, I reckoned.

OK, I didn’t sample everything, but I gave this white-walled palace of Thai fare a thorough perusal while attempting to decipher why Thai food is so trendy. So too, I wondered if Astoria Thai Cuisine could hold its own against those bastions of Thai cooking I’ve frequented in Portland and Seattle (Lemongrass, Typhoon, as well as lots of smallish neighborhood joints come to mind).

From a marvelous Hot Meat combo to mediocre mango fried rice, from scintillating Fresh Rolls to unsatisfying Gang Pah curry, I filled my tummy at Astoria Thai with all manner of noshes. Along the way I honed up on Thai cuisine and picked up plenty of clear-cut impressions.

Among southeast Asian nations, Thailand is the only country that was never colonized. Consequently, Thai food is distinctive and original. Admittedly, those qualities could be attributed to virtually any country’s cooking. Yet, unlike Vietnamese cuisine, to cite one example, Thai food has little French or other Western influences, which is rare in the culinary world.

Thai food, arguably second only to Chinese as the most popular East Asian fare in the U.S., adheres to one major tenet – balance. Every Thai meal is supposed to embody the four essences: hot, sour, sweet and salty. And many Thai restaurants feature homegrown chefs or owners; Utit Phumphuangkeaw, a former Bangkok chef (and also owner of Long Beach Thai Cuisine in Long Beach, Wash.) fills both roles here.

Keeping all of the above in mind, I ordered take-out Astoria fried rice on my initial visit, surely a signature preparation for this city’s first Thai restaurant. Like everything else served at Astoria Thai, my order was oversized, crammed with crunchy vegetables and prawns, but too little egg and seasonings to carry the dish. Frankly, pineapple was the most assertive ingredient. Still, every time I dug deeper with my chopsticks under all that jasmine rice, I located another succulent prawn. A mini salad of shredded lettuce and such – much like you’d find adjacent to the refried beans on a Tex-Mex combo plate – added next to nothing to this meal.

A second time I visited with two friends, both Thai-food fans, and was introduced to Fresh Rolls, lovely looking finger food fashioned with chicken (or tofu) inside a thick wrapping of steamed iceberg lettuce. Sounds weird, I know, but these babies tasted sublime, especially with a thick and juicy prawn atop each one. An accompanying dipping sauce, a mildly hot and flavorful blend of peanuts and chili peppers, paid homage to Thai food’s four essences.

Ditto for the Tom Yum soup, a simultaneously hot and sour potion well stocked with prawns and swimming with lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and some type of brown mushroom caps. “Looks like an Impressionist painting,” a dining companion commented. Sure enough, this yellow-orange concoction dotted with tomato wedges and sprinkled with cilantro leaves probably could pass muster in an art museum.

Note that Tom Yum is listed as one-star on the high-heat scale, meaning the soup is spicy, but mild. Patrons can opt anywhere from there to five-star fiery for pretty much anything on the menu. I requested two-star heat with my Hot Meat combo – a melange of chunky beef, chicken and pork melded with a medley of vegetables, both leafy and crunchy – and the rating translated to semi-hot.

Speaking of leafy vegetables, you wouldn’t imagine spinach would marry advantageously to a zippy peanut sauce. Pra Rahm disproves that assumption – in fact, sauteed spinach never tasted so good, in this case saturated with a sauce similar to the mixture gracing the Fresh Rolls.

The thin cellophane noodles featured in an otherwise uninspired Pad Thai, Thailand’s best-recognized dish, were fun to eat. Another shape entirely, the extra-wide noodles showcased in the Kee Mao were not only satisfying to slurp; they also arrived blended with tastier fixings – red and green bell peppers, mushrooms, basil and what not. One of a couple curries not doused with coconut milk, Gang Pah curry (Supreme Seafood is the other) was nevertheless awash in a broth more potent than its one-star rating would suggest.

Sweetniks should consider a Thai coffee or tea; either beverage comes topped with a massive swirl of (canned) whipped cream. Black sticky rice, an East Asian style of rice pudding, is a can’t-miss dessert, especially for $2 a pop. Upcoming (sometime in early 2005) is a basement Thai soda fountain where patrons will be able to sip a bubble tea apart from the clang of kitchen ware and the rustling of chopsticks. Don’t feel uncomfortable, by the way, if you and chopsticks aren’t a comfy fit. Thai eaters traditionally use them solely for noodles and, anyway, the chopsticks originally were imported from China.

Conclusions? Astoria Thai mirrors the idiosyncrasies, the highs and lows, the ying and yang, if you will, of Thai food, although this restaurant’s meals are more pedestrian than full-speed-ahead compared to the big cities’ cherished Thai establishments. At Astoria Thai, meat and veggies tossed with rice and noodles – not whole fish sauced with basil and chilies, for example, or fried bananas for dessert – are mainstays. Mind you, that’s not necessarily a bad thing; most local patrons seem to prefer predictable instead of peculiar food.

But why is Thai cuisine so trendy, anyway? Conveniently, Astoria Thai affords a plausible answer. Preparations here are exotic compared to, say, burgers or baked halibut, but they’re not over the top. Curried buffalo lips and deep-fried sea urchins aren’t on the menu. Sure, some dishes sport titles such as Pad See Iew and Larb; but the more agreeable sounding Family Fried Rice and Hot Meat Combo are but a couple of selections away. Once they become accustomed to the unorthodox name, diners may even embrace Black Sticky Rice for dessert.

Contact the Mouth at The Daily Astorian, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 or phone (503) 325-3211 or e-mail mouth@dailyastorian.com

Astoria Thai Cuisine

Two and a half stars (out of four)

1040 Commercial St., Astoria

(503) 325-1316

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Prices: Inexpensive. Everything on the menu is $8 or less, with the exception of Supreme seafood, at $13. Two could eat very well for less than $40, beverages and tip included.

Superior selections: Fresh Rolls, Pra Rahm, Hot Meat combo, Noodles Kee Mao, Cashew Nuts, Rard Nah, Black Sticky Rice

Atmosphere: Still sparse, but homier than before with the addition of plants and wall hangings

Service: Friendly, but uneven. Some servers know the menu well; others struggle with questions about particular dishes. Even when the place is busy, the kitchen is quick.

Kid-friendly: Yes, but good luck getting your 10-year-old to try preparations with names such as Plig Khing or Noodles Kee Mao.

Vegetarian options: Many. Almost everything on the menu can be ordered with tofu rather than meat or seafood. Inquire if you’re unsure about ingredients.

Alcohol: Bottled beer and a small selection of wines

Access: The entrance and restrooms are accessible to people in wheelchairs

Credit cards: Discover, Mastercard, Visa

Personal checks: OK

Reservations: Not necessary

Smoking: Not permitted