Do you know anyone who doesn't like barbecue? I mean real barbecue - - - ribs, brisket, pulled pork, pit smoked and roasted slow? Meat so tender and juicy and flavorful you wonder why you don't just eat barbecue every day?

    If you watched the Food TV Network early in June, you saw a lot of shows about barbecue - - seemed there was a barbecue contest every weekend somewhere. A few of those had more than 5,000 people show up to watch the competition and share some ribs and chilled adult beverages, and I developed a real hankering ...   more »

     What is it that makes a meal memorable? The company? The room? The service? The food? Or does it require all of them in some mysterious ratio? Fortunately for me, I did not have to calculate that math on a recent visit to The Artful Table at King's Way, off Route 6A in Yarmouthport, MA, the subject of this week's review.

    The company? Three daughters, my favorite food testers, who do not hold against me some of the awful experiments I foisted upon them when they were younger. We were early diners on a slow Tuesday, and had ...   more »

    One of my offices is in Eastham, on the outer part of Cape Cod, MA. In the winter months it can get a little desolate there, quiet in the extreme, and the number of eating places in the off season diminishes greatly. As one would expect under such circumstances, ethnic restaurants are hard to come by during this time other than Chinese. I like Chinese food, but for anything other than that, or seafood or a steak, one has to travel to Hyannis.

    Well, lo and behold, a new player has entered the mix, and in North Eastham, of all places. Just down the street from my office, an ambitious and ever pleasant group from Bangkok has opened the Royal Thai Cuisine just off Route 6 north of Bracket Road. I made it in for lunch five days after they opened and had a terrific pad thai noodles with tofu and vegetables. In the following two weeks I returned for lunch twice and dinner once, and will probably maintain a similar pace in the future.

    A good indicator of a talented kitchen is the quality of its soups. It's fairly easy to tell if they are house-made even with some excellent commercial products available. One of the world's great soups is tom yum kung, the Thai hot and sour shrimp soup, spiced with chile, lemon grass, mushrooms, tomato and lime juice. The hot and explosively flavorful broth is poured over fresh mushroom quarters and tomato wedges, which in turn heat through themselves. The Royal Thai Cuisine's version speaks extremely well of the kitchen, and this is a soup you really should try.

    I suspect I will write a full-blown review of the Royal Thai Cuisine sometime in the next few months. In the meantime, I promise to be conducting a great deal of research into this place for you.