Eastern Classics

This Thai restaurant has been an unsuspecting treasure for some time
now. It's been the standard that we judge all the other Thai places to.
Nick, the owner's gregarious son-in-law is almost always their, happy to
see us, and noticing that we hadn't been in for a while. We discovered
this place years ago on a man-hunt for a good phad Thai noodle dish
which we were nuts about after my dad made it for dinner one night. A
dozen restaurants later there was no doubt, Eastern Classics makes the
best Pahd Thai. We so looked forward to Sunday nights when we would
rent a movie, grab food from this restaurant and settle in for our "spoiling
night". We did this for a year straight ordering one or two of our favorites
and trying a new dish. So here I am to tell you about our favorites.....
They make some great noodle dishes, with our favorites being the Pahd
Thai made with extremely fine glass noodles which soak up the semi-
sweet sauce it's fried with, along with scrambled egg, green onion,
ground peanuts, bean sprouts and your choice of meat, we like the pork.
It may sound odd, but make sure you squeeze on that lime that
accompanies it. The Phad-see-eew is another favorite with wide noodles
stir fried in a dark soy with Chinese broccoli and a choice of meat. The
Silver Glass Noodles with Vegetables is a simple dish with the same Pahd
Thai noodles, scrambled egg and stir fried vegetables. The Chow Mein
with pork and the Scrambled Egg Noodles with chicken were also very
good. The Spicy Grilled Pork is a must try, so tender and flavorful and
comes with a sweet & sour sauce and a very, and I mean very, spicy
sauce. I dip the meat in both, it's a good balance. The Crying Tiger is the
same as the Spicy Grilled Pork only with beef. The Laab is a favorite
described as "Ground pork, beef or chicken , tossed with onion, green
onions, lime juice, ground red chili, roasted ground rice, served on green
vegetables (iceberg lettuce) and cilantro". The Yum-Yai is a tasty salad
of roasted chicken, boiled egg, sliced onions and a sweet and sour
dressing atop iceberg lettuce. I know all this dishes sound funky, but
they're unusually good combinations. The Gang Ka-Ree is a wonderfully
sweet kind of soup, made with coconut milk, yellow curry, onions,
potatoes, and a choice of pork, beef or chicken, you need a big glass of
milk or a Thai Iced Tea to get through the heat from this one! We again
like the pork in this dish. For the appetizers, the Chicken or Pork Sate is
an excellent start with the meat marinated, skewered then grilled and
served with a sweet peanut sauce and slices of toast for dipping, this has
been our kid's favorite for years. The Fried Tofu was interesting with a
french toast outside and a custard inside served with a thick sweet &
spicy sauce with chopped peanuts. The Teriyaki is also a great choice,
very tender and made with your choice of beef, pork or chicken. One of
my very favorites, though, is the Thai Style Beef Jerky. It's deep fried,
crispy sweet and salted slices of meat are finally to be dipped in their
sweet & sour sauce. Once and a while they'll throw in a really spicy
sauce so make sure you get the sweet & sour. If you like sweets then
you should try their unbelievably sweet and unusual noodle dish called
MeKrob. This dish got the nerves in my teeth all riled up! A glass of their
Homemade Lemonade is refreshing, but when all is said and done, clear
the heat of those chiles from your palate with a whipped cream topped
Thai Iced Tea, this one doubles for dessert. A Thai Iced Coffee is just as
good. All the dishes I mentioned are $6.95 and under, a steal at these
prices! They have an "All You Can Eat" lunch buffet Monday through
Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for $5.95 which I haven't tried, but it
looks worthwhile, especially when they first set it out at 11:30. It's too
bad they can't move to a better location cause they could really make a
name for themselves, but for now we "Redlanders" get them all to
ourselves, ha!

Located at 461 Tennessee in Redlands.

Telephone (909) 793-0150