A year ago this past summer, we had heard that a new restaurant was going to open in the space of a former Mexican restaurant in a space just north of the downtown area of Davenport on Brady Street hill. We would drive past the place for the next few months and we saw little to no work going on in the space. Suddenly, earlier this spring we noticed that work was starting on the space. Things started to take shape and we could see that they were putting some nice touches on the place. It turned out that it was going to be a new Asian restaurant called Miss Phay Cafe. One recent night when I didn't feel like cooking, my wife and I made the trek down to Miss Phay Cafe to check the place out.
Mun Luangruang grew up in Thailand and knew her way around a kitchen at a very early age. She would help her grandmother cook food for customers of her fathers rice mill who came far and wide to have their rice processed. Luangruang eventually immigrated to the United States 1996 to join her family in Los Angeles. Her father had opened a Thai restaurant in Los Angeles and Mun and other family members helped out. She knew very little English when she came to the U.S., but working in the restaurant helped her learn the language.
While in Los Angeles, Luangruang met a man whom she eventually married. Her husband got a job at John Deere in the Quad Cities and the two moved to the area in 2000. In 2001, a new Japanese steakhouse was opening in Davenport and Mun got a job working there. It was at the restaurant where she met she met Kevin Zhang, a fellow Thai immigrant who was culinary-trained in China and Switzerland before moving to the U.S. At the time, there was only one Thai restaurant in the Quad Cities and the two felt there was a need for another good Thai restaurant in the area. In 2002 they opened Exotic Thai on E. 53rd St. in Davenport.
Zhang soon left the endeavor and opened Crazy Wok - later renamed Tantra Asian Bistro - a competing Thai restaurant in Davenport. Luangruang then partnered with her father and brother to open a second Exotic Thai in Moline in 2004, then they opened the LemonGrass Cafe, a combination Thai/Vietnamese restaurant in downtown Moline.
Initially, they announced that they would open a second LemonGrass Cafe in Davenport last year. But they decided to rename it Miss Phay Cafe instead. Miss Phay is an imaginary character who grew up in Bangkok and has cultural backgrounds from Thailand, China and Vietnam. The fictional Miss Phay immigrated to the United States and is said to tell stories of her homeland through her foods and traditions. By enthusiastically presenting her cuisine, culture and beliefs, Miss Phay brings part of her life to people in the Quad Cities.
Or something like that...
We were able to find parking just in front of Miss Phay on Brady Street, the main northbound street out of downtown Davenport. (see map) The building that houses Miss Phay has seen a number of businesses and restaurants come and go out of the location over the years. Most recently, it was the home to a Mexican restaurant that closed up about two years ago.
Stepping inside Miss Phay, you go directly into the bar area. It's rather nice in there with hard wood floors, a small bar, some booths, and a subdued lighting scheme. Miss Phay also has coffee and Asian-style breakfast items that are served in the bar area from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
We were greeted by a young lady and taken into the main dining area through an opening from the bar side. The room had a large floral print on the wall with a two level dining area. There was a small alcove on one side that had banquette seating on either side of a fireplace. Asian art and bamboo basket light shades were very noticeable throughout the room.
The young lady gave us a couple menus and we took a quick look at their drink menu. They have a handful of specialty cocktails at Miss Phay Cafe including a signature drink called Passion Project - Malibu rum, guava liqueur, passion fruit juice, lemon and lime juice, and finished with fresh basil and mint leaves. Wine and beer were also available from the bar. My wife got a glass of the Forest Glen merlot and I got a pint of the Easy Eddy hazy pale from Big Grove Brewery, one of the rotating tap beer they have at Miss Phay.
The menu tilted more toward Vietnamese cuisine, but there was definitely an emphasis on Southeast Asian specialties. There was a lemongrass pork chop on the menu, Asian barbecued pork, a bok choy stir fry with a choice of chicken, shrimp or pork belly, and a Cambodian-style rice/noodle soup, ground pork, Vietnamese ham, pork belly, shrimp and a fish ball. It was all pretty interesting.
I wanted to try one of their spring rolls, so I ordered up a couple of the shrimp spring rolls for my wife and me. A small tub of peanut hoisin sauce came on the side. It was actually pretty good. I thought that I probably could've had a couple orders just for myself for dinner and I would have been happy.
But I ended up going with a bowl of pho - chunks of steak and brisket with meat balls and the regular pho ingredients including bean sprouts, chopped basil, green onions and ginger. Fresh basil leaves and a spicy hoisin sauce came on the side. The base of the pho is a hearty beef broth that's rich in taste as it's simmered for 8 hours. Rice noodles are added to the pho just before serving. It was very good. I did my best to finish what I could, but it was a lot of food.
My wife likes the chicken dishes over at LemonGrass Cafe, so on this visit to Miss Phay she went with the vermicelli with a grilled lemongrass and turmeric chicken breast. It came with chopped lettuce, sprouts, cucumbers, and fresh herbs. Chopped peanuts and crispy shallots were sprinkled on the top of the chicken breast. A bowl of Nuoc Cham, a sort of sweet and sour dipping sauce, came on the side. My wife thought her meal was absolutely delicious. However, like me, she found the portion to be a little too much. When our waitress came back to check on us toward the end of our meal, she asked my wife if she wanted a to-go box. But my wife declined saying that it could never be as good re-heated as it was in the restaurant.
Our dinner was made even more interesting as a man dining alone was obviously hitting on our waitress. He was seated at a table near us, but still spaced enough for social distancing. He asked her out twice and she rebuffed him both times. But she was still friendly to him and it was obvious this guy was smitten with her. We try not to listen to conversations at other tables, but this guy was pretty easy to hear.
We found Miss Phay Cafe to be a nice little place to get an Asian-inspired meal. We immediately decided that we would add Miss Phay to our rotation of Southeast Asian food restaurants that we'll go to in the Quad Cities. It had everything that we like in a restaurant - a nice atmosphere with a friendly and accommodating staff. They had very good food and having beer, wine and specialty drinks is a plus. As I said, I could go back just to have a drink and some spring rolls. We really enjoyed our visit.
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