359 Lake Road, St. Albans 524-0999

Yes, there's a Thai restaurant in St. Albans. It's called Thai House. It's been there for almost three years. I was surprised, too. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I can get to the lovely dinner I enjoyed there Sunday night.

The chef-owner, Athai Oikweha, used to cook at Tiny Thai. The similarities are apparent in some dishes, but it's the divergences that define his somewhat more refined style. The bright-yellow satay is clearly  a marinade very close to those at countless Thai eateries. What separates this one is the addition of a bowl of tangy cucumber sauce alongside the creamy peanut dip. Another appetizer, cucumber salad, features strips of the veggie sliced noodle-thin, then drenched in lime and just enough fish sauce to add a slightly musky, smoky foil to the citrus.