As I walked through the streets of Queens, my stomach grumbled seeking food. My feet started leading the way towards the aroma lingering through the streets. My mouth began to water from the smell of the minced garlic sautéed with onions. The hunger began to grow intensely as my legs started giving up on me. My cousin and I turned the
corner into seventy-seven street, walking into a B rated rusty and worn cherry blossom theme restaurant with a full bar. As I held the twenty-eight-inch door, a man in his early thirties, dressed in all-black, approached us. He had a pen behind his ear and a yellow note pad with a couple of chopsticks sticking out of the apron, located around his waist. “Table for two?” As the young man lead the way to our table, I couldn’t help myself from looking at what the people around me were having for dinner. “Thank you” I smiled as we were seated near the sushi bar, where a Japanese man was putting together a more complex version of a California roll with some sort of orange concoction and fish eggs on the top as garnish. “I’ll have the pad thai and she’ll have the pad see ew.” The waiter nodded his head and took our menus. My cousins and I began our casual girl talk and eagerly waited to feed our hunger.

As the waiter brought out the sizzling hot two by two pan, the steam coming out of the dish began to make my mouth water even more as the waiter got closer and closer. Once the chicken pad see ew was finally brought to the table, it was set next to my Thai iced tea I ordered beforehand.  I began admiring the colors: green from the broccoli, yellow from the eggs and of course the ombre orange from the Thai iced tea. I did not want to destroy such a beautiful masterpiece. However, the more I waited, the more I realized my stomach could not handle this temptation anymore. I tried to get all the vegetables and protein in one bite, but the ingredients began falling from my fork back into the dish. I couldn’t resist any longer so as I stabbed my fork into the pad see ew, I somehow managed to get some of the soft rice noodles along with a small piece of chicken on my fork. As I was taking my first bite, the rice noodles began melting on my tongue, my taste buds began dancing from joy, from the sweetness in the marinated chicken and my hunger began to vanish slowly. The texture and flavor of the mushroom put a zesty twist to the dish. However, the light soy sauce and the dark soy sauce balanced everything out, just right. As I kept savoring every bite I took, I slowly realized my fork hitting the bottom of my pan and my stomach stopped grumbling. I did not know whether I was full or not, but I did not want to stop my taste buds from devouring every single ingredient that was left of the pad see ew.

As I was finishing every piece of broccoli, mushroom and rice noodle on my plate along with my Thai iced tea, my hands were found unbuttoning my pants. We sat slumped with our stomach seeming like we were pregnant while patiently waiting for the waiter to come back with the bill. We paid the bill and handed the waiter a wrinkled up ten-dollar bill as tip and soon the food coma began to kick in. Luckily the walk home was only fifteen minutes and felt really calm. I began to think about how scrumptious the pad see ew was despite the restaurant looking rusty and sketchy. All I could think of is how this might have been the best Thai food I have ever eaten.

I soon realized how judgment can influence my everyday life. I thought of
the phrase “Never judge a book by its cover.” When looking at the restaurant from the outside and noticing the B rating, I told myself that the food is going to be terrible. However, I did not expect the food to be so filling and tasty. I sat and enjoyed every last bite of my pad see ew. It made me realize that it is more than what the restaurant had displayed from the outside, the food and service on the inside is what it matters the most. The way the flavors worked together made me enjoy my experience. Who knew that the hint of the zesty mushroom would balance out so well with both the light and dark soy sauce in the pad see ew? I am glad I was hungry to the point that I was willing to eat anything, or else I would not have entered that restaurant and have such a memorable experience. People say, “follow your heart”. However, I say follow your gut and let your hunger lead the way.