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Spicy Basil is nice.

Not "Puttin' on the Ritz" nice, but casually top shelf. All signs point to a winning restaurant experience. Neatly dressed servers wearing smiles and silk uniforms glide about the dining room. Asian art accents the spiffy surroundings. Open the hardcover menu and bold, colorful photographs of entrees almost leap from the pages.

Vino Wong/Staff Photographer (ENLARGE)
At Spicy Basil in Duluth, the namesake's sampler includes a papaya salad, Thai-style jerk chicken wings, calamari and deep-fried taro and corn fritters, served with a trio of dipping sauces.
Vino Wong/Staff Photographer (ENLARGE)
Don't let the idea of staring your food in the eye deter you from ordering a whole deep-fried fish, served with a panang curry sauce.
Vino Wong/Staff Photographer (ENLARGE)
Spicy Basil chef Pathomkorn Mung-in shows off a dessert sampler. The plate-for-two includes a slice of pandan coconut cake, sticky rice with mango and durian ice cream.
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Yes, this is going to be good. And the food hasn't even arrived.

Royal treatment

Owners Binh and David Lee, the couple behind the Saigon Cafe and Saigon Basil chains, have an ace in the hole. They recruited Chef Pathomkorn Mung-in — his nickname's Chef Tan — straight from Thailand. Tan's known for whipping up food for Thai royalty.

Off and running

The Thai iced tea arrives in a glass. A white, milky cloud swirls among the brown tea. Like that bunny from the Nestle Quick commercial, I quickly take it out with a series of slurps. Sweet and satisfying.

Soon, I'm squirming in my seat, tapping my feet as I talk.

Our waitress places the appetizer sampler mid-table. Wired and hungry, I grab the tasty bits one after another, chatting fast while chewing.

The caffeine tweak doesn't distract. Thai-style jerk chicken wings are tender, grilled morsels. The fried calamari sits inside a thin, crispy, edible bowl made of spring roll skin. After killing off the squid, we nibble the bowl to oblivion. And we can't get enough of the crunchy taro and corn fritters.

One special lunch

Spicy Basil's lunch special includes an appetizer, soup and an entree of your choice. The soup and appetizer vary on the chef's whim. One day it might be a spring roll and tom yum soup; on another maybe a salad and a cup of tom kha.

Let's see ... the kiew wan. Eggplant, bamboo shoots, basil and a choice of meat swim in a green curry sauce. Sounds intriguing; that's the one.

I opt for beef. Together the ingredients unite in a soulful, albeit foreign, sense of sapidity. The cloying tinge of coconut milk dances with the green curry paste.

Dinner delights

A variety of entrees bring Bangkok to the table, from warm and cold Thai salads to noodle and rice dishes. Veggie, seafood and stir fry entrees pack serious size.

The staff recommends the pla rad sauce. Out comes a whole red snapper. Between the head and tail are deep-fried fish nuggets in a zippy, spicy sweet and sour sauce. Absolutely divine. But, to me, there's just no getting used to a big-eyed bugger looking on as I munch on his midsection.

Sweet goodbyes

We can't choose a dessert, so we simply go for the Destination of Sweet. This sampler features a pandanus crepe, a green wad stuffed with oozy tapioca and young coconut. The running theme is coconut with a large brick of coconut cake and a cup of the popular homemade coconut ice cream rounding out the platter.

From top to bottom, Spicy Basil's Central Thai cuisine exudes an air of importance with prim presentation and delectable flavor. But you don't need an aristocratic lineage to dine. It's even accessible to me, a Yank — wearing jeans and a tattered concert T-shirt — who's not-so-nimble with chopsticks.