Hidden treasure

With City Diner's chrome casing and large, neon glowing clock, its famous owners -- chefs Al Levinsohn from Kincaid Grill and Jens Nannestad from Southside Bistro -- have created a venue that's hard to miss and a menu that's easy to love. Inside is comfort food, Mom's home cooking, diner classics: meatloaf with gravy, cheeseburgers smothered in onions.

The strip mall just beyond City Diner is easy to ignore. Green paint peels off most of the store fronts, and the parking lot has missing pieces of black concrete. But this aging, L-shaped venue holds, for most, an overlooked treasure trove of tasty treats and ethnic eats. You'll just need to walk past the acrylic nail salon and the day care center to find them.

I've dined at Thai and Chinese Cuisine (258-0488) many times; it's relatively new, and there's usually plenty of open seating. The mauve-and-black checkered carpeting has faded with age, making the red satin table cloths topped with fake flowers eye-catching and, honestly, garish by comparison.

I've always loved the Mas-Sa-Mun ($9.95), a dish of tender beef doused in Thai red curry with potatoes, onions and peanuts. It packs a spicy kick that stays on your tongue long after you've put down your fork. The Drunk Noodles ($9.95) are also a popular, and interesting, pick: stir-fried homemade noodles with beef, chicken or pork with basil, tomatoes, eggs and veggies. If curry isn't your game, there is also a thorough Chinese menu as a fallback.

I visited nearby Pho Mailee Vietnamese Noodle (258-4746) on a rainy lunch break. Customers entered and shook off the dampness, with water trickling onto the red-and-white checkered tile floor. The restaurant quickly filled with customers, mostly single men who conversed loudly in Vietnamese over bowls of steaming noodle soup. The air had a tangy smell to it.

The menu was overwhelming, but standouts included: Pho tai bo vien, a noodle soup with eye round and meatballs ($8.50); noodle soup with shrimp with mint leaves ($11.95); and ginger chicken ($10.50). I asked the cashier for a recommendation. She said the Vietnamese beef noodle soup (small for $8.25, large for $8.95) is the most popular dish but then added that the Pad Thai, at $8.50, "is my favorite."

I went with the Pad Thai to go. Co-owner Mailee Nguyen brought me my meal: a to-go box stuffed with peanuty noodles, thick, quarter-sized tofu slices and a healthy portion of bean sprouts on the side.

"You'll want it spicy," she said, explaining the variety of sauces.

Nguyen then said that her family has owned the restaurant for about 10 years. She's seen many restaurants come and go in this spot.

"Remember the old Russian restaurant?" customer Jack Seymour asked Nguyen, who then listed many failed eateries that used to live here.

"Or how about that other Vietnamese place?" Seymour added.

Nearby, the new Taste of Seoul (277-2211) is hoping to stick around. It has a giant "Grand Opening" sign out front and unconventional hours: it stays open until 2 a.m. for the night owls but is closed on Mondays. The menu has the Korean eats you'd expect, from kimchi to kalbi.

Two stores down from Thai and Chinese Cuisine, past the billiards hall, is the girliest food spot I've seen in a long time -- the newly opened Superstar Pastry Design (336-7827, www.spdak.com), a modern bakery with a bright pink interior.

Wedding glossies and cakes are sprinkled throughout the space, and the counter is stuffed full of beautiful sweets: fat, round cookies and frosted, rainbow colored mini-cakes. The raspberry petits fours ($3.50) are too decedent and gorgeous to resist: palm-sized, square and hot pink/brown frosting drizzled across in tiny wisps. The desserts look modern, but I feel old fashioned and princess-like ordering them. I also nabbed two chocolate chip cookies ($1.50 each), not quite as sweet though tasty.

Part owner and pastry chef Kory Guarderas also creates beautiful signature wedding cakes here. She says the location is perfect in many ways.

"We've got a central spot," explained Guarderas. "And it's nice to have the landmark of City Diner."

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• Got a restaurant tip, a new menu, a favorite dish or a chef change? Contact Play editor Josh Niva at jniva@adn.com.