Omnivore - Catching up with Spoon, diving into Morelli’s

• Cliff Bostock’s iPhone
• Soft shell crab with panang curry at Spoon

We dined at Spoon in East Atlanta for the first time in months last week. It’s still my favorite Thai restaurant in town. We both ordered the pair of soft-shell crabs (above) served over a pool of panang sauce with veggies. (I ordered it very hot.) For an appetizer, I got my usual fried tofu; Wayne ordered a special of shrimp fried in a thick batter. In fact, it was so thick it tasted like classic southern-fried shrimp.

Here’s a hint. Always order the brown-rice option here. It adds flavor and texture that white rice simply can’t match. Also keep an eye on the specials. A recent trip to Thailand has put the owner-chef in an experimental mood.

I had only five minutes after dinner to race across the parking lot before Morelli’s closed at 10 p.m. I got a waffle cone filled with Heath-butterscotch and coffee-gingersnap. The latter had virtually no taste of ginger at all, but, after years of making me swoon over the flavors there, they are entitled to a miss. The other flavor was a flashback to the butterscotch candy I used to eat as a kid. I wish it had been the same with the other. I was addicted to ginger snaps throughout my youth.