Ben Thai Cafe

This food at this Nob Hill cafe seamlessly melds traditional Thai, Chinese, and Indonesian influences in inventive flavor combinations. (The brother-sister co-owners borrowed many of the complex recipes from their Thai parents.) The menu spans sauteed dishes, seafood, wok-tossed noodles, and curries from all over the map. There’s an American-Thai inspired oxtail soup stewed with carrot, tomato, and cabbage; a Northern Thai khao soi (egg noodles, chicken, and crispy pork skin in a red and yellow coconut curry), and a Chinese-Thai-influenced roasted duck soup packed with hearty, fatty strips of meat and thick, chewy noodles. Start with the crispy crab pancake, which is served alongside a pungent vinegar dipping sauce.