Alright, you already know what it is. I’m right back at it with another EC Eats. I’ve really been enjoying these because they give me an excuse to ignore the amount in my checking account and eat food that’s usually good, but also overpriced. 

My original plan for Eats this week was Quick Wok, a Chinese food place on Water Street.

I hobbled out of bed in shorts and sandals — since the weather did indeed go from requiring a jacket to encouraging shorts in about a week — and I headed down the street since the place was about a block away from my house. 

I was slightly concerned they wouldn’t be open since it was in fact Easter, but as I got closer I saw a little open sign on the door flipped towards me. 

Well, there must have been some mistake because they were not open and I had to sulk home in stomach-growling misery. After eating some food from my fridge for once and taking a long nap, I had given up hope. 

But then, a buddy of mine texted me that she was hungry. My excitement was immediately tempered by the fact that most of the places worth going to were probably closed, like Quick Wok.

But a Google search and subsequent phone call confirmed that Rice Palace, in downtown Eau Claire, was serving up food on Easter. My friend came to pick me up and just like that, we were en route to the spot. 

The place was empty — probably because of the aforementioned holiday — and we were able to order our food quickly. 

I sprung for some crab rangoons to start and some red curry to keep the party going. I also got a Thai iced tea to help slurp it all down. Oh, and last minute I saw they had spring rolls for $2.50 each so I went ahead and sprung for one of those as well. 

Get it? Anyway…the rangoons and the spring roll came out first. One note on the rangoons, they were definitely good, but they came with a homemade sweet and sour sauce. 

Bonus points for going through the effort of making it from scratch, but I found myself craving that artificially dyed, sickly sweet sauce that usually accompanies take-out food. In some situations, it may actually pay to take the easy way out and I think this was one of them. 

Onto the curry, and here I must admit my lack of knowledge. I have only had red curry at one other restaurant and I really liked it there, so there may be some mere exposure effect kicking in. 

The curry at Rice Palace had a loose, more soup-like base. It definitely wasn’t overly spicy, something I was surprised by, but it was nice to not have to constantly be sipping a glass of water to get through the dish. 

All in all, it was solid.  A great variety of vegetables were in there and they were generous with the amount of chicken they provided as well, but it definitely expanded my understanding of what a curry is, since I had only one reference point prior to eating there.  

If you’re downtown and looking for some eats, I think Rice Palace is a fine place to go. 

Obadiya can be reached at [email protected].