RESTAURANT REVIEW: Fort Worth's Thai Tina's has a deliciously creative cuisine

I can't stay away from Thai Tina's, a new restaurant just a skip away from downtown Fort Worth.

What makes it so different? Well, for one thing, Amphone Tina Vorachack is not just a passionate exponent of the tart/sweet/spicy-hot flavor spectrum that makes Thai cooking so exciting; she's also an exuberant, confident, creative cook who loves to come up with her own appealing twists on the familiar standards.

Vorachack and partner Jay Lanning Jennings made the move from Watauga, where their restaurant had built up a devoted following, a couple of months ago. They sold the original Thai Tina's to friends and resurrected a long-dormant spot on Henderson just past White Settlement.

Inside, they kept some of the old faux-Italian decor, which makes a rather odd mix for a Thai restaurant, but it's actually kind of endearing.

One piece of advice: Go with a big group, because there are so many exciting-sounding options on the menu that you will inevitably find yourself overordering.

You will certainly, for example, be tempted by the appetizer sampler, and you will be glad you were. The $9.95 platter offers a virtual roller-coaster of flavors and textures, with four tender, snapping-fresh shrimp-topped spring rolls; four halves of Tina's slim, impossibly flaky cilantro rolls; three fat fried wonton bundles stuffed with a mince of chicken; and six adorable crab rangoon pastries, crunchy pockets giving way to a rich, melty cream-cheese filling.

For dipping, you'll get a little cup of a nice peanut sauce and another of a thin sweet-and-sour sauce, slightly tart, slightly sweet, slightly spicy and thoroughly addictive.

And if you can't go to a Thai restaurant without ordering pad thai, Tina has regular pad thai; curry pad thai, fragrant with warm spices; and pad thai kee mow, which features a festival of shrimp, chicken, beef and pork and a sweet-spicy sauce.

On one of our dinner visits, a friend wanted the kee mow version but opted just for tofu; she was graciously charged the basic pad thai price of $9.95 instead of the $12.95 the meatier kee mow commands. The big, fragrant mound of thin rice noodles was laced with shreds of deeply aromatic caramelized Thai basil and topped with the best fried tofu I've ever had, delicately crispy outside, ethereally light and just slightly chewy within.

Duck, rich and meaty, is a major specialty here, too; in the hot-basil version, it's sliced, sauteed skin-on and served in a big bowl with colorful chunks of onion, bell pepper, tomato and pineapple, all swimming in a sweet-spicy wine sauce.

Tina also picks the freshest catch for her $15.95 crispy whole fish -- we had a delicious red snapper -- and will be happy to fillet it for you.

And I haven't even mentioned the array of spicy, herbal, lime-scented Thai salads such as yum nur, full of grill-marked, slightly caramelized slices of smoky beef ($10.95); or the satisfyingly seasoned pepper-garlic pork or chicken saute ($9.95 dinner, $7.95 lunch).

You can't eat it all in one visit, or even six, but you must have Tina's signature dessert, a pale-coral fan of succulent ripe mango, a little mound of comforting sweet sticky rice and one of a special sweet purple rice that takes hours to make, all slicked with a scrim of coconut sauce and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Thai Tina's

703 N. Henderson St., Fort Worth

817-332-0088

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.- 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 3-8 p.m. Sunday

Cuisine: Thai

Essentials: All major credit cards, BYOB until liquor license is obtained, SF, WA

Entree cost: $6.95-$15.95 lunch, $9.95-$15.95 dinner

Signature dish: Hot basil duck ($14.95)

Recommended for: Lovers of Asian food and anyone who likes vivid flavors

Good to know: Vegetarians will be happily accommodated; a children's menu includes kids' pad thai (no onions) and corn dogs.