Rice and Spice (CLOSED)

The menu at the former Big Eat is Chinese-restaurant long, with most items less than $10 and big enough to share. Steamed mussels arrive fresh and plump in a light broth of lemongrass and galangal. Frog legs are crisp and meaty like the best fried chicken, and they’re topped in true Thai manner with a medley of finely chopped raw vegetables. A sweet-spicy sauce adds zing to the grilled sirloin steak. Wine is also a bargain—New Zealand’s Babich sauvignon blanc is just $4 a glass. The big, brightly lit dining room has a little panache: One wall is painted tangerine; the opposite wall has a lime-green panel decorated with Thai writing and four embedded TVs playing the same Thai movie.