Elephant Jumps: A Welcome Addition to Merrifield’s Ethnic Food Scene

For those of us who consider Merrifield, Dunn Loring, and Falls Church to be our ethnic food hangouts, there has always been something missing.  While the area is chock full of Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and Lebanese restaurants, there has been for as long as I can remember, no real Thai restaurant in the area.  Sure, Thai Pilin is only a couple miles down the road at Rt 7 and Rt 29, and Tara Thai is just up the road in McLean and Vienna, but honestly, every neighborhood needs a good Thai restaurant.  Merrifield… I give you Elephant Jumps.  This new restaurant in Yorktown Shopping Center at the intersection of Gallows Rd and Route 50 is quaint with a clean, minimalist decoration that emphasizes its namesake, the Elephant.  While perhaps unassuming at first glance, the restaurant is a real gem.  Simple details, like the elephants that adorn the menu covers, are proof that the owner, a friendly man named Tom, really thought about what he was doing.  And while the menu doesn’t stray too far from the standard Thai classics, the food is great.

The meal:

• Papaya Spicy Salad
• Scallops in Crispy Basil Saute
• Drunken Noodles with Chicken
• Chicken Green Bean Curry

There is a tendency at restaurants that specialize in well spiced, or dare I say, incendiary foods, to dumb down the spice for the sake of their non-ethnic clientelle.  That was not the case at Elephant Jumps.  While we were prompted for the level of spiciness we preferred, when “thai spicy was ordered” Thai spicy delivered.  The papaya salad was spicy and cooling all at the same time, while the drunken noodles provided a steady numbing heat that is so pleasant on a hot day.  This is not to say the food was overpowered by heat, its just that it was balanced and authentic.  The chicken green bean curry was less a curry than a stir fry with a slightly thicker sauce, but was equally delicious — similar in style to a gra pow.  Finally, and my personal favorite, was the less spicy, but outlandishly tasty scallops in crispy basil.  The scallops, quickly wok-fried and then glazed in the traditional Thai basil sauce, were accompanied by deliciously crispy fried Thai basil which crunched before disintegrating sweetly in your mouth.

Overall, Elephant Jumps is a welcome addition to Yorktown which already boasts two successful ethnic outposts, Jasmine Garden and Pho Cyclo.  If our meal was any indication, Elephant Jumps will likely poach (no ivory jokes here…) loyal clientele away from these other two favorites.  A strong recommendation from the Two Foodie Brothers.

I look forward to hearing what Tyler Cowen, the local ethnic food extraordinaire, (and GMU economist) thinks when he no doubt happens upon this find.