This week in Dish, we review Mama Asian Noodle Bar, a 5-month-old pan-Asian restaurant located in the outdoor shopping mall Promenade at Coconut Creek. It's an attractive family-run restaurant bathed in red and black that serves a wide range of Thai entrées, inventive modern fusion dishes, plenty of Vietnamese- and Japanese-inspired noodles, and even Chinese style stir-fries. Here's an excerpt from our review:

Mama is actually the second restaurant from Mike and Lisa Ponluang, two

mainstays in the South Florida Thai food scene. For 15 years, the couple

ran Thai Pepper in Coral Springs, a gem of a restaurant hidden away in

a quiet strip mall. Fans of the place drove in from all over Broward to

try Mike Ponluang's take on modern Thai. He had a flair for combining

bold, authentic flavors with modern technique -- when he'd marry sea

bass with spicy red curry or elegantly pair crispy duck breast with

tamarind sauce, people would just about coo aloud at their tables. Thai

Pepper was also my folks' go-to Thai joint. When it closed in 2006,

they were inconsolable. Unbeknown to my parents, the Ponluangs went

on to open Coco Asian Bistro in Fort Lauderdale later that year, a

place equally well-known for its inventive take on modern Thai and

sophisticated setting.