Sometimes mediocrity follows popularity. And for Thai food, it's especially true. With Asian cuisine second only to Italian in terms of what people shop for in a supermarket (Food Technology magazine), it might even unseat the Western European favorite in five or ten years.

"What we are seeing is a cultural shift where people love the products, flavors, and even the preparation of Asian food," says Alan Wong, general manager of his family's Thai and Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas. "There was even a Gallup poll last year that said six in 10 people regularly eat Asian food at home or in restaurants."

According to Wong, he has seen more of his friends' restaurants become chains in the last few years, even though some of them are operating more like franchises. The tastes, he says, are as different in one part of the country as another.

"There is this push to make Asian food more like fast food or more convenient to make, like mass production," says Wong. "That is the mixed blessing of Asian food's popularity. People are trying to duplicate a style of cooking with premixes. While it might work for some Asian dishes, they are never as good. And for Thai food, it's practically taboo."

Wong says that the Thai culture developed its dishes over centuries. But what often made Thai food so incredible was that one restaurant or sometimes one street vendor would create a single signature dish that nobody could duplicate.

"As funny as it sounds, the writers of the first Kung Fu Panda movie were mostly accurate. The father, who owned a noodle shop, had a secret recipes handed down for generations. In the movie, it turned out that there really was no secret at all, but in real life, Thai chefs have many secrets," said Wong. "It was extremely difficult to rescue some of my family's recipes because most Thai chefs would rather take their recipes to the grave."

Thai is among the front runners of all Asian foods.

Along with the Gallup poll, Wong learned that there are other indicators of just how popular Thai food is becoming. On some websites with recipes, Italian and Chinese are running neck and neck for searches. But now people are starting to distinguish Asian food and its varied contributions.

Wong says that eventually people will begin dividing some countries like Thailand and China into regions. People won't search for Chinese dishes as much as they will search for Cantonese. They won't search for Thai dishes as much as they will search for Bangkok dishes.

According to the Institute of Food Technologies, home cooks are especially interested in Japanese (34 percent), Thai (30 percent), Szechuan (21 percent), Indian (19 percent), Vietnamese (15 percent), Korean (13 percent), and Indonesian (12 percent). Wong says that he encourages people to took Asian dishes at home because many are healthier and it helps people appreciate the different tastes from restaurant to restaurant when they do go out.

"The down side, of course, is that with popularity, many restaurants are trying to pass off some dishes as Thai or Cantonese that are not," he said. "I do not mind Asian fusion, but I think it is important to distinguish between inspired dishes and authentic dishes. If you do not, then the flavors begin to meld and originality is lost."

Wong said that there are plenty of telltale signs if Thai food is not authentic. The first sign is if the food is too salty, greasy, or unbalanced. Balance, he said, is everything in Thai food, which is one of the reasons it cannot be duplicated by chains.

Founded in 1973, Kung Fu Plaza is the oldest and most authentic Chinese and Thai restaurant in Las Vegas. It is open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. The average entree is under $10 and most patrons order family style.