Tonight at 9 p.m. on the Food Network, Bobby Flay once again attempts to soften his “rugged” image in Throwdown with Bobby Flay. He’s challenged Chantilly-based Thai Basil Chef Nongkran Daks to a pad thai throwdown. In Flay’s previous visit to the region, Granville Moore’s Teddy Folkman put the smack down in a moules frites challenge. In the meantime, check out a little homemade slideshow and Daks’ audition tape….

So, the unofficial close of summer has come and gone in a spectacularly gorgeous weekend. Agree? But we all know that living in the District not only means our dog days linger longer than August, but also that the best of 2005 is yet to come, with fall weather making its slow and graceful entrance in the next few weeks. Our thoughts this past week have been preoccupied with the devastation in the Gulf Coast….

There isn’t a Thai restaurant in America that hasn’t tackled this classic. In fact, the great thing about Pad Thai is that the number of interpretations is almost as numerous as the restaurants turning them out. Thai-style fried noodles are paired with chicken, prawns, pork and other meats. The sauce can be heavy and oily or light, fishy and salty or sweet. The vegetables thrown into the recipes vary as well. Bean sprouts, chilis, basil,…