Photo courtesy Joshua HustonThere are a lot of things that can get me through the doors of a restaurant for the first time. Maybe the place has really legendary sandwiches. That’ll do it. Maybe there’s some kind of mad genius working in the kitchen–some half-outlaw chef who gets his ingredients smuggled into the country from points unknown–or drinks at the bar powerful enough to make a horse go cross-eyed. A good and poetic menu will do it almost every time. I will eat corned beef hash, donuts or barbecue anywhere it is offered, and if I ever find a restaurant that serves all three at once, I will give up this job forever and just move into that restaurants basement to live like a happy troll for the rest of my born days.But at Noodle Land in Redmond (reviewed this week), what got me there was words: the names of the dishes on the menu were just so strange, so evocative, in some cases so flat-out bizarre, that I just had to try them. I mean, when given the chance to eat a mermaid tail or a crying tiger, who could possibly say no?Photo courtesy Joshua HustonFortunately, most of what was on the board at Noodle Land tasted good, too. A sweet little strip mall space in the middle of low-rise Redmond, it was like a bastion of heat and honest spice and odd, slangy authenticity with a menu full of Thai party food and a dining room the size of a rich girl’s shoe closet.But hey, don’t take my word for it. Go check the place out for yourself next time you have a hankering for Turbo noodles, Cutie Bumpers or Earthquake soup. And in the meantime, you can check out Joshua Huston’s slideshow of some of the best dishes on the board just to see what you’re getting yourself into.