At 7:45 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, I was getting into the rental car at my hotel in Orlando, all dressed up pretty and psyched for the succulent-sounding Mediterranean fusion dinner and champagne waiting for me at an elegant downtown restaurant called Fusion 7.
At 11:00 p.m., I was texting all my friends to tell them I was at the worst restaurant in the history of cuisine, and begging for rescue.
To be perfectly honest, once it became clear that we were not going to have a great (or even a good) New Year’s Eve dinner, I allowed myself to be entertained by the glorious disaster of the evening. The ballet of ineptitude, it unfolded thus:
The hostess had previously told us that our suburban hotel was about ten minutes away from the restaurant, but we couldn’t help noticing that her original directions took us in exactly the opposite direction of downtown. So we called at 7:50 to make sure we were going the right way. She told us that when she’d said “left,” she’d actually meant “right,” so we should turn around. Twenty minutes later, we called again. The same hostess tells us that when she said “turn around,” she actually meant “keep going straight.”
And that’s how we showed up for our reservation an hour late, to a “downtown” restaurant located in strip mall in the outer suburbs. They recognized us the party they have just sent on an hour-long detour, but no apology was forthcoming.
Other infuriating things:
I asked for details about an unfamiliar wine on the list. The waiter shrugged. “…Is there a sommelier?” I asked, meaning, Is there someone smarter than you? Apparently there was not.
I asked about the preparation of the fish on the menu. I got another shrug. He called over another waiter. Shrug. Repeat. Eventually there were four waiters clustered around my table, shrugging. No one went to ask the chef. Finally, one waitress said, “Oh! I know! It’s a sauce!”
Does this have nuts? I’m allergic to nuts. Shrug. Could you ask please? Waiter trundled off, never to return.
Fish bones in the tasteless ceviche. Crab shell in the tasteless crabcake. Bandaids on the face of the tasteless waiter.
I’d like that medium rare, please. Would well done be okay?
Here’s your sorbet, to, uh….(as he waved his hands frantically in the air, probably trying to remember big words like “cleanse” and “palate”)……you know!
To my friend as he was eating his risotto (pronounced at this fine establishment as riz-otto): Are you done with that?
And finally, they brought the check. Up until this point I have alternated between flinty stares at the waiters who most annoyed me and hysterical laughter, and if the check had come without incident this article might be a little more gentle. How-the-hell-ever. I already mentioned that the hostess’ bad directions sent us an hour out of our way, so we arrived Fusion 7 at about 9 p.m. for our 8 p.m. reservation. Did we get an apology? A round of drinks to make for their ineptitude? No.
Instead, they charged us $10 each for being late.
This article has been brought to you by Karen, the Bitter, Ranting, Italicizing Food Critic, more for your amusement than edification.
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04Jan
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08Sep
I recently got around to trying JavaVino in the “Poncey-Highlands” neighborhood of town: they have coffee; they have wine; what could be bad? The wine list pretty respectable – $5-7 gets you a good glass, but I didn’t try all the options (which change regularly), so there’s potential greatness. They also do wine tastings on 2nd Sundays, which I plan to attend one of these days.
We are here, however, to discuss the coffee shop aspect of JavaVino. My $2.10 jumbo-sized Americano (4 shots!!) was delicious – smooth, woody and not too bitter with a crema, I notice, so sturdy that it survived pouring over ice. I drank it straight – no sugar, no cream – a rare honor I reserve for really good coffee. JavaVino’s website indicates that their organic, sustainably-grown coffee actually comes from the owner’s family’s own plantation in Nicaragua – a neat detail, I think, especially since the results are so good.
The $7 hummus plate comes with roasted red peppers and a few unremarkable olives, as well as cibatta (a nice departure from the traditional pita). The hummus itself is OK, but could use salt (I see none available) and perhaps more sesame oil in the mix.
The location is a bit off the beaten path, but close enough to get some foot traffic, and parking is pretty ample. Seating is limited and the place, while pretty and pleasant, is a bit cluttered. The music (sort of ‘soft’ top-40 stuff) is a good volume, and large windows provide ample natural light, even if the view is just of parking lots. Free wifi service makes it theoretically work-friendly, but let’s be honest: you’re just watching YouTube.
JavaVino has a patio, but it is small and right out by the smoggy street, so it doesn’t really interest me, especially in the absence of much good people-watching/street antics (other than the Atlanta drivers, who form a genre of tragicomedy all their own). Besides awesome coffee and available wines, JavaVino has two characteristics desperately lacking in other Atlanta coffeeshops I’ve found: they sell real newspapers (as in, not just AJC and USAToday), and are open till midnight. It’s not all night, but a fair time to stop caffeinating in public.
JavaVino
579 N Highland Ave,
Atlanta, Ga, 30307
(404) 577-8673 -
07May
While in Chicago for a wedding a few weeks ago, I was really taken by surprise by a truly great meal, right out of nowhere. On Friday night before the wedding, I was out with some other (meaning “not affiliated with the wedding”) Chicago friends and one suggested that we go to this little organic place in Logan Square for dinner. Now, I’m all for organic in theory, but am generally skeptical of Organic Restaurants: in my experience, they tend to be pricey and a bit full of themselves. Lula Café did a brilliant job proving me ever so wrong, and even more than that, did so in a way that didn’t bruise my ego in the slightest!
Our cabbie did not approve of the address, and asked why we didn’t want to eat in a ‘nicer’ part of town. I suppose it was nice enough of him to be concerned, but we didn’t get mugged or anything, so I don’t really know what his problem was. We arrived at the specified address, and went inside to put our name on the list (no reservations). It was gonna be a while (this was about 8PM on Friday night, afterall), so we sat at the bar and the asked the slightly adorable bartender for some $2 PBRs.
An aside: while we waited, a woman with a particularly spectacular plastic surgery addiction was standing nearby, and we couldn’t stop noticing that her facial expression never changed. Her companion bought her a drink – she looked surprised; her companion told a joke – she looked surprised; she took a sip of her drink – surprise! We also noted that her upper torso was similarly … immune to gravity and inertia. It was funny to see, at an organic restaurant, a customer so, well, inorganic.
The silicone princess gave up after about half an hour, so our party moved that much further up the wait list! Finally, we were seated in Lula’s charming little dining room – it has a comfortable farm-housey feel, jazzed up with a modern edge, and is without the pretense of far too many places bearing the Organic label. As it turned out, well-balanced combinations would be the theme of the evening…
While perusing the menu, our server brought out a lovely goat-cheese amuse-bouche from the kitchen, and eventually, we made our decisions. I started with confit of organic beets and my companions with Caesar salads; for main dishes two of us had the “macaroni,” and the other had the chickpea and sweet potato tagine.
The Caesars were good, but the confit was amazing. Little cubes of it came in a little pot, with prettily arranged garnishes of apricot paste, chocolate, rock salt, and crème fraiche on the surrounding plate, a basket of pumpernickel crisps alongside. Our server instructed me to scoop a bit of the confit onto one of the crisps, and add little bits of each garnish. I did, and the results were fantastic. The flavors meshed amazingly, and each bite was a new experiment as I altered the mix of ingredients – tasty and fun!
On to our main dishes: the tagine was brightly colored and smelled divinely of cinnamon and vegetable goodness. It tasted as delicious as it looked, and is a great option for lighter dining – not too heavy, but filling and satisfying and very healthy. Someday I need to get myself a tagine and attempt to do something like this at home, but for now it’s good to know someone else is doing so well with their own.
The tagine was delicious, but the macaroni was outstanding. The first thing you notice about it is the yellowfin tuna: large-but-still-bite-sized chunks (raw, though the menu offers no hint of this) sit atop the bed of penne pasta. It’s fresh, flavorful, and a wonderful surprise to see such a twist on an ingredient almost exclusively seen in Japanese (and Japanese-esque) dishes. Below the fish are more surprises: the penne is bathed (but not swimming in) a sauce of melted emmental, mushrooms, and pickles.
Yeah, pickles. My tagine-eating companion HATES pickles, but tried a bite of this and loved it – you get the sweet-sharp overtones without full-on pickleness. Most amazingly, we didn’t feel like all these strong flavors – Swiss cheese, pickles, and mushrooms – fought each other at all, or overpowered the tuna. They blended wonderfully, and made for a really odd dish that was tasty, satisfying, and just the right bits of filling and satisfying.
After two courses like this, how could we not look at (and order from) the dessert menu? I got the spiced chocolate crème caramel, and my companions each had a batch of the chocolate banana bread pudding. The crème caramel was itself fabulous, and the topping of brandied fruits and candied pumpkin seeds really made it special (we are all familiar with my general feelings about pumpkin). And then there was the bread pudding: wow. It’s not like bread pudding I’ve ever had before, what with its chocolateyness and banana-containing, so maybe we were just blown away by the realization that such a thing was possible, but it might have just been that awesome.
How much did we pay for all this incredible food, you ask? It must have been expensive! This is where my little grad-student-foodie heart really gets happy: the total bill for the three of us, including tax and tip, was about $85. That’s less than $30 each. If there’s a really good special on airfare, it’s conceivable that the price of the meal, including transport, could still be in the range I’d not be shocked to pay for this level of food-happiness.
Lula Café
2537 N. Kedzie Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60647
773.489.9554 -
15Mar
The one week a year that I get to leave the country (in order to spend my time eating somewhere else) turns out to be the weekend of the International D.C. Wine and Food Festival. To make up for this lack of good timing, I will now tell you about everything I ate in London. Keep in mind that whenever I wasn’t eating, I was walking or climbling stairs, so it is possible that some of the deliciousness was not in the food, but in the sitting.
The cafe overlooking the reading room at the British Museum serves up a very good pot of tea, substantial scones with double cream and oozy raspberry jam, and finger sandwiches: cucumber and cream cheese, smoked salmon, and ham and mustard. It’s not the Ritz, but if your tea budget is closer to $17 than $70 (what does the Ritz put in the tea? Unicorn milk?), then the British Museum is a just-prissy-enough alternative, with excellent service and a really bright, gorgeous setting under the glass ceiling.
The Cow, a Notting Hill-area gastropub beloved by Lonely Planet readers, was about to get a great review for its basic, high-quality food and messy pub charm when I realized that I hadn’t actually eaten anything that was created there. I had Irish oysters with a shallot mignonette and a selection of British cheeses: something old (a smooth-tasting aged cheddar), something new (and sour and brie-like), something crumbly (sheep’s milk rounds) and something bleu. They also served up a “chutney” of cooked apples with lavender honey, and oat crackers and bread. It was all very satisfying, but none of the wait staff could tell me what these cheeses were or seemed eager to go ask the chef. $44 is fairly expensive for pub food, but not for wine, oysters and fine cheeses.
And the winner of the Best Food I Ate In London Is…..a mystery! If you go to Piccadilly Circus and stand on the corner with the bar that was converted from a public restroom, there is a hotel catty-corner that does not actually have a sign up indicating that Indian food is served there. Go in a sketchy-looking door and up to the first floor: where an ugly linoleum room that smells of garam masala, which may or may not be called The Indian Palace. That is where I ate the richest, most intense lamb curry I’ve ever had, for about $12. -
23Feb
I’ve been in Atlanta almost seven months now, but my grad student status has severely limited my ‘extramural’ culinary adventures. So I made a pact with myself at the beginning of this semester that I would work harder at eating good food (as opposed to pizza and burgers, all the time) when I go out. the trick is finding places I can kinda-sorta-maybe-once-in-a-while afford.
Early in my tenure here, I discoveredAprès Diem , and have been going there pretty frequently (OK, like once or twice a month) for late-evening drinks and snacks. The atmosphere is much trendier than I’d usually tolerate, with its colored ‘mood’ lighting and live-dj-techno/house soundtrack, not to mention the almost universally gorgeous staff.* But somehow, Après Diem manages to remain comfortable and easygoing, and it works for me.
Like I said, I’ve mostly been there for drinks and/or snacks, midway through an evening’s carousing. The drinks are good and, if you stay away from the sugar-tinis, not too expensive; the wine list is small but nicely varied, ditto for beers. The appetizers/snacks menu is nice; I really like the baba ghanouj, the hummus plate, and have been made very happy on more than one “last stop before home” by the brie and baguette. The espresso and coffee are good too, and served late enough that Après Diem also makes a good last-stop spot to wait off those drinks before driving home (this is the thing about Atlanta: you have to drive. Everywhere. All the time. No matter what.).
Anyways, I liked snacking there enough that I decided to try dinner there, and one night after a play a friend and I decided to do so. Sadly, the kitchen closes at midnight, and we got there at 11:58, so it was put off.
Fresh off a stressful week, another friend and I decided to finally eat dinner at Après Diem, at a reasonable dinner hour (around 8, as opposed to around midnight). We were seated by a lovely blond woman of ultimately indeterminate – but I’m pretty sure north English – accent, who was also our server. Her only real gaffe of the evening was immediate: she was quick to offer drinks, even before we had a chance to look at the list, and it wasn’t until she had come back again and taken our order that she brought water. No matter, we had beer!
My companion ordered the roasted portobello sandwich, and I the Asian-style tuna. I should mention that my meal came with an appetizer salad, and his did not, but that this is not made particularly clear on the printed menu. Either way, the salad was actually quite tasty (I’m not sure what the dressing was, but I liked it!), and would have been plenty to share but for my companion’s aversion to green vegetables.
The portobello sandwich looked, and was reported to be, really good. Serving sandwiches on focaccia still worries me sometimes – I feel like it’s too easy for the bread to overwhelm its contents – but my companion reports that it was really what made this dish great. The fillings’ mix of flavors, and their strength, clearly balanced well with the thick bread, which also has the advantage of not getting so soggy with all that veggie goodness inside.
I ordered my tuna seared (it always makes me laugh a bit when the menu says “seared tuna” and then they ask you how you want it cooked), and it came out on a very pretty plate with lightly sautéed halved carrots, mini-zucchinis, and grape tomatoes, topped with the ‘Asian-style’ sauce and pickled ginger. The flavor was really good, and the veggies perfect, but the fish itself was a bit tough. Tasty, but just not the best tuna I’ve had, which surprised me – it was listed as “sashimi grade” on the menu.
It’s no shock that our two cheques came out rather differently – my companion’s sandwich was $8 and my tuna $20 (plus a couple of beers each), totaling about $50, plus tip. Not bad at all by normal standards, but we’re grad students. We’ll have to await another special occasion (since lotto jackpots are especially unlikely for statisticians-in-training who can’t bring themselves to buy tickets) to return for dinner, but I do plan to do so when the moment arises.
All in all, Après Diem makes a good dinner spot, but its real strength lies as a cool place for drinks and snacks, as the more relaxed portion of an evening out in Midtown.
* Seriously. If the employees,’ uhm, assets are how you’re selling your place, I’m generally gonna be wary. Après Diem manages to pull it off.
Après Diem
931 Monroe Drive (next to the Midtown Art Theater),
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
404.872.3333 -
15Nov
Chocolate is the new coffee, stated the girl across the table from me, and I had to agree. What Seattle yuppies did for America’s taste in coffee, and Whole Foods did for everything else, someone, even as we speak, must be doing for chocolate.When did it happen? Certainly some time before Max Brenner of Chocolate by the Bald Man brought his first chocolate café’s to NYC. And well before Lindt declared chocolate tasting on par with wine tasting with its sophisticated Excellence 99% Cacao Noirissme chocolate bar in 2005. In fact, by the time that Hershey recently jumped on the bandwagon with their belated and dubious Cacao Reserve line, the concept was already in danger of becoming mainstream. Where once we had pharmacy racks of gritty brown wax, now for the first time we have solid organic tablets that snap when you break them, and liquor-infused balls of rich, melting ganache.
And that was how I found myself sitting in Stout, an absolutely terrible midtown sports bar, picking at a salad, trying to stave off what can only be called a ‘sugar hangover’. The last 24 hours had been spent wallowing in the Ninth Annual Chocolate Show in New York, a testament and showcase to America’s slow maturation of chocolate taste.
For three days this last weekend, those willing to wait in the three hour line were rewarded with chocolate sculptures and chocolate cosmetics, and representatives of the Ivory Coast. Demonstration kitchens allowed pastry chefs like Bill Corbett of Dona to show off their chocolate recipes, while the kiddies tried chocolate painting. And yes, there was a fashion show of chocolate clothing, and tastings of bizarre concoctions like chocolate and mushroom bars, and chocolate book signings, and there was even one lone chocolate cupcake vendor, but none of that really mattered because what people really come for is the chocolate exhibitors.
The Chocolate Show is the J-date of the brand-name chocolate distribution world. If it’s a small chocolatier’s dream to someday be picked up by Dean and Deluca or Whole Foods, this is the place to make it happen.
Some of them already have; most of the high-class bars in Aisle 10 were first discovered here. And that means the urgent explanations and smiles at each booth weren’t just from lack of bathroom breaks; each carefully sliced sample had the potential to turn into a business card and a steady supply contract. For a small artisnal chocolate maker, that means a lifeline of money to develop into a larger artisanal chocolate maker, hopefully without sacrificing the artisanal part.
But with so many exhibitors, hopeful tasters didn’t need the to be a corporate scout to tell the incredible from the merely brown. Good chocolate should be crisp and flavorful, smooth and glossy, with no trace of grittiness. It should melt on minimal contact and leave no bitter aftertaste. A perfect example: show standout Rechiuti, serving up plate after plate of jasmine and raspberry truffle slices, swapping business cards and promises to talk further almost as fast as they sold their $5 mini-boxes.
At Serendipitea the samples of fragrant chocolate tea infusions spilled out across the table, while next door, Sweetriot waved around signs and chocolate-covered cacao nibs. As the new cool thing, tea flavoring was also the theme at L.A. Burdick Chocolate where a tea-infused dark chocolate sat next to glossy catalogs and small white chocolate penguins and mice. On the other side of the hall, Gustaux distributed some truly outstanding simple truffles, and Romanico’s Chocolate bravely touted it’s low-sugar version.
Those taking a break from pure chocolate could buy a perfectly spiced fig dipped to look like a pumpkin from John and Kira’s, or try desert wine tasting from the ever-pleasing Quady liquors. Not cutting-edge enough? Coppeneur offered small, crunchy cocoa pods dusted with chili powder.
Some of the better-known manufacturers were already reaping the benefits of a larger operation and brand name; the Japanese chocolatiers Mary’s attracted an absolutely rabid crowd. By early Saturday afternoon they had sold out of golden sesame and sweet potato truffles; and their black sesame seed and green tea ganache was rapidly disappearing. Behind the protective glass, harried pastry chefs struggled to fill orders of their popular seasonal flower line – violet, Japanese plum, lily of the valley, and iris.
For minimalist quality, the strong favorite in pure chocolate seemed to be Felchlin, with their hand-collected wild cocoa bars retailing at $20 each. Closely following them in taste and popularity, Michel Cluizel Chocolates traded their spicy, full bodied samples and catalogs in equal numbers.
I stumbled from the Metropolitan Pavilion in a stupor, vitamin deficient and babbling of cocoa consistency and flavor infusions. Luckily, there was time to find a salad before the inevitable sugar crash and coma set in.
Much thanks to fud writers AMG and JAY for being good sports.
-ZAF
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25Oct
Apply the code 44355 to receive 60% off at Restaurant.com for gift certificates valid at over 7,000 participating restaurants. They have $25 gift certificates available for $4 after coupon. Some restrictions apply. Offer expires 10/31/2006 The proceeds will support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger and ongoing recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast.
This does not only apply to DC Area restaurants, and I have used them in various cities. Locally, I have used Restaurant.com’s certificates for Matsutake and The Front Page. Just look at the restrictions very carefully because there may be party size requirements, the certificates may not be valid certain times or days, etc. -
24Sep
Like with food (and almost everything else, for that matter), I tend to go through phases in beer. The shifts can be subtle, like earlier this summer moving away from my staple hefeweizens to full-wheats and eventually to Pilsners, and brought on by environmental changes like visiting the Czech Republic (home of many awesome Pilsners). Or, they can be quick and dramatic and brought on just by trying something new.
Just before leaving DC, I visited the always entertaining Brickskeller, and sampled the Ukraine’s Obolon Porter. I was duly impressed by my ancestral land’s meaty, dark and very flavorful brew, and have since discovered the wonderful world of Baltic porters. The other night, at Atlanta’s answer to the Brickskeller – the Brick Store Pub, a rather nice venue, but nowhere near approximating its apparent (possible?) namesake – my eyes shot directly to a Finnish offering, the Sinebrychoff Porter. Yes, beer from Finland. Good beer from Finland.
Sinebrychoff Porter pours like hot molasses, with a thick mocha-colored head, and develops slowly in the mouth. The first taste is bitter toffee, with hints of chocolate, but as it slides over your palette you notice coffee, chicory, and smoky flavors, with a subtly spicy finish. Beneath all that, there’s a slightly sweet taste (but it’s not a sweet beer at all).
I like beers that fight back. This one might even win.
The Brick Store Pub
125 E. Court Square
Decatur, GA 30030
404-687-0990 -
21Sep
Ohio is home to several large rollercoaster-based theme parks, including Cedar Point in Sandusky and King’s Island near Cincinnati. Taking an early fall mini-vacation, I headed out to the land of large rollercoasters and WKRP. My main goal was to ride the legendary wood coaster The Beast, and his “offspring,” the fearsome, looping Son of Beast. Sadly, the son is being grounded for hurting some passengers earlier this year, so I had to settle for the old man, and trust me, he’s no joke. Wilder than any ride around here, including Ride of Steel, the Grizzly, Volcano or Apollo’s Chariot, but not quite as crazy as 395 at 6:30pm. However, the theme park is full of places to get chili, which didn’t strike me as the usual fare. Chili + rollercoasters + overstimulated sugar-filled kids = a strange color of sick.
Cincinnati-style chili is a relatively mild mix of meat, tomatoes and chilies, but, rather than going for heat or spice, they make it sweeter by adding cinnamon to the mix. Usually served over a plate of pasta with cheese (3-way), onions (4-way) and beans (5-way), or on a small hot dog with similar toppings called a Coney, Cincinnati chili is very smooth and easy-to-eat, pretty much perfect for kids and not too rough on the ole’ G.I. tract. This chili is not going to be used for some Herculean eating contest, where consumption of the brew comes with a waiver and a medical warning.
The Queen City has chili joints like we’ve got Starbucks, tapas and Peruvian chicken takeouts. There’s at least one at every interstate exit, usually next to the Steak ‘n Shake or the massive grocery stores out there, like Biggs or Meijers. You’ll see two major chili chains, Skyline and Gold Star, with shops throughout southwestern Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, along with a smaller Kentucky-centric chain, Dixie. You’ll find canned and frozen versions of all three shops’ wares at the massive grocery stores, and rumor has it that a couple of local grocers here carry them from time-to-time.
If you like a meatier chili, you’ll like Gold Star a bit better. The meat seemed a bit heartier and substantial. Skyline has a good seasoning, and though the recipe is secret, I thought I could taste some bay leaf and allspice in their mix. Dixie is a good mix of the two, though I’ll confess I couldn’t eat their offering fresh from the store, as two 3-ways and two Coneys from both Skyline and Gold Star had me craving anything BUT chili by that point.
If you want to try this version of chili, you can mail order some from any of the store’s websites, or swing by any of the Hard Times around here, where they also offer spicier chilis, like the tasty Terlingua Red as well as Cincinnati style. -
19Aug
I was recently in New York City, and a group of friends and I ate with at my favorite Thai restaurant, Sripraphai in Queens. They have expanded since I last visited, which is great because the restaurant is very popular. The menu is available here, but may be a bit outdated.One of Sripraphai’s strengths is that they have a refrigerated case filled with Thai desserts, instead of only having a couple of dessert options. We ate so much on this visit that we did not have room for dessert, but past standouts included custard with pumpkin, banana sticky rice, Thai marzipan, and coconut rice squares.
Another of Sripraphai’s strengths is that the restaurant really will give you spicy food. The soups tend to be hotter than the entrees, so a “Thai Spicy” soup can scald those who don’t enjoy very spicy food.
We had an excellent salad (which is pictured above), fried soft shell crab with mango sauce. The crab was crunchy, and went well with the tangy sauce. We also had the shredded green mango salad with squid, shrimp, and chicken. We generally fight over the (off-menu) garlic and pepper shrimp, so we requested two orders of it. I am not a fan of their pad Thai, but someone wanted it, so it was ordered.The noodle dishes I usually order are the rice noodles with ground beef and onions, or (spicy) rice noodles with beef and basil. The curries are great at Sripraphai, including, the red, green, yellow, and jungle curries. The duck with spicy sauce and eggplant was good, as usual, as was the tom zap soup with Cornish hen. In the past, tom zap was only available on the menu with beef offal –which it still is– but we used to substitute seafood for the beef. The fried red snapper with ginger sauce was excellent, and it is the first time we have ordered it at Sripraphai.
We spent about $20 a person including tip, but we did order an extra dish, and several people were drinking Thai iced teas.
Make sure –unlike us– to leave room for dessert. You may need something sweet after all that spicy food.Sripraphai is walking distance from the 61st Street stop on the 7 train.
Sripraphai Thai Restaurant
64-13 39th Avenue
Woodside, NY 11377
(718) 899-9599
