Explore Long Island

My Thai

My Thai is located on an often-bustling stretch of Broadway, but as soon as you step inside, you are swept over with a sense of serenity.

The dining room is decorated in subdued earth tones, and the lights are turned low. Colorful Thai fabrics cover the tabletops, and the walls are hung with sepia-colored antique photographs, remnants from the previous owner who also ran a Thai restaurant. The extra- high ceiling, covered with old-fashioned tin plates painted bronze, shimmers.

For beverages, consider Thai iced coffee, a tasty confection that mixes strong coffee with sweetened condensed milk. The restaurant also serves jasmine and green teas, fruit juices, a selection of wines, and Thai, European and domestic beers.

For appetizers, we ordered chicken satay -- thin, flattened pieces of tender, boneless chicken, marinated in a curry sauce, then char-grilled and served with a peanut sauce. The vegetable roll, stuffed with dried tofu, rice vermicelli, fresh bean sprouts, carrots and mint, looked stunning with the bright green mint leaves showing through the thin, transparent wonton wrapper, but it tasted bland. I preferred the spring rolls, which were the same rolls, but deep-fried and served with a sweet plum sauce.

Of the soups, I especially enjoyed the thom yum goong, a shrimp soup flavored with lemongrass and offering an invigorating blend of spicy, hot and sour flavors. A much milder alternative, almost flavorless, was the tofu and mixed vegetable soup.

Pad Thai, a popular noodle dish, had sauteed pork, vermicelli noodles, shredded carrots, fresh bean sprouts, scrambled eggs, green onions and crushed peanuts sauteed together; it was a tad salty, but fine with a little white rice thrown in. The dish also can be ordered with beef, chicken or shrimp.

If you like spicy food (as do I), order the pad drunken noodles, a fiery dish of thick rice noodles, sauteed with beef (or pork or chicken), bamboo shoots, tomatoes, onions, garlic, two kinds of hot peppers and fresh basil. Pad cashew nuts, a stir-fry mixing tender beef, cashew nuts, carrots, water chestnuts, celery and scallions, was a tasty, crunchy, colorful dish that I could eat often.

Another wonderful entree, the chicken green curry, had pieces of the poultry simmered with bamboo shoots in a rich, coconut- based broth, spiced with plenty of hot peppers and garlic.

The duck curry, however, was a disappointment. Deep-fried pieces of duck were smothered in a spicy red curry made with tamarind sauce and coconut milk. The dish, unfortunately, used canned pineapple. I also regretted that the crisp skin, one of my favorite parts, was submerged in the sauce.

To end the meal, we ordered a simple but delicious dessert of sweet bananas cooked in warm, creamy coconut milk.

If it fits your schedule, go to the restaurant during lunchtime (11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily), when you can sample a variety of dishes at significant savings.

Reviewed by Rose Kim, 4/11/03.

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Wheelchair Access