Long Island Restaurants

Thai Angel

One rain-swept evening, I was blown through the door of Thai Angel, a restaurant tucked into a sprawling Islandia shopping center. Thinking I had entered a modest storefront, I caught my breath to find myself in an airy and cavernous space with a lounge and dining area. Walls were a deep crimson, furnishings carved teak, accented by judiciously placed objets d'art. A hostess in traditional Thai garb took my umbrella and placed it in a ceramic umbrella stand.

"I wanted customers to be surprised," said owner Nakul Keattikul. He has succeeded, not only with his decorating skill but, more so, his culinary expertise.

A case in point was calamari, which I had to be talked into ordering, because fried squid is too often a dreary cliche. What we got were tiny tender ringlets in an ethereally puffy batter that crackled and then dissolved under the tooth. Another appetizer -- nua yan (sliced barbecued beef with Thai dressing) -- looked as though it might have been too well done but turned out to be tender, juicy and suffused with the flavor of its marinade.

Thai angel rolls, similar to Vietnamese summer rolls, were refreshing compositions of minced roast chicken, shrimp and vegetables enfolded in rice paper. Although I liked the tom kha gai (chicken coconut milk soup) and tom yum goong (spicy shrimp soup), both were standard-issue Thai restaurant fare.

What stood apart was a ground meat salad called larb. The mixture of pork, mint leaves, red onion, cilantro and ground rice was fiery enough to make my mouth ring, subtle enough so that each individual flavor announced itself.

Here, spicy means exactly that, so when I ordered the spicy eggplant, what came was the Japanese vegetable in a sauce as fierce as it was compelling. Pork with sauteed hot sweet basil was at once herbal and electric. I was invigorated by the Masaman curry with chicken, a blend of potatoes, peanuts and vegetables in a velvety chile and coconut-laced sauce. Barbecued chicken -- a half bird marinated and grilled -- was moist and savory, served with sticky rice and a bright papaya salad. The specialty I liked best, though, was the fragrant orange duck, a melange of crisp, skin-on duck pieces, roasted orange peel, ginger and cashews served in a dish artfully shaped like a duck's head.

We drank tea from teapots and teacups with a graceful elephant motif, just one more sign of the restaurant's attention to detail. Even dessert -- hardly ever a worthwhile event at a Thai restaurant -- excelled. Saku, a pudding with cubes of jelled coconut, coconut meat and coconut milk, was a texturally interesting juxtaposition of the familiar and the exotic. I even liked the fried ice cream, flambeed with a raspberry sauce that Keattikul said was his own recipe.

Because everything is made to order, as it should be, dishes are often slow to arrive, the wait between courses stretching as long as half an hour. It helps to keep in mind that true gratification is hardly ever instant.

Reviewed by Joan Reminick, 11/11/05.

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