Thaim To Go For Thai!

Normally I don't like to write blogs about places that are already well known, but today I'm about to break that rule with my blog about Sripraphai Thai in Woodside, Queens.

Other NYC food writers have long said that this place has the best Thai food in the city.

I'm making it official in the way that only I can by declaring that this place has the best Thai food in the city. Ahem.

If you are adventurous enough to go out to Woodside,

keep in mind that you'll want to order your dishes mild.

I went here last year with my buddy Matt (see cock sauce blog below) and even though he's lived in India for three years and speaks Hindi (who doesn't nowadays?), the spice of a medium dish was too much for him to handle. This is amazing considering he speaks Hindi. Right? Think about that for a bit- how wrong that is. Pure evil.

Personally, I ordered mine as spicy as they could make it, in the hopes that somehow the pain in my mouth would take my mind off the wretchedly pathetic state of my emotional and personal life. Needless to say it didn't work. Plus it gave me the runs the next morning.

But regardless, my "dining companion" was vegan. Typically, that means that she doesn't eat anything that looks unhealthy and as result, delicious. Like pizza. And milk chocolate. And offal. But Sripraphai Thai had some surprises in store for us.

The first surprise was the crispy watercress salad.

The verdict is out in my mind as to whether this salad is ingenious or nasty. I'm leaning towards ingenious, but like all things that are awesome in life, there's also something a little nasty about it. Kind of like Roseanne and Oprah making out. We've all thought about it, and there's something about it that's very intriguing and dare I say, arousing. But it's also a little nasty.

Anyway, here's the salad.

They take watercress and fry it. To this they add tofu, cashews, cilantro, mint, green chilies and a wine vinegar dressing (which is what I think tastes a little nasty). Every bite was a different taste. Sometimes you'd get the mint. Other times the warmth of the chillies. Sometimes the crispiness of the watercress. Sometimes Oprah's tongue licking the roof of your mouth....

And, despite the fact that it's vegan, because the watercress is fried it's not healthy! Woohoo!

For my main course I decided to get the drunken noodles. I don't drink alcohol really. So I thought I could live vicariously through these noodles. Don't they look like they're having a good time!

It's like a freakin Roman orgy! Look at the way all those noodles are rubbing up together!

With basil and tofu for Christs sake! That's it! I'm going to start drinking again! Thanks Thai Food for showing me the light! Time to go get sloshed!

My "dining companion" ordered the panang curry with fried tofu.

A note here for vegetarians. Most Thai restaurants premake the curries with fish sauce. So even if a curry is listed in the vegetarian section of the menu, more often than not, it isn't. To make sure that I'm not eating nasty fish sauce, I always tell the waitress that I'm allergic to fish and that they'll have to call the ambulance if I eat it, and I may get really sick and will sue you and your measly little restaurant if that happens. So go check to see if the curry's have it or not.

Usually they don't understand this, so I'll start making choking motions and talking louder, saying "I'll die! I'll die! You'll kill me! DiDi Mao! DiDi Mao!"

Believe it or not, it's actually quite endearing. But it also makes the waitress check to see if there's fish sauce in the curries, which there is. At most places, anyway.

At Sripraphai Thai, the panang curry was the only one without fish sauce.

I'm going to be honest here, something that I rarely am. This was my favorite dish of the night. It had a really nice burn to it. It just warmed cold heart right up!

Check out that white stuff on top.

It's coconut milk. With chillies and basil! Delicious!

So next time you're in Woodside, go get some Thai.

Until then, DI DI MAO!