Having spent more than ten years in Los Angeles where I was spoiled by Thai food cooked either by Thai friends or by authentic Thai restaurants, the paucity of decent Thai cuisine in Manhattan came as a surprise and persistently frustrated me. I decided not to rely on luck, instead, I wanted to solve the puzzle: Does NYC have great Thai food? I came up with four criteria for my screen for an authentic Thai restaurant: 1) the restaurant should have a strange name that is hard to pronounce; 2) the waiter/waitress should have a distinct Thai accent; 3) it should not be located in a place popular amongst Americans such as York Avenue and 66th St., and 4) it should be inexpensive. It might even insist on “Cash Only”.

I visited newyork.citysearch.com, and looked under the “Best Thai” section. My eyes slid down the list until I saw Sripraphai Thai Restaurant with the editorial description: “6413 39th Ave, Woodside, NY - Hop the 7 train to pay tribute to authentic, inexpensive Thai food”. I immediately called the restaurant at (718) 899-9599, and a voice with the correct accent muttered something that I could not understand. I asked if the restaurant took credit cards, and was met with a stern “No”. Thus, within five minutes, I identified a restaurant that satisfied all four—plus bonus—criteria, and almost felt regret that the internet had made this exercise so trivial.

The next day, I hopped on the 7 train to the 61st St-Woodside stop. After walking a few blocks, I found the barely noticeable restaurant—the window blinds were down as if they were trying to hide a secret inside. I pushed open the door and I immediately knew that my trip was not a waste: the restaurant was completely full, it smelled Thai, and it looked Thai. When I opened the menu, I was surprised that it was even more Thai than my favorite Thai restaurant in LA —I could not understand the menu at all! The waitress handed me a bigger version of the menu with pictures of the dishes and their English translations, and I ordered two of my favorites: sautéed drunken noodles (flat rice noodles) and green curry chicken. When the waitress asked me how spicy I would like the dishes to be, I replied, “I have had real Thai food, so I want them spicy.” She smiled, “I will make them mild spicy for you.” I tried to negotiate: “How about medium spicy?” She contemplated my request for a second, and said, “Okay, I will make the noodles regular, but green curry—you can only take mild.” While waiting for my food, a Thai woman who had also ordered take-out told me that she found this to be the best Thai restaurant in NYC, and that it was so cheap that she stopped cooking at home. She pointed to a different menu on the wall—I did not even notice it until then—and said that this daily special was good, and that one was good, too. Of course, without pictures and translations, I had no clue what those daily specials were. After getting off the subway station in Manhattan, I walked home very fast because I could hardly wait for the moment of truth. When I tasted the thinly sliced chicken and bamboo shoots in the rich coconut milk curry stained green by the zillion spices, I was transported into Thai heaven. “Mild spicy” was indeed perfect for me. As for the drunken noodles, they were chewy and fragrant with fresh basil, but I had to spend quite a bit of time picking out hot pepper seeds. The waitress was right—I should have ordered it mild.

The restaurant makes vegetarian versions of many dishes, and I cannot imagine them to be less than excellent. A hypothesis should be tested, however, so I took an Indian vegetarian colleague and a British colleague to the restaurant for lunch after 1 p.m., because spending half an hour waiting for a seat during peak hours does not appeal to me. We tried a total of four dishes, including the vegetarian version of the sautéed drunken noodles that I ordered last time, the papaya salad, and the Tom Yom soup. What surprised me was that the noodle dish looked entirely different this time, although it still tasted delicious. We enjoyed the meal so much that we were not exactly eager to finish up and get back to work. Good restaurants corrupt an efficient work schedule, and Sripraphai is one of them.