Best Thai in the city?

I assume you know that Khao Soi & Chiang Mai are kinda related, right? The Thai half of the couple that opened Khao Soi, had the recipes from her family, and got the acclaim left her boyfriend (who is not Thai and admits to not having significant expertise in Thai cooking) and opened Chiang Mai. He’s still maintaining the original place but seems to be basically trying to keep the level up at Khao Soi (I’ve heard a couple of down hill alerts but I’ve been there since she split and still enjoyed the food), while she’s expanded her repertoire of dishes at her new place and is getting more acclaim & great reviews from those we know & trust. I’d try Chiang Mai first if I was you – larger menu, better alcohol list, more upbeat.

Uncle Boon’s doesn’t give up a lot of tables for reservations—I’d recommend walking in. We walked in last Thursday around 7:30 and were seated right away.

I think I’m gonna make it out to Elmhurst tonight. Which spot should I go to?!?!

I haven’t been there in a while, but I really liked Chao Thai a few years ago when I tried it. I’m responding basically in case no-one else does. This board and Hungry Onion unfortunately have turned into pretty much crickets in their New York boards.

Thanks for the input. I love this place for the LA board…Is there an NYC board that’s a little more active than this one?

I’d imagine Chowhound is still very active, but I don’t really feel like going there anymore.

I can’t handle chowhound. FTC it is! Hopefully the community gets going a bit more!

At least with respect to the Manhattan board there has been a diaspora of sorts, although not to the level of the SF and LA boards (or tags or whatever).

That said, pre/post Chowhound renovation the Manhattan board is seemingly overwhelmed and overrun with tourists asking for (1) restaurant recommendations in Midtown; (2) restaurant recommendations before/after a Broadway show; or (3) restaurant recommendations for a group of [insert number of guests > 6] with one vegetarian, two pescatarians, a Hindu, a celiac, and two people who are also not a fan of [insert ethnic cuisine of your choice].

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And Kathryn is probably still there, patiently helping them.

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Where do you suppose the diaspora took most of them? I’m not going to Mouthfulsfood.

Good question.

I think before the makeover the Manhattan board probably appeared more active than it actually was. There just seemed to be more random people who would find the site and ask random visitor questions. Now with the revamp, I think it’s harder to find, and perhaps more importantly harder to use, so you get less one-time posters who would drop in. They’re still there, but I think the traffic that they generated probably has decreased quite a bit.

Just my 0.02 of course.

Made it out to Uncle Boons a few weeks ago. Quite the little spot with all the Thai kitsch, etc. Our waitress seemed to have literally no knowledge of Thai food, which is always a bummer, but she didn’t hinder us too much I don’t think.

Ended up with the frog legs, the pig ears, the grilled baby octopus, and the khao soi. Grilled baby octopus was really well done, nice and charcoal infused, perfect with a nam prik-esque dipping sauce. (Though I could have used a little more heat with the sauce.) Pig ears were shredded very thin, meaty enough. Great little appetizer/bar snack. The frog legs were juicy little guys, pretty sweet if I remember correctly. They were served on top of cold glass noodles and some aromatics. Almost felt more Vietnamese to me than Thai…could have used more frog legs and/or less greens with this dish. Finally, the much praised (by the waitress) khao soi was a good but fairly pedestrian offering. At 21 bucks, is it worth it? This goes against everything in my heart, but I’m actually going to say that in the middle of Manhattan, yeah, it probably is.

Oh, and the honey toast dessert was nothing special. Though the coconut ice-cream was pretty damn good, the toast itself would be laughed off the streets of Bangkok. Or LA for that matter.

I liked this place. Will make it back eventually to try their whole-grilled fish and some of their betel-leaf dishes.