a fredeeky favorite...

this place is one of my top outer-borough destinations and is no. 5 on new york magazine's cheap eats edition. they've renovated the crap out of it since i first went, but the food is still spicy and delish. we ought to take a group trip out to queens and rock it.

5. Sripraphai
Sripraphai has come a long way since its early days as the no-frills holy grail of New York Thai food. Expansions and renovations have brought a beautiful patio out back, replete with burbling fountain and leafy apple tree, and actual (if not Wallpaper-worthy) décor. The takeout menu gives a phonetic spelling (see-pra-pie), and servers ask, unprompted, if you’d like “Thai spicy.” Happily, these new and somewhat self-conscious developments have had no deleterious effects on the food, which is, indeed, Thai spicy, but also multilayered and nearly impossible to stop eating.
64-13 39th Ave., Woodside; 718-899-9599