STEPHEN LYLE

Drove out to Queens again with the wife and daughter for what is fast becoming an excellent habit - eating weird food on Sunday night.

Within a four mile radius centered on Roosevelt Avenue and 65th Street is one of the most amazingly global collections of restaurants on the planet. West Indian, Bangladeshi, Peruvian, Colombian, Thai, Korean, Mexican - just to name a few. They cater to their own, and we are the lucky interlopers. My children's most wonderful high-school teacher has made a thorough and un-academic study of them, and I always rely on his guidance.

Sriraphai is the established "best and most authentic Thai" in NYC. Only Thailand can match it, says Chowhound etc…   I had been to Sriraphai once before with my sister. As a family, we  subsist largely on lemon juice and mango pickle, so Thai food fits right in. Yet I found myself unprepared for the cumulative intensity of the extremely authentic peppers they use, and not wanting to appear weak in front of my brother in law, I remember making an executive decision not to faint.

So this time I took it easy, nevertheless kicking off with a fiery papaya salad. A crispy duck salad was, of course, not crispy, but oh so good. Ground pork with chilis and mint was rockin', but a tom yam-esque soup tasted weirdly like an old attic, musty with mothballs.

And I say, who cares if everything at Sriraphai is seasoned the same way? Lime juice, fish sauce, hot peppers and cilantro rule the universe.

http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/7419856/woodside_ny/sripraphai_thai_restaurant.html