Thai is probably my favorite cuisine. As a rule it uses lots of fresh ingredients and much less preservatives and all other msg-related atrocities notorious in typical chinese food. It's also generally allergy-friendly, i.e. it's good for some people with food intolerances, particularly celiac disease (aka gluten allergy). Thai cooks usually use fish sauce and wheat-free tamari instead of typical wheat-based soy sauce, and (at least traditionally) don't use wheat flour in most of their dishes.
But - if you happen to be celiac, you will want to make sure and ask the cook if that is the case with a particular item on the menu.
This place is one of the very few if not the only one in Manhattan that can compete for the title of REAL Thai food. The joint is tiny, perpetually crowded (damn those reviewers, drawing those pesky crowds!) and there's not much ambiance to speak of, BUT the food is great and that's good enough for me.
Be sure to skip all the deep-fried apetizers (we're trying to eat kind-of healthy here) and try their ginger salad instead - formerly known as the sesame dressing salad - however, don't expect to find any ginger in it (beats me why they renamed it cause it's still the same old sesame dressing).
If you're a vegetarian, go for the fake duck, tofu kra prow or any other dish from their vegetarian section; there's hardly one that isn't good. And that also applies to the carnivore sections, too. If you like duck, you absolutely have to try Yum Ped Yang (a duck salad of sorts). Yum! Kee Mao Gai is another favorite.
Oh, and if you happen to need to use the restroom, you may want to know that the bathroom is all the way in the back, which means you have to pass the kitchen and the cooks. Which of course IS a good thing because you get to see if the kitchen is as gross than those dumps from Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares (btw - it isn't).
Now, for all you lovers of REALLY authentic Thai food, Sripraphai is the place to go. It used to be a pretty had-core joint, reminiscent of what I imagine to be a typical Thai cafeteria setting, populated by the natives (typically a good sign). In all fairness the interior decor has been considerably fancied up recently, however, the outside remains hideous. The food, luckily, remains great. And spicy. As in CRAZY spicy, so if cinnamon oatmeal is the most heat you can take, then forget it.
Also, if you bother to schlep all the way to Woodside, Queens forget Pad thai. Not because it's bad, but because it's such a freaking touristy thing to order. I always wonder why in the world would all those Kentuckians flock to Time Square's Applebee's and TGIA Friday's in a city famous for its 10,000 restaurants. Go figure.
But - I digress. Back to food. Try the crispy thai catfish salad, drunken noodles, tom yum, soft shell crab or green papaya salad. Best of all, go with a couple of friends and order different dishes to sample from.
That's always the best way to try out a new place.
Sripraphai
64-13 39th Ave., Queens, NY 11377
718-899-9599