Ramen and Friends in Queens! Sripraphai Night 03-11-2009

Location: 64-13 39th Ave Woodside Queens
Time: 7pm
People: 22 Ramen and Friends: JLam from MeSoHungry, RB, PMont, MGru, JT, ALev, MLev, JBH, BLee, TrishP, CarL&the lady, Karen&Greg, Ian, Ian, Wendy, Nora, Lisa, Punj and myself

Feelings: A former BBC colleague of mine, a Queens native, once said, "Don't go to Woodside. I had too many scary nights there." I was reminded of this when we got off the 7 train, and witnessed about 20 cops standing around the train station. But we finally ventured out to one of the most acclaimed Thai places of all five boroughs, Sripraphai in Woodside. This, alone, is a reason to venture out to Woodside. This is the reason the 7 train exists. They serve very authentic, home style Thai food that you can never find in Manhattan. We would have been lost forever in the 50 page menu, but thankfully, Punj and Nora were quite familiar with traditional Thai food and were available to order for us.

For appetizers, they ordered crispy catfish salad, pork satay, fried egg rolls, and dumplings. As for main dishes and soups, they ordered tom yum shrimp, bean curd soup, massaman curry, green curry, sauteed Chinese broccoli with pork, sauteed bass in lime juice, ground meat with basil and chicken, and sweet and sour vermicelli with shrimp. Every dish was extremely flavorful and some had a very distinctive smell. Some dishes were overly spicy, as JT called it "sneaky spicy," where the spices kicked in a few moments after you swallowed the food.

Prices were quite reasonable ($24 per person for all the food and beer we had), and we had very attentive waitstaff. We left the place happily stuffed with burning tongues.

Post Curry Dessert: Maharaja Quality Sweets & Snacks 73-10 37th Ave, Jackson Heights, still in Queens

Feelings: Our Dessert Guru, MGru took us for 10 min walk down 65th street to this Indian patisserie. We tried various Ladu, Gulab Jamun, and spicy cashews that tasted like eggs. Some of them were soaked in rosewater, which reminded me of Febreeze. JT said it was "Springtime freshness in my mouth." This fun dessert experience reminded me that the spring is just around the corner.