Sripraphai is opening a second branch in Williston Park

[stuartlafonda]

Fellow hound David W has just reported on the OBB that Sripraphai is opening a second restaurant in Williston Park at 280 Hillside. Holy cow! I love this place and have for many years. If you have only eaten Thai in the tristate area this place will change your view of the entire cuisine. It is without a doubt a mind blowing experience. Authentic and delicious, it is worth a trip from anywhere. I get to the Woodside branch at least twice a month, I will be at the new branch once a week. I just called and they hope to open at the end of March.

whttp://www.sripraphairestaurant.com/

[jpf1980]

Holy S!!!! Can i curse on here, that is the most exciting thing ever. I work so freaking close its like a dream come true.

[GCGuy]

No joke...this is amazing.

[petenice15]

That's pretty cool. My wife dragged me from LI to Brooklyn when we got married and she always throws there are no good restaurants in LI in my face. At least we have Sri out there, one of our favorite spots.

[LloydG]

This is too cool! We should all make sure to visit often when it opens, and tell everyone we know, so that it gets off to a good start.

[toby1355]

OMG! There is a God! And for Great Chinese check out Fortune Asian Bistro in Carle Place for Flushing style cooking!

[adamclyde]

consider me an officially jealous connecticut resident. That is great news. I hope they keep up their same quality as they expand. The world is a better place with Srip...

[eatfaster]

This appeared a few weeks back in the LI Press

http://www.longislandpress.com/articl...

[abu applesauce]

Any updates?

[jpf1980]

A woman i work with who lives a couple of blocks away is keeping an eye on it for me. She said that some weeks there is tons of work being done by what appears to me many workers, and other weeks it looks like no one is there and they aren't doing anything. I happened to pass by tonight for the first time in several weeks, and to me it doesn't look close. I told her to tell me if she ever sees any signs announcing an opening date.

[monalisawoman]

Someone please tell me it's still opening??!!

[phantomdoc]

Called today to Woodside, was told a month and a half.

[Scott_R]

Thanks for the update.

[jpf1980]

Ok, got some news. I havn't called it. I hate calling restaurants and asking weird questions. My co-worker who lives right near there says the awning is up. There is a phone number on the awning. It is 516 280-3779. Someone call and find out when they are opening and please give us the news. She also said in her opinion the opening looks close. She wouldn't be surprised if they open in the next week or so.

[Scott_R]

"We're sorry, your call did not go through."

Looks like the line isn't active yet.

[phantomdoc]

Just tried the phone number. Does not go through. Queens is closed today.

[GCGuy]

Called Queens. Should be open middle of October.

[dixdiner]

Web site-- http://www.sripraphairestaurant.com/ -- says opening day is Oct. 8.

[abu applesauce]

Hooray!

[byrd]

Prediction: As with most LI restaurant openings, everybody is going to stampede this place like a wild cattle run. The owners of Srip are going to be in for a rude awakening as they discover the NYC and LI restaurant patrons are two totaly different animals. Me personally I'm planning my first visit on a cold quiet mid-January weekday night when I know I'll enjoy an up to snuff Srip meal.
Honor system: no reviews unless you visited twice, and no reviews for the first two months if you went on a Saturday night.

[Scott_R]

I'll probably try to do lunch during a weekday.

[abu applesauce]

I work close enough--I'll try a weekday lunch as well, but I like byrd's honor system suggestion.

[jpf1980]

I think byrd's idea makes an assumption that its not going to be as good as woodside. What if it is! I am going to try to be there next friday night. If it's as good as the dishes i've had at the original location then i'm going to let everyone know. If it is dissapointing, then i'll agree, the kitchen may need to work out the kinks.

[byrd]

My point is you cannot operate a restaurant in Nassau like you do in Queens.

[stuartlafonda]

Care to explain? I will be there late lunch on Saturday and expect the same high quality I get in Woodside. They have gone through two expansions in the last few years without a problem, these guys know what they are doing.

[byrd]

totally different clientele with a totally different mentality, restaurant patrons in nassau are much more demanding than in queens. late lunch saturday is not saturday 8 pm. stu, don't get me wrong, i come from a restaurant family background and i wish these people the ultimate success, i'm just trying to give them a heads up with the storm that's about to hit them.
this is arguably the biggest restaurant opening in a while in nassau county. every pennysaver, newspaper, all the local media are all talking about it.

[bigjeff]

byrd, i'm curious about these differences; are nassau-types really more demanding? not that you would necessarily know or be able to provide an answer, but any reason why? judging from the newsday reviews for oh, the last 20 years or so, the tastes seem very mainstream, practically every other week it was a review of yet another italian place talking about their caprese salad and meatballs; it was very homogenous reviewing. not knocking nassau county (I grew up on the border of queens and nassau county) but i'd really be curious as to the causes, as well as the end results (the differences you refer to). nassau has higher average income? less ethnic? more time for leisure meals or less? spend less time in manhattan (supposed mecca of dining in general) or more time? residents are more long-time versus transient or new arrivals?

please expand, I'm curious.

[byrd]

jeff, i'll give it a crack:
-for people that go out to eat: people that live in manhattan have a lot more discretionary income than nassau, so the opposite is true about average income.this is totally subjective but I would say that for $100 spent per person, it's about $35 in nassau.
-in nassau county, quantity rules over quality. the best example of this that I tell people is open up a place that is fancy and serves the legendary three scallop on a big plate entree and see how long it lasts.
-owning a restaurant in manhattan your primary busy days are monday thru friday (especially summer) while in nassau it's saturday night or bust. case in point: I passed by Srip last monday about 6:45 and there were four tables occupied, one of them being a pair of cops, the third precinct is a few blocks down.
-in the last twenty years. slowly but surely the "chain" mentality has overtaken the mind and stomach of the nassau county diner.
-suburbia is a lot more raising kid oriented than manhattan and most of us have our big oversized kitchens with big fancy ranges, ovens, and year round outdoor barbeques that believe it or not we do put to frequent use. the "Fairway" in Plainview is basically mobbed 24/7.
answer back, we'll get to the bottom of this.
Lunch on Wednesday at Srip was spot on: a little papaya salad, green duck curry, a couple of Singahs.

[bigjeff]

byrd,

it all makes sense, I'd say what I got confused is your use of the word "demanding"; that usually implies something about demanding the finest, or the best, or willing to pay top-dollar, etc. and usually combined with discerning palate, etc. What you expand on in your points (also up for debate but, makes sense) is that "demanding" actually implies bang-for-buck, family-oriented dining. the word should be more like "practical" or something like that; but not implying that people in nassau don't know a good pad thai from a bad one, but maybe they have less opportunities to try the range than someone living in manhattan (with one bad thai restaurant every 5 blocks) or someone in elmhurst (lucky them with good thai restaurants every 3 blocks).

since we are talking about a queens-based restaurant, not a manhattan one, it's not like we are comparing kittichai in soho to this new nassau srip; a comparison of the average srip queens diner to the average srip nassau diner might be along the lines of:

- income (maybe nassau is higher)
- dining demo (queens might be younger people without kids, nassau will be families)
- dining hours (definitely walk-ins for area workers versus piling into the car for a dinner; I'm not sure of the williston area but I doubt there'd be a strong lunch business)
- area ethnic makeup (queens wins)

if srip hasn't already been toned down, I'm sure they'll find that this 516 location will have to make some changes; I think of even a place like Andy's Seafood and Grill in Rego Park; it serves really great Taiwanese food but it's not central like Flushing, so now it has a brisk business delivering variations of general tso's to the locals (plenty of chinese sure, but not a majority) and may lose some of its character over time (if it even lasts at all).

maybe a zen palate comparison is in order; wonder if the zen palate location there is still open; similar move in some ways.

[byrd]

as the years go by nassau county is more and more becoming an extension of queens and to a much smaller degree brooklyn.
people make a couple of bucks, they move to a bigger house and backyard, etc. etc.
when I was there on wednesday it was fifty/fifty natives and non, but you could tell the nons were familiar with the cuisine. this is not a place that is going to appeal to the "chain" crowd and for a place in nassau it is relatively small in size, which is a good thing.
another point about demanding is the what do you mean junior doesn't get a coloring book and crayons like fridays and applebees crowd.
zen palate closed at least a couple of years ago, the space is occupied by an asian everything fusion joint which actually if you ask, has a special hand printed menu with some semi-authentic goodies on it.

[toby1355]

Asian fusion is no more. And G-d Bless Srip in E. Williston. Nassau is a food wasteland.

[LloydG]

I think the Nassau-Queens distinction may be a little overblown here, since very few restaurants draw from that large of a geographic area (Srip probably being an exception). Williston Park is closer to parts of Queens than Woodside. There is also quite a bit of ethnic diversity in western Nassau, and there is simply nothing like Srip that I know of, so it might find a nice niche once the hype dies down. There are several good quality Indian restaurants in Hicksville, although of course there is also a substantial Indian population there, which helps.

In terms of Byrd's comment about the three scallop on a plate type of restaurant, the exception that may prove the rule is Lola in Great Neck, which would absolutely fit in as a Manhattan restaurant but is filling up most nights and does seem to generating some buzz.

From the early reviews it sounds like Srip isn't yet toning things down. Hopefully they will have enough business to keep things the way they are (I would imagine there are some empty tables in Queens on a Monday night as well) and that enough people in western Nassau conme to appreciate soem authentic thai food.

Oddly for me, I live in Great Neck and it is actually more convenient to take the train to Woodside than drive to Wiliston Park, but one of these days I'll get over there.

[stuartlafonda]

Lloyd, I find Srip in Williston much easier to get to from Great Neck. It takes me about 10 minutes(6.8 miles). East Shore Road/Community Drive/Marcus Ave/Hillside. If you are stopping on the way back on the LIRR I can see your point though. I think there are so few people that care enough about Thai food to travel any distance to eat at Srip that I believe it will stay quiet. I was there Friday at eight and it was packed, by nine it was mostly empty with no wait. On another occasion I was there early and there was no crowd.

[LloydG]

I'll probably make a trip there soon just to support it. That is one real difference between Nassau and the city though - no late crowd at all. I imagine that they will close by ten every night if they aren't already. Plus, I don't think you get the early family/elderly crowd for Thai food that you do for Chinese or American food.

[stuartlafonda]

They officially close at ten every night, they know their crowd. As for the early family/elderly crowd issue, there were a number of families at eight but no seniors. I was at Pearl East two Fridays ago at about 6 and it looked like Boca. Even my twelve year old laughed and said it reminded her of visiting her grandparents. When it comes to American-Chinese food of the 60's though, you can't beat Pearl East. As much as I love places like S&T, who doesn't grave a great General Tzo once in a while?

[byrd]

Take this as a positive comment on American society: The ubiquitous General Tso is the Ronald McDonald of Chinese-American cuisine.

[abu applesauce]

I've ordered takeout twice, early weeknights both times, place was at half capacity both times.

[EZ Pass]

Drove by last night and there was a big sign in the window announcing a grand opening tomorrow, Oct. 15.

[Jim Leff]

I had no idea they were opening a satellite place, but chanced upon it tonight, went in, and found I was crashing the friends and family opening party. Politely asked to return tomorrow. Tried to explain I was the first gringo customer at the Woodside branch, but the manager wasn't much grokking me, and I felt bad about crashing, so I hustled back out. I have never in my life seen that manager in Woodside, and I've been a customer there since, again, pretty much the week they opened. We'll see...........awfully small case for desserts and pastries and things, but there were pork rinds in there, which is a hopeful sign.

[sbp]

Most important consideration for me as far as the refrigerator case -- were they selling curry pastes? At Woodside, they have 5 or 6 varieties - though not labeled with the basic "red, yellow, or green." Some have the ingredients in English, some not. The best seem to have a lot of shrimp paste in them.

[Jim Leff]

Incomplete selection last night. Manager said it'd be filled by today. They seemed to have similar labels to the Woodside place. But it's only one medium-sized case, not the full wall. OTOH, I doubt many Long Islanders will want to buy that stuff.

[sbp]

Gotcha. I'll tell you, using their curry paste in place of even a good brand of canned like Maesri makes a HUGE difference. Very fresh tasting, and very hot.

[stuartlafonda]

The manager is a young man who told me his mom is the owner in Woodside. Is the unhappy looking man that runs the cash register in Woodside her husband?

[Jim Leff]

I've always figured so.

I have no doubt the LI manager is family. But, again, I've never ever spotted him in the restaurant. But hopefully mom's supervising.

[Roslynjohn]

Went for lunch today - quite busy for being open less than 2 hours. Place looked great – food was amazing as expected.

[robinsilver]

We thought about going tonight for dinner. I called at 6 pm and asked to make a reservation for 2 people at 7. The person who answered said not to worry about it, just come over. He gave the impression that they were empty. The reality was that they don't take reservations for 2 people, but that is not what he told me. We got there and the place was packed. People were waiting for tables. My husband went to tell the manager, or whoever it was, at the bar, that I had called and what I was told. After a stressful day at the office, he didn't need the other people waiting to make remarks about what he was saying. If they like to go and wait at restaurants for dinner, fine, but that is not our thing. When things calm down, like I know they will because of the location, they will be praying that a local like us calls and wants to come. Not sure that will ever happen.

[stuartlafonda]

Robin, I was there yesterday at 8:15 and there were a few open tables, we got a four top in about five minutes.We would have sat without any wait but they had a little of the expected opening night disorganization. I would bet that during the week or at off hours will be the way to go, just like in Woodside. By the way,and most importantly, the food was perfect and tasted just like it always has in Queens.

[jpf1980]

I went tonight, the food was great, the service was great, very nice and friendly. Got there early, like maybe about 5:20 or so, and left at around 6:15, when we were leaving at least half the place was empty. Not sure how between 6:15 and 7 it got that busy, but i guess there are just a lot of people looking to try the place out.

[Jim Leff]

"the food was perfect and tasted just like it always has in Queens"

The model for this sort of undertaking is to send the top chef from the original locale out for first few weeks to train the staff and make sure the place opens at a high level. The questions are:

1. how's the food in Woodside right now, with the top chef away?
and
2. how's the food here going to be when the top chef leaves?

Meanwhile.....enjoy! ;)

[Polecat]

As someone who has been going to the original location for some years now, and who just had a wonderful bowl of Cornish Hen Tom Zap that had a perfect balance of sourness and sweat-inducing heat this afternoon, I'll vouche for the high standards of food quality at the Woodside flagship. Don't take my word for it, though. If you peruse recent threads over the past few years, you'll notice comments like mine from longtime customers and posters alike.
p.

[Jim Leff]

That's good news! Though given that the new place has just opened, I'm not sure Woodside reports from further back than a couple of days would be meaningful re: the issues I was talking about.

[sbp]

When I've been to the Woodside location, it was clear English was a second language for the staff. Which is pretty typical for ethnic restaurants in ethnic neighborhoods. Whether I'm having Colombian in Queens, or Salvadorean in Brentwood, or Indian in Hicksville, you need to relax and roll with the punches (within reason), epecially when it comes to language issues, waiting for a table, or your preconception as to what constitutes a proper dining experience.

If "your thing" precludes waiting for a table under any circumstances (like, say, the first 2 days of a much awaited restaurant), then stick to "fine dining" establishments that insist on reservations.

Your loss.

[EZ Pass]

Robinsilver, he's right. The fellow you spoke to on the phone may well have been overwhelmed and/or not completely fluent in English. I'm sure he was not trying to deceive you on purpose. If you care about Thai food, you won't want to boycott Sripraphai on the basis of this incident.

[robinsilver]

I am sure at some point I will try it, if even just for take out. Seeing at is just over a mile from my house, as well all know, in LI terms, that's around the corner for good Thai. I know that when Paradise Island, located just down the street, changed to a Vietnamese restaurant, it was packed. Now, it never fills up. I don't think language was an issue with the person I spoke to, BTW, he didn't have a heavy enough accent for that. As jpf said, at 6:15, the restuarant was only half empty, I guess he didn't realize when LI restaurants fill up.

[toby1355]

This is NOT a full review of Sri....Went tonite, against my better judgement. It was VERY crowded but a table for two was had in less than 15 minutes (Got there about 7:45 pm).
Had Ground pork over rice with chili, garlic and basil leaves (O-6); Fried sea trout fillet (sm) w/ chili, garlic and basil (F-4) and Massaman curry with Chicken (c-22). Didn't realize 'til now that the pork and fish had the same spicies/herbs.

I could quibble about the potato needing a few more minutes and the boneles chicken being a bit dry (I'd have liked it on the bone). But I won't, because Nassau County now has a real, legitimate Thai restaurant and for that I am truly happy. So, so happy.

[Brandy G]

I went there for lunch on Friday with a few of my girlfriends. The place looks great. Nicely decorated. Crowded. But now to the food. At any new Thai restaurant I always order the same dishes in order to compare. I had the curry puffs, pad thai, pad-see ew and finally the papaya salad. The puffs were a little hard with no taste, pad thai was ok but the pad see ew was bland. Thai food is unique because of the ability to blend the various flavors of sweet, sour, salty and spice. I expected more from them because of their reputation. I've eaten at many Thai restaurants, Sea in Brooklyn, Sripraphai in Queens, Thai Pavilion in Astoria, Latern in Brooklyn, Spice in NYC, Seeda in Valley Stream, Simply Thai in Rockville Centre, etc. But the one that sticks out for me is Centre Thai Bistro in East Rockaway/Lynbrook. They are also new to Nassau. The place is small and in a quiet neighborhood but the food is great with friendly and helpful service. They go the extra mile to make you feel welcome.

[toby1355]

Brandy,

Are you saying that Centre Thai Bistro's cooking and spicing, etc., is on a par with Sripraphai"s? If so, that's a real find.

[Jim Leff]

" I always order the same dishes in order to compare. I had the curry puffs, pad thai, pad-see ew and finally the papaya salad"

Thanks for the report! But, except for the papaya salad, those are not the sort of dishes Sripraphai does well. I'd suggest you return and order only dishes you'd not previously heard of. Or try some of the dishes mentioned in this thread. The reason people are getting so excited about Sripraphai is that it's not the standard thing. Those dishes, however, are the standard thing.

[Brandy G]

I will definitely go back and try something different for dinner. Like you said the dishes I had are not the ones they do well. They have a very large selection which cannot be found in many Thai restaurants which I agree makes them one of a kind. I was a little overwhelmed by the menu so for lunch I stayed with the basics.

As one person wrote:

" Honor system: no reviews unless you visited twice, and no reviews for the first two months if you went on a Saturday night. "

LOL, this is my third post. And yes I am a newbie.

[Roslynjohn]

Went to Srip 2x - one for lunch - hour after opening - and then take-out on Friday. Friday night the place was a madhouse! But it was worth the wait. Food is excellent. I am so glad we are starting to get really great options out here.

[Scott_R]

Just came back from lunch, and all I can say is *wow*. Great meal!

[wew]

chowhound.chow.com/topics/487049
The above thread is loaded with recs from the woodside resto If some knows how to make a link please do.

[phantomdoc]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/4870...

[wew]

I wish I could do that

[bigjeff]

wew, just make sure to add the "http://" whenever you punch in a URL and the CH posting engine will make it live.

[budcar]

The food is good. One caution: the recommended tips on the bottom of the bill(at least for credit cards are incorrect insofar as they include tax in calculations) for example a bill of $20.00 plus tax of (my calculation at .0875) $1.75 would yield a total bill of $21.75.
The calculated tip of 15% shows as $3.55 which includes tip on the tax.
Properly, the tip of 15% should be $3.00 since we don't tip on tax. I pointed this out to the manager who seemed to understand.At worst, it is an attempt to enhance tips in an inaccurate way. At, best it is a miscalculation. Since I have seen this done before, I believe it is intentional.

[Jim Leff]

I'm afraid you're fighting a lost battle. Tip is calculated on tax by the vast majority of people, and it has come to be expected. You can rail about how unfair that is, but it's become custom, and that's that.

Also, I'm sure that info comes via the credit card validation company, and is non-configurable by the restaurant.

[budcar]

Jim, I don't actually believe it is true. Most credit card slips don't have the recommended tip. they merely have a line to add a tip. Underneath that is the total . I generally double the tax and most times add a little more. People, I know, follow a similar process so, I doubt that it has become custom..

[robinsilver]

I agree with you, Bud. I don't think people use the total with tax, and we are fortunate here in NY that your method works well.

[Jim Leff]

These systems are always supplied by third parties, and there are lots of different systems out there. Believe me, Sripraphai hasn't reinvented the wheel, programmed the computer, etc. At most, they may have signed off when their vendor offered the tip suggestion feature, but they certainly didn't code or configure it.

[stuartlafonda]

Do you think you will be weighing in on the joint soon?

[Jim Leff]

Yeah, sorry. I tend to stay out of discussions when I don't have anything new to add. The place rocks. Much like Woodside. I just hope Woodside's still as good as people are saying. Usually in these situations, it's a shell game trying to figure out where the good chef is in residence at any given time (e.g. remember when Joe's Shanghai started to expand, and there was only one good one at any one time?).

[abu applesauce]

Has anyone tried to order takeout? What was the experience like? Will the food be severely compromised over a 20 minute car ride?
Thanks

[Jim Leff]

Just stick to wet things like curries and salads, you should be ok.

[abu applesauce]

I know, but I want crispy things as well!!
Can't have it all...

[Scott_R]

Well, the restaurant is still bound by the principles of physics and chemistry.

[bigjeff]

if they got the mussel fritters (or even the soft-shell crab app), I'll be very happy! and . . . srip does well with the salads topped with crispy things too!

[monalisawoman]

As delicious as Woodside, without the train ride.
We ordered the papaya salad, pad thai, softshell crab with green curry pumpkin sauce, and whole snapper with lemongrass. It started to get crowded at 6:20, which is early for a saturday night, so go early!

[abu applesauce]

I think I can eat the green mango salad every night for the rest of my life! Hooray for Srip!

[janie]

anybody else getting a spyware warning for the srip website...trend micro won't let me open it, without changing a web filter to allow it...it sees spyware on their site.

[mrsdebdav]

Nope. No problem with the site.

[GCGuy]

Yes. And a Google warning.

[Jim Leff]

Don't blame them. When this sort of thing happens, it almost always means their server was hacked. Someone should let them know.