Review: Sripraphai in Williston Park

One visit is not enough to tackle the encyclopedic menu at Sripraphai, one of the most iconic Thai restaurant names in America. More than 30 laminated pages in a spiral-bound notebook take Long Island diners on a tour of Thailand. Luckily, there are pictures for the more than 200 dishes, many of them unfamiliar and uncompromisingly spicy. 

Southern Thai owner Sripraphai Tipmanee started baking Thai cakes in Elmhurst, Queens, and went on to open her flagship restaurant in Woodside in 1996, ushering in a renaissance of regional Thai cooking. Tipmanee expanded from her Woodside haunt with a second location in Williston Park in 2009, a stately burgundy-walled restaurant with white tablecloths that will surely be stained by the meal's end. 

Unless you have an intimate knowledge of Thai gastronomy, it's difficult to tell what you're supposed to order. Among the 37 appetizers, the crispy watercress salad is iconic, but hit-or-miss depending on how recently the greens were fried.

The "fried chicken & crabmeat rolls" are a surer bet, so meaty and crunchy on the outside that they could be legends on their own. The stewed pork leg is one of the stars of the main dishes. The meat is so tender and soft in its sweet soy glaze, served in a small bowl with mustard greens and a hard boiled egg. Many Thai favorites — such as the cold dishes larb and yum woon sen and the Northern Thai noodle stew kao soy — are also rendered in meat-free versions. But save room for the dessert case, which offers the largest selection of Thai sweets you might ever see in your life. 

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