Tiny Thai
Tiny Thai, a diminutive Southeast Asian jewel of a cafe, is situated opposite a popular rock club, close to the Long Island Rail Road tracks. Despite the noisy crowd across the street and the occasional rattle of passing trains, the place manages to be a refuge of serenity.
This might not be true, of course, once word of the restaurant spreads beyond Farmingdale. For Tiny Thai is one dining spot you won't mind driving a distance to seek out. The flavors are vivid. The prices are low. The staff is friendly and efficient.
This held true even on an evening when a lone waitress serviced the entire dining room which, on that occasion, numbered about five occupied tables.
You'll want to start with a bowl of either the rich and complex tom kha gai (chicken and coconut soup) or the resonant tom yum goong (hot and sour shrimp, mushroom and lemongrass soup). I don't make a habit of ordering wonton soup in Thai restaurants, but here, it was part of a bargain-priced lunch. What a surprise it turned out to be, the vibrant broth floating with light pliant wonton skins enfolding savory ground pork interiors.I liked the feathery, crisp curry puffs stuffed with chicken and vegetables, as well as the tender chicken sate, skewered boneless poultry grilled and served with an addictive peanut sauce. Both fried calamari and "blanket" (egg-roll wrapped) shrimp were OK but forgettable. But you'll long recall the nam, a fiery mix of warm ground chicken, fresh ginger, peanuts, chile and lime juice over salad greens.
Pad Thai, the classic rice noodle dish with vegetables, crushed peanuts and chicken, was livelier than many I've had in a long while. Try the incendiary "drunken" noodles, pan- fried with basil, vegetables, shrimp and chiles. A winning dish called Tiny Thai's fried rice was studded with bits of Thai sausage, egg, onion, scallions and beef.
Beef sauteed with basil sauce, ordered extra-spicy, arrived only medium-hot. Still, it was deeply gratifying. So was the "pineapple special," a smoky mix of chicken, shrimp, cashew nuts, pineapple and vegetables spiked with chile peppers. Tamarind duck was roasted to a crunch, glazed with a fruity tamarind sauce.
Curries delighted, from the potato and peanut-flecked massamun curry to the subtly spicy green curry with string beans and coconut milk to the yellow chicken curry, which tasted as much of India as it did of Thailand.
For dessert, you might indulge in flaming Alaska, here interpreted as deep-fried ice cream with raspberry sauce that's set afire. It's very sweet but somehow likable. Mango with sticky rice, listed on the menu, wasn't available the night we ordered it.
Maybe it will be next time I go, if I can get into a place whose very name speaks of its limited space. Which is not to be confused with its culinary expertise.
Reviewed by Joan Reminick, 5/14/04.
