Cheap Eats 2009

No fusion-y adventurism, and no Pok-Pok-style japes at authenticity—it’s Thai food like you’re used to getting in America, but better. The beef is slow-cooked and juicy as any steakhouse steak—at its best in pad khing sod ($7 on the lunch menu). The viciously spicy yum nuor beef salad ($7.95) satisfies likewise, as did a recent duck-apple-cucumber salad special ($10.50). The outstanding peanut sauce is emboldened by plum, the tilapia is soft and spicy-sweet. We hesitate even to tell you about this place, but the secret had to get out someday.