Pure Thai Shophouse disappoints

Last week, Mom was in town for work, and since she's a Thai food fanatic, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to check out Pure Thai Shophouse. So on a chilly, chilly December evening, we convened in the tiny store for some eats.

First off, the restaurant's atmosphere is funky but not exactly comfortable. It's a small place with only a few tables in the back, and each table is wedged in quite intimately with its neighbors. That's one of the exigencies of being in New York, I understand, but the design aspect I took issue with was that the chairs were backless stools. Square backless stools. Not cool, and not comfortable. Unless you're at a bar, there's no reason to be sitting on a stool, and even at a bar the stool should have a back. But, you know, that's just my thing.

First, they do serve their drinks in cool crushed ice, which makes everything better, in my not-so-humble opinion.

Swanky!

But now, to the food. Mom and I both ordered the papaya salad, hers as a starter, mine as my main. While this dish (along with everything else in the restaurant) was quite reasonably priced, it actually wasn't one of the better papaya salads I've had. The earthy taste of the papaya overpowered the flavor mix, so rather than having your mouth pop with the lime, chile, peanuts, and fish sauce, the overall flavor profile was (literally) muddy. Just a little bit... blah. I've had much better. Sad.

Sad emoticon

Mom's Wok Curry Paste with Shrimp was also disappointing. She said it didn't taste like typical Thai curry, so it wasn't exactly what she was expecting. She rated it "okay" but not great, which for Mom is a pretty low rating.

Tear emoticon

And so I write this review with consternation. Everything I've read about Pure has been a rave, and I love the owners' Land restaurants, so I'm extra disappointed that our meals weren't great. Again, everything is reasonably priced, but given all the fantastic Thai joints in the neighborhood, that alone won't cut it. I really have no choice but to give Pure two Offset Spatulas and a sad, slightly confused shake of the head.

Pure Thai Shophouse
766 Ninth Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets
212-581-0999

A brief non-NYC interlude

Last weekend I was home in Massachusetts to meet the newest member of our family, a Bernese Mountain Dog puppy named Lily. As you might expect, she's pretty darn cute:

Puppy-dog face

But despite the persistent cuteness of this puppy, we had to eat. So one evening we went to check out the newest local Thai restaurant, which replaced a different Thai restaurant. This one was called Chili Basil, and it turned out to be pretty good.

There was an order of fresh basil rolls and a "Dumpling Delight" (pork dumplings) for Dad and a seafood red curry for Mom. All met with approval.

Fresh rolls

Delightful!

Currylicious

Additionally, Mom and I split a papaya salad and a mango salad. The papaya salad was standard, nothing to write home about. But the mango salad was delicious. The ripe mango was coated with an addictive sauce that made it pretty much impossible to stop eating. Plus, on top of the whole concoction, there was a handful of the hugest roasted cashews I've ever seen. Though the spice seared my mouth, I was contented and would definitely order the mango salad again.

Served the purpose

The winner!

Welp, that's all from home. It feels weird to travel four and a half hours to eat Thai food when I pretty much live in Little Thailand here in NYC. But weird is sometimes delicious.

Chili Basil
385 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, MA
978-443-0988

Branching out to a new Thai on 9th

Two weekends ago, I attended the incredible show Fantasy Football: The Musical?, written by my good friend DI, part of the New York Musical Theater Festival. After laughing heartily for an hour and a half, fellow showgoers AV and JR and I were hungry. So we scurried around the corner to Aura Thai on Ninth Avenue.

The decor of Aura is plain and simple, but we were all so ravenous we didn't care. We started with a couple of apps-- first up, JR's fried calamari with sweet chili sauce. This dish looked like onion rings and was well received by both JR and AV, who sniped a ring or two.

A tangle of veg 'n' squid

AV and I shared the vegetable dumplings. These were large, half-moon/ravioli-style dumplings filled with a mixture of shredded veggies. The sweet sauce was drizzled over the top, which meant we weren't able to control the mixture of dumpling and sauce through dipping, always a key part of the experience. Overall, these weren't my favorite dumplings in the NYC Thai Restaurant Dumpling Pantheon; the filling tasted like generic frozen veggies, and I wasn't a huge fan of the half-moon shape.

Pretty, but plain inside

Moving on, JR got a curry dish... and shamefully I can't remember exactly which one. But it was ample and flavorful and delicious, according to its consumer.

Some sort of curry? Maybe?

AV went with the pad see ew with chicken. Lots of green veggies made this one a winner in my book... and AV was also a fan.

Wide noodles and bursts of bright green

My choice was, of course, papaya salad. This was a big portion with lots of green beans; the papaya was also cut spaghetti-style rather than in small matchsticks, which was interesting. The vinaigrette here was heavy on the lime and light on the umami, which made the whole dish light but lacking in the strong flavor usually associated with papaya salad.

It also came with sticky rice. Very, very gluey sticky rice.

Overall, we were so hungry that the food at Aura hit the spot. But the quality of food was definitely eclipsed by the other Thai options a few blocks up on Ninth. As a result, I wouldn't necessarily return to Aura unless I were ravenous and right in the area, which means Aura earns a two Offset Spatula designation. Done and done.

Aura
462 Ninth Avenue, between 35th and 36th streets
212-971-8530