Erawan Thai

I used to live in Bayside, NY. Probably as close to the suburbs as I'll ever get. Houses, lawns, quiet... And not all the streets had sidewalks! I only lasted 9 months, but one of the perks was Bell Blvd. and Erawan. So I decided to revisit my Bayside days with two of my colleagues.

There are actually two Erawans on Bell Blvd. so you have to specify. One is upscale and one is thai. We ventured to the one closer to Northern Blvd. The goal was to order three different entrees and split them. We went with the shrimp pad thai, the pineapple fried rice, and one of the "exotic dishes" that involved chicken and curry and basil. Two glasses of mediocre wine (a Malbec and a Pinot Grigio) and a thai iced tea to top it all off. While everything tasted good, nothing stood out to me as incredible. Serving the pineapple fried rice in a hollowed out pineapple was a nice touch, but greasy is the first word that comes to mind when I think of how to describe the taste. Same goes with the pad thai. And I can't even really remember the "exotic" dish. For dessert we had fried ice cream, which was set on fire at our table. I wasn't quick enough with the camera, but after you get over the spectacle, there was a lot left to be desired. The fried part was a bad zeppole and the ice cream was a poor excuse for ice cream. Reminded me of those kindergarten ice cream days where they'd serve you a small container of 25 cent no-brand ice cream in the cafeteria. Grainy and sort of cardboard box-esque. The raspberry sauce drizzled (or spooned, rather) on the side was too sweet. We also ordered a coffee and a thai iced coffee. The thai iced coffee tasted like your mouth the day after smoking a cigarette (or so I'm told). Even our waitress seemed lackluster about the food--when asked about Oriental sausage, she scrunched up her face and told us, honestly, that it wasn't her favorite. Disappointment abounds.

I'll admit, I was starving at this point. So I ate my face off. But... the next day, when I was discussing the meal with my friend, we both reached the same conclusion. Not as good as it used to be. This is a very intriguing discovery considering the fact that my once-favorite sushi place met the same fate. Is it the recession? Are the quality of the ingredients going downhill? Are less people going out to eat and the restaurants are making cutbacks? Who's really in the kitchen? I'm left with many questions, no answers, and an unsatisfied palate.