Sripraphai.(Restaurant review)

Sripraphai could be said to be the restaurant that Chowhound, the Web bulletin board frequented by intrepid food hunters, built. When the site started up, in 1997, the place was a thirty-five-seat hole in the wall. Chowhounders--who, by disposition, relish a foray into Queens--began posting about it, restaurant reviewers arrived, and soon lots of people were venturing that this might be the best Thai food in the city. Sripraphai quadrupled in size and ditched its fluorescent lighting and Formica tabletops. Nonetheless, between the vertical blinds, the lime-green walls, and the muted TV game show playing in the background, the place hasn't quite mastered atmosphere--but atmosphere was never the point. On a Saturday night, the crush inside the door always seems to include at least one patron studying the menu with the nervous intensity usually devoted to an exam--pencilling in choices, erasing, and pencilling in some more.

The hundred-and-twenty-nine-dish menu is long enough to be paralyzing, and can be perilously unpredictable. Request something not too hot, and it may prove spicy enough to trigger not only euphoria but also sweat and tears and intestinal corrosion. Then again, you may wind up with something--green curry, say, or drunken noodles--no spicier than the stuff from your local takeout place. Better to take ...