EAT: PRO THAI IN EAST HARLEM

While Central or West Harlem seems to be opening Japanese restaurants every other month, it look like East Harlem is winning with all things Thai.  Gong on East 99th was one of the first to arrive along with Absolute Thai on East 102nd Street,  then Thai Soup on East 118th in the past year.  Pro Thai on the corner of 101st on Lexington opened apparently a couple of years ago but we only started to rediscover East Harlem's main corridor recently which has matured considerably.

Out of the four, we especially like Pro Thai's chic, casual cafe atmosphere with a bit of Thai kitsch that does not take itself too seriously.  The 20-seater has a comfortable layout which includes banquet seating and industrial filament lamp lights.  This makes the spot a popular destination during lunch or dinner hours and the food has a few items one does not usually find on a typical Thai menu.  Our dry noodles with pork and lump crab soup hit the spot as a light alternative for warmer days and we definitely recommend going out of the way to try this cozy, uptown asian alternative.