Astoria, Astoria Arrivals, Food and Drink, Restaurants
May 13, 2014
Astoria Arrivals – Pye Boat Noodle Thai Restaurant
Yesterday evening I joined some of my favorite Astorians to try out Pye Boat Noodle, a new Thai restaurant on Broadway that opened up in the old D & F (…)
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Yesterday evening I joined some of my favorite Astorians to try out Pye Boat Noodle, a new Thai restaurant on Broadway that opened up in the old D & F (…)
by Meg Cotner
Yesterday evening I joined some of my favorite Astorians to try out Pye Boat Noodle, a new Thai restaurant on Broadway that opened up in the old D & F Deli space (they moved a couple doors down). We have been waiting to check them out since spying their DOB records back in November, hoping they would bring a new level of deliciousness to the Astoria Thai food scene. Bottom line: they did not disappoint and the food was flavorful and delectable.
At one point right before they planned to open, they got hassled by their landlord for the exterior design, but personally I like the look. Inside there is a lot of wood and some metal, mostly on the ceiling. The room feels cool, and we liked being seated at a circular table up front, which made easier to share food and time with each other.
Photo credit: Pye Boat Noodle
The bar awaiting three taps, two of which will offer Singha and Sapporo.
Their soft opening was Saturday, so they’ve really only been open a few days. It was great to have a group of us so that we could try a bunch of things—my dining companions last night were Sue of Tastoria Queens, Anne of the podcast, Mother, Mark of Cooked Earth, and non-blogger friend Ben.
We tried a bunch of snacks, a few soups, and one rice dish. The snacks included fried items and salads. First, though, we had beers (everyone else) and I tried the Thai Ice Tea, which was really good. It was sweet but not overly so, and tasted smooth—no excessive tannins from the tea or harshness from the sweetener. The portion lasted me through my meal, too.
Here are the snacks and salads we tried. My favorite snack was the fried pork strips, which came with a very tasty dipping sauce, reminiscent of sriracha, sort of sour and spicy (a bit). It went perfectly with the pork. Sue tells us the taro rolls are also delicious. Both salads were really good, too, and I especially liked the strong lime flavor that engulfed the glass noodles in the yum woon sen. The papaya salad was also spicy for me, and pleasantly so.
Fried pork strips.
Salted wings, some meat but mostly skin, and very tasty if you like fried chicken skin (I do). Served with a sweet sauce.
Basically a well-executed siu mai, with plenty of filling. Served with a dark, savory sauce.
Delicious papaya salad accompanied by pieces of fried pork skin.
Along with the noodles there were shrimp and squid.
Four of us tried the noodle soups and one tried a rice dish. First the rice dish, which had some lovely tender squid in it, a fantastic fried egg, and rice that was cooked very well—the grains were separate yet stuck together. Rice dishes come with a choice of meat—chicken, beef, pork, tofu, or vegetable.
Kaprow with squid, flavored with garlic, chili, and basil.
We all were blown away by the soup broths, which varied among the three we tried—the dark broth with pork was flavored with soy and had a distinctive aroma of anise; the Tom Yum had a chicken broth seasoned with lime juice; and the Ya Ten Fo had a chicken broth with seafood and red bean paste, which gave it its distinctive coloring. Those who ordered the Tom Yum also received a jar of finely ground peanuts to add to the soup. We also loved all the fresh herbs on top of each bowl of soup.
Boat noodles with pork, in a dark broth that seemed perfect for colder temperatures.
Tom Yum “Bolarn” noodles – “bolarn” means “traditional” or “old fashioned.” It came with fish balls and more fried pork skin.
This vibrant red color of the broth was amazing.
We were offered a group of condiments, and I used the spicy green sauce to add some heat and extra tang to my soup. Totally worth it.
A selection of condiments, including vinegar pickled sliced chiles, a spicy green sauce, an spicy red sauce.
When you order soup, you get a choice of noodle, too—rice noodle, wide ribbon noodle, egg noodle, or vermicelli. I ordered rice noodle but would totally get the wide ribbon noodle next time.
One of the best parts of the soup, too, is that the broth seemed to get tastier and tastier as we ate more and more of it. Sort of magical. We’re told that they do not use any MSG, that they prepare all the broths separately, and they plan to introduce a vegetarian broth in the next month.
My opinion on Pye Boat Noodle is that they have brought a new level of Thai food to Astoria. It’s a small menu with a number of things on it that you won’t find on most Astoria Thai restaurant menus. The food tasted less sweet and more peppery and sour than I find is present in Thai food in the neighborhood. I very much look forward to trying other dishes on the menu. Welcome, Pye Boat Noodle!
Pye Boat Noodle, 35-13 Broadway, Astoria, New York 11106, Facebook
This area is Totally lacking a Vietnamese restaurant. Although the place looks gorgeous we are at saturation point. I agree with Jon, I Unfortnatly live very close to said “microwaved Pho” joint. It’s a shameful representation.
Great Boat Noodle!!!!!!! Been searching for real Thai Boat Noodle all over New York. Thanks Pye for brining it to Astoria..
The place looks really nice and I’ll definitely try it, but I have to say that I think the neighborhood really has reached a saturation point when it comes to Thai places. Same goes for Burger restaurants. If someone were to open a nice Vietnamese (not somewhere where they nuke your soup in a microwave), Korean, or Malaysian place, I think they’d make a killing!
2 questions: How is the heat?
and is it comparable to Sri Pha Phai?