Tag: sticky rice

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07/17/17 8:49am

Elmhurst’s New Hug Esan is for Lovers 

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Gorgeous gai yang studded with herbs and spices.

“I guess Queens is still the only place to go,” read a lament about the state of Thai food in Brooklyn. To put a finer point on, it Elmhurst, is the place to go. And, to narrow it down even further, Hug Esan, is the place,  at least so it’s been for the past 11 days for me and a rather large chunk of the local Thai community.

I’d been watching the space—carved out of the first floor of an apartment building—for months. The name might sound like a character from a Thai version of Starsky and Hutch, but Hug means “love” in Thailand’s Esan dialect.  (more…)

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The Sweet Spot
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01/19/17 1:52pm

Sugar Club’s ‘Thai Rice Krispy Treats’ Rock

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Khao taen: crunchy, sweet, craveable.

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

Last time I checked  Rice Krispies weren’t part of the traditional Thai pantry. That doesn’t prevent me from thinking of khao taen—crispy disks of fried rice drizzled with cane sugar caramel—as Thai Rice Krispy treats. They’re a common street food in Thailand. Here in Queens, I found them at Sugar Club.

They’re made with sticky rice as I learned from reading a recipe over at She Simmers Thai Cooking. Truth be told they’re way crunchier than Rice Krispy treats and eminently craveable. I usually buy a box for dessert with Thai coffee after chicken and rice soup at Eim Khao Mun Kai. I always promise myself that I’ll eat only one or two pieces—four at most—but wind up polishing off the whole lot.

Sugar Club, 81-18 Broadway, Elmhurst, 718-565-9018

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The Sweet Spot
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07/25/16 7:56pm

Thai Sticky Rice and the Pleasant Shock of the Neuw

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Sugar Club’s revelatory khao neuw na pla.

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

Half a lifetime ago Zak Pelaccio taught me to ball up khao neuw or Thai sticky rice and dredge it through the bracing liquour that sat at the bottom of a platter of papaya salad. We were gathered around the table at what was then the best Thai restaurant in Queens, Zabb Elee. Zabb is gone and Zak decamped for Hudson, New York, a while back. As for me I’m still in Queens, and have watched the Thai restaurant scene in the environs of Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Woodside blossom.

Whenever I’m at a Thai table there’s always sticky rice. Sometimes it acts a foil for savory dishes. Sometimes it’s the centerpiece of a dessert as with the pandan-scented sticky rice that acts as the foundation for Sugar Club’s over-the-top mango sticky rice.  (more…)

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The Sweet Spot
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04/20/15 10:35am

Sugar Club’s Emerald Mango Elevates Thai Dessert

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Photo: Sutthaya Chalassathien

PLEASE NOTE THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED

“Have you tried mango sticky rice?” the kid who makes my Thai coffee at Sugar Club asked one Saturday afternoon. “Yeah sure,” I thought to myself as I sipped my coffee. “It’s just mango and warm sticky rice with condensed milk.”

He seemed inordinately excited about it though, so one day a few weeks later, after having some noodles at Pata Paplean and paying my respects to the Emerald Buddha at Wat Buddha Thai Thavorn Vanaram, I returned to try Sugar Club’s take on the classic Thai dessert. When it landed on the table I immediately saw why my young friend was so jazzed about. With its cloud of whipped cream atop homemade mango ice cream and fresh cubes of mango all surmounting pale green sticky rice, Sugar Club’s creation is part Thai dessert, part sundae. (more…)

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