Sanook Thai closes in Hicksville, relaunched as Pavirin
Pavirin's fish special is the dish to order at the restaurant that took over the former Sanook Thai in Hicksville. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
One of Long Island's fiercest Thai restaurants, Sanook Thai has closed in Hicksville after less than a year in business. Owned by immigrants from Chiang Mai, Thailand and its eastern neighbor Laos, the small but homey space made Newsday's list of best Thai restaurants last year with its unabashedly flavorful Thai cooking. But fortunately, owners Dumrongsak "Pop" Chaichana and Sengdeuane Sisongksam enlisted friends to take over the restaurant in December. The two could not be reached for comment.
The space is now called Pavirin, named after co-owner Pavirin Sinla, who also co-owns a Thai spa by the same name in Manhattan. She teamed up with veteran chef Ramita "Cute" Chaiyo to serve a new menu of Thai classics. Originally from the province of Phrae in Northern Thailand, "Chef Cute," as she's known, learned to cook at a young age helping her grandmother and mother provide for her five siblings. The new menu ditches some of the more robust offerings like the Lao papaya salad for more approachable curries and stir fries that Sanook's customers gravitated toward. (Many of the servers and kitchen staff from the previous restaurant have been kept on.)
Fried mushrooms at Pavirin in Hicksville taste like American bar food. Credit: Newsday/Andi Berlin
The curry puffs ($9.95) were reliably good, with a scrambled mix of curried potatoes and chicken inside a fluffy pastry shell that dissolves on your tongue. A signature appetizer, the fried mushrooms ($8.95) tasted like the typical American bar snack but with a crumbly fried dumpling-like batter.
But there's a destination dish, which is advertised in a beautiful color photo set on every table. The Pavirin Fish Special ($39.95) is a seafood spectacle that feels almost too big for the room. A whole tilapia is deep fried and presented on a platter, with crispy nuggets of its fishy flesh strewed over the top, making the fish appear twice as large. The meaty pieces are strewed with dried chiles and fried lime and basil leaves, giving it aromatic salad vibes. It takes two people to get through all the bulbs of white fish. But if you do, there's plenty more meat hanging off the sides of the fish. It's a visceral experience that makes the loss of a beloved Thai restaurant a little more palatable.
Pavirin, 96 W. Old Country Rd., Hicksville, 516-261-9778, pavirinthaibistro.com. Open 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4-9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4-10 p.m. Friday, noon to 3 p.m. and 4-10 p.m. Saturday, noon to 3 p.m. and 4-9:0 p.m. Sunday.
Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.
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