UThai Bistro opens in Woodbury
Khao soi, a Northern Thailand-style curry noodle stew, with chicken, shrimp and crispy egg noodles at UThai Bistro, a new eatery in Woodbury. Credit: Newsday /Scott Vogel
Falling in love with a Thai restaurant is a dangerous thing. Any eatery holding you in its thrall can disappoint, of course, and the bigger the initial impression, the more bitter that disappointment often is. That said, some cuisines seem better suited to flings over commitment, and Thai, with its reliance on ingredients whose availability varies, along with well-trained cooks whose availability also varies, especially in a tight kitchen labor market, is one of these. Thai restaurants love you, then love you not, and anyone pledging their stomach to a single establishment is asking for serious heartbreak, and often heartburn too.
But we serious diners are hopeless romantics, and no amount of warning or past disastrous evenings will keep us out of the dining market for long. A shopping center in Woodbury, say, which is home to a Dunkin’, a Dirty Taco, a Pokeworks and, as of August, Uthai Bistro, which both inspires love and was born of it.
Witness the khao soi, a complexly flavored noodle curry and coconut milk noodle soup, comfort food with a kick, in which shrimp and morsels of chicken swim ($20.95). When it comes to this specialty often associated with the northern city of Chiang Mai, everything hinges on the broth, and Uthai strikes a perfect balance of sweet, spicy and sour. Perfect and labor-intensive. Chef and Bangkok native Apikorn Lombardi (more on that name later) carefully employs three classic curry pastes in its construction — red for spice, panang for sweetness and massaman for a slight smokiness — before adding the proteins and soft noodles, and topping the whole thing with crispy fried egg noodles. The whole thing has a fiendish deliciousness to it.
Equally fine is Lombardi’s Tom Yum fried rice, $27.95 because of the shrimp, calamari and scallops folded into it, and salmon pan-fried on rice paper with steamed bok choy and a ginger teriyaki sauce ($28.95). His Thai-style barbecue (nua yang) features strips of juicy marinated beef and makes for a nifty appetizer, although sadly, my accompanying sticky rice arrived as an impenetrable clump ($13).
Lombardi uses palm sugar and not the white kind, fresh tamarind instead of canned, kaffir lime leaves flown in from California rather than local substitutes — all of which separate Uthai Bistro from lots of other Thai places on the Island. That dedication to quality ingredients helped separate his first restaurant from the pack as well. That would be Maple Thai Eatery, which opened in 2018 in Astoria, Queens.
But if Uthai achieves a similar success here, love will deserve at least some of the credit. Lombardi took the name of his husband Kevin when the two married in 2016, and they now share a home in Ridge — an hourslong daily commute to Queens no longer appeals. Hence Uthai, Woodbury, and a place that ought to make Thai-loving Islanders happy too, and one that, on the evidence of dinnertime’s growing crowds, many have already given their hearts to.
“I’m new in this area and I want to set the standard here,” said chef Lombardi, vowing not to disappoint us no matter how crazy things get. “Yes, it’s good to be busy but I won’t sacrifice quality in any way.”
UThai Bistro is at 8285 Jericho Tpke. in Woodbury, 516-304-5880, uthaiwoodbury.com. Opening hours are Monday through Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday from noon to 10 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 9 p.m.
Newsday writer and restaurant critic Scott Vogel aims for a refreshing, gimlet-eyed take on the Long Island food scene, often while drinking a refreshing gimlet.
