Fine Thai in Tuckahoe

When I told a friend I was going to a new Thai place in Tuckahoe her eyes lit up. “Can we join you,” she asked? She called back to say her son decided to come along and then another couple chimed in. Suddenly our group of three had grown into a party of eight. While Thai food was popular here years ago, it's now often called Asian Fusion - - and when eating at one of the many local Pan Asian spots, you never know if you’ll be eating sushi, Chinese or tempura. However, Aries Fine Thai Cuisine in Tuckahoe is all-Thai – like the Thai food you remember from the good old days.

It wasn’t easy to find Aries – it’s tucked under the bridge near the station in Tuckahoe, and due to a closed street, we parked on the east side of the tracks and traversed the bridge to get there. The restaurant is spacious, featuring huge fish tanks filled with colorful tropical fish. The decor looks retro and the bar is dark  for now as Aries has no liquor license. It’s BYOB – but as there’s no corkage fee, it turns out to be a good deal for customers.

The menu is expansive and luckily our large table of eight afforded us the chance to sample a good deal of their selections.

The appetizer list is appetizing indeed. Unable to select which items to order, we practically ordered them all. Notable were the golden curry puffs, which were filled with chicken, potatoes, and onion spiced with curry as well as the crispy Thai calamari, fried rings of calamari served with a spicy mayonnaise dipping sauce. My favorite was the steamed Thai dumplings, which were minced chicken, shallots, and peanuts wrapped in a steamed rice noodle. We also shared the summer rolls, Aries version of crispy Thai “spring rolls” packed with carrots, lettuce, mint, and basil, accompanied by tamarind sauce. Don’t forget the soup. The Tom Ka Kai or coconut soup with chicken, and lemon grass comes in a bowl that is big enough to share and was steamy and flavorful.

No Thai meal is complete without pad Thai, and Aries version comes with a choice of vegetable, pork, chicken, beef or shrimp. These soft noodles, stir fried with egg, bean curd, bean sprouts and peanuts was enough for dinner itself.

Another dish that featured coconut milk was the Massaman curry with chicken, sweet onions and potatoes, served boiling in it own little hot pot. The curry can be made as a mild or as hot as you like – and this one is good comfort food for a cold night.

From the special menu, we opted for the grilled whole fish, served with scallions, ginger, soy, rice and vegetables. If you don’t mind looking at the head and the tail, go for the red snapper, which was moist and tasty. Someone at the table even ordered frogs legs with spicy basil – don’t ask me how it was because frogs are not my thing!

The waiter also insisted that we try the sticky rice pictured here. And as if that wasn’t enough, we sampled two desserts, a fried ice cream with raspberry sauce that was quickly devoured as well as sticky rice with sweet mango, Aries version of rice pudding.

The service was fast and the staff is eager to please. Given the amount of food we consumed, prices seemed very reasonable. Let the waiter know that you read about them on Scarsdale10583 and they are sure to give you a warm welcome.

Aries Fine Thai Cuisine
90 Yonkers AvenueTuckahoe, NY 10707
www.ariesfinethaicuisine.com
914-771-8200