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At this tiny joint—just one table inside and two booths on the sidewalk—there are few frills beyond a portrait of the King and Queen of Thailand, and (more surprising) a snap of the enthusiastic, gifted owner posing with Jessica Alba. But the dishes on this exhaustive menu provide plenty of rewards. The stellar appetizers and the menu’s "signature dishes" are both worth paying a little extra attention to, especially the duck Thai herbal entrée, which pleasingly combines boneless bits of the fowl in a salad of fried Thai basil and lemongrass. The intense spices in this dish make the crispy, smoky duck, deeply savory but not spicy-hot. Also pleasant, but sometimes lacking a little oomph, are the laab (under “salads”), that classic combination of minced chicken, onions, mint leaves, and lime juice. The pleasantly rich desserts, most of which make use of sticky rice, are made with a flair that prevents them from being the afterthought they are elsewhere. — John Rambow

Duck Thai herbal, $13; panang curry, $8; fish cake, $4