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Aura promises Thai fusion. What it delivers are a few Chinese and Japanese dishes (shumai, edamame, spring rolls) on a standard Thai menu. Considering the restaurant’s lineage—part of Parkpoom Wattanasuparp’s otherwise reliable mini-chain, which includes Aceluck and Thai Chaiyo—the kitchen’s job on the culinary transplants alongside flavor-flattened native cuisine comes as a disappointment. Only pad gra praw, intense with chili and basil, packs the punch customers at the sister establishments have come to expect. About all that Aura shares with its kin eateries is an airy, stripped-down aesthetic. Pale yellow walls and exposed brick play off high ceilings, an exposed duct, and blond-wood furniture. Just three watercolors of Thai longboat scenes adorn the walls. — Michael Kaminer

Chicken shumai, $4.95; pad gra praw with chicken, $8.95; Thai shrimp garlic, $12.95