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While the Elephant presents itself as a French-Thai bistro, it's not quite the brilliant fusion of two of the world's great cuisines you might expect. The food is elegant but pacified Thai, while the scene is French: dark, loud, crowded, spilling out onto the sidewalk, and usually pretty fun, in a sleazy, chaotic, Lower East Side kind of way. Unless you're the sort of diner who, say, likes attentive service, you'll probably find yourself table-hopping with a glass of Pattaya sangria in one hand and a cone of curly fries in the other, in no time. — Matt Gross