Profile

Bangkok-born chef and co-owner Pam Panyasiri is far too busy cooking to fuss over furnishings or decor. Year-round, Christmas ornaments dangle from the ceiling and rock ballads throb from the speakers. Thai cuisine, known for balancing sour, sweet, and salty flavors with chili-infused heat, is represented at Pam by noodles of every persuasion; myriad curries; deep-fried or sautéed duck and fish; and chicken, beef, pork, or seafood in sweet chili or hot curry pastes. Most of Pam’s dishes originate in Bangkok, and are less spicy than the cuisine of the firecracker south. Salads, especially of green papaya, are fresh and brightly flavored. Yum crispy duck, with a sharp-and-tangy lime and chili paste that spills over onto a bed of pineapples and red onions, is substantial and satisfyingly complex, as is tender, deep-fried red snapper dressed with a hot cilantro-chile sauce. Yum goon chiang, wedges of succulent Thai pork sausage, are served with a roasted chili sauce studded with tomato chunks. Heat freaks, take a note: Kaeng tai pla, a yellow curry of fermented fish kidneys seasoned with turmeric and lemongrass, is a southern Thai specialty that will burn the taste buds right off your tongue. — Tom Russell

Panang curry with chicken, $7; green papaya salad, $4.95; crispy duck yum, $9.95; fish Pam’s style chili sauce, market price