Norma Hell's Kitchen

Soothr's Long Island City outpost carries the East Village original's reputation for regionally rooted Thai cooking into Queens, and by most accounts it has settled quickly into the role of neighborhood anchor rather than hype destination.

Fort Greene has quietly become one of Brooklyn's best Thai corridors, and Glin Thai Bistro, on Myrtle between Washington Park and Carlton, makes the case loudly.

Murray Hill isn't exactly where I expect to find myself at 3 a.m., but Mira keeps the lights on until 4, which already makes it an outlier in a neighborhood that usually rolls up the sidewalks early.

Vintage Green is the Upper East Side rooftop that does the harder thing — pairing a genuine view with a kitchen that reportedly takes the cooking seriously, rather than coasting on the terrace alone.

Here's the thing about a Midtown Thai spot a few steps from Grand Central: it could phone it in and still fill tables off commuter foot traffic.