Openings

First Look at Lotus of Siam: Impressive Thai in the Former Cru Space

http://images.nymag.com/images/2/daily/2010/10/28_lotusofsiam_190x190.jpg

Despite its strip-mall surroundings, Las Vegas’s Lotus of Siam is a destination restaurant, renowned for chef-owner Saipin Chutima’s accomplished Thai cooking and a shockingly vast wine list specializing in spice-friendly German Rieslings. (It’s been called the best Thai restaurant in America.) Now, after months of stealth staff training, Chutima and her husband, Bill, have established a Greenwich Village beachhead in the room previously occupied by Cru. There’s no firm opening date, but the duo is aiming to open next week. A pared-down menu retains signatures like pork-stuffed chicken wings and the beef tartare called koi soy, and the wine list dips into Cru’s legendary cellar. “We’ll come up with dishes that pair well with Châteauneuf-du-Pape,” says Bill. As for their popular lunch buffet? That stays in Vegas. Click through to see the space.

Lotus of Siam, 24 Fifth Ave., at 9th St.; 212-529-1700

First Look at Lotus of Siam: Impressive Thai in the Former Cru Space