Gaeng Pet Gai

Thai food in New York in the early seventies consisted of a small restaurant on Baxter Street near the courts and a tiny grocery store on upper Broadway that sold Thai fish sauce, galanga, kaffir lime leaves, holy basil, and lemongrass, all those other exotic condiments that make Thai and Lao food unlike other cuisines. The obvious interest of this food, and the industry of Thai immigrants put Thai food on the map overnight, or almost. Today, we can buy domestic lemongrass in rural s