being no stranger to Ridgewood for the past 10 years or so, i've always wondered why there were no proper thai restaurants in a town with so many others. kailash doesn't count, although it's a decent enough indian/thai place.  a few years ago, Malee opened, with little fanfare.  it's quite good for the most part, but their menu is painfully limited.

but in the past year, 2 more thai restaurants opened up.  first it was  A Taste of Thai on broad street.  and more recently, Ridge Thai at 50 chestnut street.

Ridge Thai is a nicely-decorated 24 seat storefront restaurant.  the menu is typical of thai restaurants in this area in number of selections and depth.  a recent meal included beef salad, a dish with chicken, bamboo shoots, peppers and chili, and pad thai (the tried-and-true baseline).

generally speaking, pad thai comes in two types:  the gloppy sweet mess type, and the light and delicate type.  i'm a fan of the latter, and that's just what Ridge Thai is serving.

the beef salad was exploding with spice, acidity, and herbs.  a super rendition of this dish.  ordered "thai spicy", the dish was probably 7 on a spiciness scale of 1 to 10.  very hot for most i'm sure, but certainly not "thai spicy" to my mind.

our chicken dish wasn't as flavorful as i had hoped, but was certainly not a failure.  in fact, most restaurants might have killed this dish with an overly-sweet sauce, but Ridge Thai shows restraint in that department.

the portions are big, which i suppose is a plus for some people.  the entrees come in at about 15 bucks or so.  the 3 dishes above came to 44 bucks before tip. 

the restaurant is BYO and has better-than-average stemware.  there's a parking lot across the street that will charge you 2 dollars, assuming it's not full.  not a bad deal.  no delivery.

this one's a keeper.

ridge thai -50 chestnut street -201.493.9929

the website