Neighborhood Eats: 'Pye Boat Noodle' in Astoria a throwback to old Bangkok

ASTORIA, Queens (WABC) -- 'Pye Boat Noodle' serves Thai food, but they're not cooking up your typical pad Thai. Bird Siriboon and his wife, Thon, embrace the memories of Thailand in their food.

'Pye' refers to a paddle used for small boats on the canals in Bangkok that served noodles to people along the canal - that's how they came up with the name for the restaurant. The restaurant is located on 35-13 in Astoria, Queens, and inside, it's a throwback to old Bangkok.

"We actually wanted to remake the 60s and 70s of Thailand - sort of like an old house," says Bird.

The menu features traditional dishes like papaya salad or larb, a spicy ground pork dish, but the emphasis is on street food and noodle soups, like the Sukhothai soup.

Sukhothai soup pulls a bunch of different ingredients together with thin rice noodles that cook in seconds - bean sprouts, roast pork, dried baby shrimp and ground pork - all drowned by a rich chicken broth.

The soup is then topped with long beans, scallions, peppers, cilantro, peanuts and fried pork skin for extra crunch. The soup is salty, sweet and spicy all at once.

"The food is so very authentic - I love everything about it," says one customer.

It's food off the beaten path that's attracting those with a craving for home.

Sukothai Recipe:

Ingredients for stock:

Makes 5-6 servings

1 2-3 pound chicken carcass

1/3 daikon radish (peeled and cut into thick pieces)

1/2 carrot (peeled and cut into thick pieces)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper powder

1 teaspoon sugar

3 TBLS fish sauce

2 tsp thin soy sauce

1 pack of thin rice noodles

Toppings (per serving):

cup bean sprouts

3 slices pork (boiled or roasted and sliced)

cup minced pork (boiled)

cup dried baby shrimp

1 tsp fried garlic

1 TBLS crushed roasted peanuts

1 tsp sliced scallions

1 TBLS fried pork skin

2 sprigs cilantro

1 tsp sliced jalapenos

2 tsp long beans (boiled, cut into bite size)

lime

1 tsp Roasted chilis

Method:

Place chicken carcass, carrot, white radish in a stock pot. Cover all with cold water. Bring up to a simmer.

Scoop up and disregard the brown "foam" forming at the top of the stock. Add garlic, salt, pepper and fish stock to taste. Simmer for about 4 hours

When broth is done cook noodles in boiling water until tender, but still slightly firm. In large soup bowl, pour soup broth over bean sprouts and noodles. Then add all the toppings. Serve hot!