Bed-Stuy Restaurant Little Grenjai Sells Thai Burgers From a Takeout Window | Eater NY
"Opened over the weekend in Bed-Stuy, this “Thai American diner” run by Trevor Lombaer and Sutathip Aiemsaard—who met on Tinder in Thailand and have cooked together from food trucks, pop-ups, and a ghost kitchen—marks their first restaurant at 477 Gates Avenue. I appreciated the pared-down menu: an excellent congee made with ground pork and duck broth, and a pad krapow–inspired burger ($10) that is spicy, minty, crunchy, and sweet all at once. The burger starts with a pork-and-beef blend seasoned with soy and oyster sauce, is smashed on the griddle with American cheese, and gets a Bed-Stuy twist on giardiniera (lemongrass and bird’s eye chiles) and a sprig of holy basil in place of lettuce. Their off-script burger sauce—shrimp heads cooked down with fish sauce, palm sugar, and shallots, then mixed with mayonnaise into a bright orange, spicy-sweet paste—is especially memorable (I would slather it on both sides of the bun). They’re currently cooking in an open kitchen on portable electric burners while they wait for gas, and when I tried the krapow burger on opening weekend it was softer and a little dry; I expect those issues will be resolved once they can crank the heat to get the crisp, burnt edges typical of the best smash burgers. Most days orders are handed through a takeout window, and Little Grenjai is open for takeout Wed–Fri 8:30 a.m.–2 p.m., with a roughly 30-seat dining room open Sat–Sun 11 a.m.–4 p.m." - Luke Fortney
