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CultureQuiet 4d · day 4

Ugly Baby reopens in Williamsburg after nearly two years

Chef Sirichai Sreparplarn's acclaimed Thai restaurant returns in a larger space with an expanded menu.

newest coverage 4d agosummary written 4d ago3 pieces MastodonNewswires

What to know

  • Ugly Baby, the acclaimed Brooklyn Thai restaurant, has reopened in Williamsburg after closing nearly two years ago due to owner burnout from crowds.
  • The new location is more than twice the size of the original Carroll Gardens space and features a three-tier heat-level menu structure.
  • Chef Sirichai Sreparplarn, a Bangkok native, is back in the kitchen offering intensely spicy dishes that remain the restaurant's signature draw.

“A soft stir-fry of ground pork belly, umami-charged with shrimp paste and garnished with slivers of tomato-red hot peppers, whose heat crackled and blossomed against a caramel sweetness in the sauce.”

Helen Rosner, New Yorker food critic · The New Yorker ↗

Sirichai Sreparplarn Chef and owner of Ugly BabyHelen Rosner Food critic at The New Yorker

Ugly Baby reopens in Williamsburg after nearly two years
New Yorker

How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts

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Sep 21Sep 22yesterdaynow · 9:53 AM ET
  1. background

    Helen Rosner reviews Ugly Baby as amplified sensory experience — New Yorker critic Helen Rosner reviews the reopened restaurant, characterizing it as a place of deliberate sensory overwhelm rather than intimate dining. She praises dishes like the ground pork belly stir-fry and strawberry-chili salad, comparing the experience to the psychological concept of 'benign masochism' that Paul Rozin identified in chili consumption.

  2. 1
    “You don't come to Ugly Baby for conversation, any more than you would a night club; like a night club, it's a place for pleasurable overwhelm.”
    — Helen Rosner, New Yorker food critic · source
    1. 1 outlet Restaurant Review: Ugly Baby

      first by New Yorker, 4d ago

    • Ugly Baby Is Hot but Has a Personality, Too https://www. newyorker.com/culture/the-food -scene/ugly-baby-is-hot-but-has-a-personality-too?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub Posted into Culture @ culture-NewYorker

      NewYorker@flipboard.comMastodon4d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    1 more of the top 2 · 2 posts in this stretch
    • dnc@vive.im

      Restaurant Review: Ugly Baby | The New Yorker https://www. diningandcooking.com/restauran ts/29690/ # Restaurant # Restaurants # reviews # ThaiRestaurants

      dnc@vive.imMastodon4d agoview on Mastodon ↗
    all of them →
  3. background

    Ugly Baby closes in Carroll Gardens — After nearly seven years of operation, Sreparplarn announced the restaurant's closure, citing exhaustion from relentless crowds and packed, chaotic dining conditions. He said he needed a break and time to potentially write a cookbook. The lease was signed over to former Ugly Baby employees who converted it into Hungry Thirsty, a Thai street food restaurant.

  4. background

    Sirichai Sreparplarn opens Ugly Baby in Carroll Gardens — Chef Sirichai Sreparplarn, a Bangkok native, opened Ugly Baby to showcase his gastronomic research into Thai cuisine from both the north and south of Thailand. The restaurant became known for extremely spicy dishes including duck laab and kua kling, becoming one of the best Thai restaurants in Brooklyn.

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