Restaurants & Bars
UES Thai Restaurant Reopens With New, Michelin-Starred Menu
A shuttered, Michelin-starred Thai eatery in Queens has been reborn on the Upper East Side, thanks to a revamp of the restaurant PuTawn.
UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Upper East Side's Thai food scene got more exciting this month, as the restaurant PuTawn reopened with a new name and menu borrowed from another acclaimed eatery.
First opened in 2016 on First Avenue near East 82nd Street, the restaurant closed earlier this year before reopening in mid-August under the name Zabb PuTawn.
Its owners are Chanchai (Charles) Khampinchai and Therdtus (Tony) Rittaprom, a former chef at Zabb Elee: a Thai restaurant in Jackson Heights, Queens that was one of the borough's only restaurants to win a Michelin star in 2015. Despite the accolade, it closed following a sale in 2016, and its East Village outpost also shut down soon after.
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Now, that bygone business has been revived on the Upper East Side. Zabb PuTawn has brought back much of the menu from Zabb Elee, including its focus on delicacies from Isan, the northeastern region of Thailand.
Dishes range from papaya salad to fermented blue crab to larb moo kua, a dish of pork and liver combined with roasted spices and peppers that the restaurant says is the first of its kind in New York.
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Rittaprom and Khampinchai met in 2012 at Zabb Elee, where Rittaprom was working as a chef. Khampinchai, who was not yet a partner in the business, said he was blown away by the offerings.
"I had been in the States for so many years and never had such delicious Thai food," Khampinchai said in a news release.
The two opened PuTawn five years ago, with a focus on Northern Thai food that has been bolstered through the recent rebranding. (The word PuTawn means "suburb," while Zabb translates to "craveably delicious," the restaurant says.
"I missed making these dishes that my parents taught me how to make back home," Rittaprom said.
Other items on Zabb PuTawn's long menu include several soups, seafood and vegetarian entrées, curries, wok stir-fries and familiar dishes like pad thai and drunken noodles.
Zabb PuTawn is open daily from 12-10 p.m. at 1584 First Ave., between East 82nd and 83rd streets.
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