Zabb Elee

A couple of years ago, we asked a friend for recommendations for places to eat in Rome. He gave us a few specifics and one general admonishment: don’t eat anywhere that has pictures on the menu. We thought of him recently as we sat down to lunch at the newly opened second branch of Zabb Elee, a Thai restaurant, in the East Village. The menu, you see, was pretty much all pictures.

And that’s a good thing, since the Thai served here won’t be familiar to most eaters, us included. Instead of red curry with bamboo shoots, pad Thai, or other carryout staples, we ordered duck larb, gang som (papaya and shrimp in a light lime-chili sauce), and moo yang (barbecued pork), in part because the pictures looked so very appetizing. We hope ours do too, as these are dishes --- and a restaurant --- worth trying: the duck larb, in particular, offered all kinds of textures, from chewy duck to sharp red onion to springy mint and crunchy rough-ground rice, a chopped meat salad whose image is worth 1000 lip smacks, at least.