Unless you have a tongue made of cast iron and a mouth lined with ceramic tiles, the clear noodle salad at Sala Thai Restaurant on 32nd Street, a quarter-mile north of Shea Boulevard, should set your gob ablaze like Los Angeles during the riots, and that's at the "medium" level of spiciness. The first five seconds after you stick a fork of chile-flaked glass noodles in your yap and start gnawing, you think, "Hey, this is no big deal." The next moment you're sucking down syrupy-sweet Thai iced teas like they're water, and breathing fire like you're in a...
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Jackie Mercandetti
Family affair: The Sala Thai team, from left: Chef Somsaun Pluemjit, server Kwang Tannoy, Pluemjit's son Arnit, his brother Aniwat, and Pluemjit's husband/partner Samroeng. Up front, the Pluemjits' daughter Arleena.