A decade ago, Hell’s Kitchen was the foremost destination for Thai food in the city, with such prominent players asand Pam Real Thai Food in the neighborhood. At the time I walked the length of 9th Avenue from 53rd Street down to 36th Street, and counted 38 Thai restaurants on the avenue and side streets, sometimes ganged up in threes and fours on a single block, with multiple branches of some like Wondee Siam.
What could be the reason? Well, the avenue is handy to several transportation hubs, including Penn Station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and Times Square subways, and much of the city’s Chinese population must pass through these points to access Brooklyn, Queens, and the New Jersey suburbs. A friend also suggested that the proximity of the newon 12th Avenue and 42nd Street also plays a role. Perhaps the most important is the increasing popularity of Chinese food in the city.