Pa-Plern

After searching online for a good Thai place, I stumbled upon Pa-​Plern which had essentially no reviews. I ventured out to unchartered territory– the restaurant, which was kind of empty, immediately reminded me of an unfinished basement, a bit dingy. Decided to stay anyway. Pa-​Plern was dimly lit with an ambience of Thai music playing lightly in the background. My siblings and I decided to start off with some appetizers. The appetizers were fantastic and also inexpensive. We had the Drunkman noodles, which were spiced to perfection as well as the Pad Thai which was pretty much exactly how you would expect them. The only downside was that they didn’t serve dessert. but we thought this was totally reasonable because the Dessert Truck Works just happened to be next door.

I’ve been trying to make it over to Eastern Alley for some time. Unfortunately, when I walked over to Clinton Street, the short-​lived, much-​hyped experiment was gone, and in its place is the aptly named* Pa-​Plern.
It looked like a nice enough little spot (with what I’m assuming is the exact same décor as Eastern Alley), and I too hungry to make another decision, so we stayed. The menu, however, isn’t the interesting Asian fusion I expected, but a fairly run-​of-​the-​mill list of Thai dishes.
Our server was very cute and eager to please; she made recommendations, refilled my water every few minutes, and was all over clearing finished plates. And yes, perhaps the service was only so attentive because we were one of two tables in the place, but I can’t knock her on hypothetical busy situations.
We tried the crispy duck rolls for an appetizer (on her recommendation), which were tasty fried cigar-​like things filled with glass noodles and duck. In preparation for future visits, we went with our usual Thai fare: tofu pad Thai for her, and drunken noodles for me. Both were extremely flavorful, and we scarfed it all down, much to our dismay later (large portions).
Overall, the food seems to be a cut above Thai on Clinton, BKKafe, Thailand Café, and whatever other Thai incarnations occupied this spot prior to Eastern Alley.
Perhaps this will be the one that sticks. I hope so, for our sweet server’s sake.
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*Actually, I have no idea what Pa-​Plern means, even after doing extensive research. (And by «extensive,» I mean that I googled it, and scanned the results for less than 20 seconds.) Admittedly, this review would’ve been much, much better if I could explain the origins of the name. I’ve failed you, and I’m sorry. This is a fairly lengthy footnote.