Ugly Baby

For seven years on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, chef Sirichai Sreparplarn's Ugly Baby was where New York went for Thai food that did not hold back — hot, funky, sour and loud — with lines out the door to prove it. It closed in late 2024, and in 2026 it came back on Grand Street in Williamsburg, in a bigger room with the same bright walls, craft beer and a darker basement dining room below.

The new menu is shorter and leans harder on fish sauce and dried shrimp. The sour sea bass curry topped with pickled bamboo is the one to order, alongside pad ped — hanger steak and honeycomb tripe with green peppercorns and a slow-building burn. Crisp catfish dressed sweet, sour and hot, strawberries with dried shrimp and sweet fish sauce, and a mild omelet soup with pork meatballs give the table some relief.