By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
INWOOD — Put away those MetroCards, Inwood, there is no need to trek downtown to get your Thai on anymore.
At least that’s what the owners of Yummy Thai, the area’s newest restaurant, are banking on as they pan to open their doors on Monday, August 16.
“It’s so exciting to hear that people want to eat Thai food in Inwood,” said co-owner George Almendres, who is part of a consortium of restaurant owners who own Bangkok Heights and Ta Cocina in the Hudson Heights section of Washington Heights.
Yummy Thai takes the place of the former Park Terrace Bistro, a Michelin Guide rated restauarant on Broadway between 207th and 211th streets that closed last year.
The new Thai eatery is one of at least ten new restaurants that have opened or plan to open in Inwood this summer — a far cry from the limited dining scene the area had just a few years back.
Elaine Burt has lived in Inwood since 2001, when the only alternative to Dominican rotisserie chicken or Irish pubs was the now-defunct restaurant on West 207th Street called “Hoppin’ Jalapenos.” (A 2003 Chowhound review of the restaurant lamented the few eating choices in Inwood.)
Burt, 47, said it had been exciting to see new restaurants move uptown over the past several years and she especially looks forward to finding more vegetarian options in Inwood.
“I love Thai food,” she said, “ but more than anything I just like having variety.”
Yummy Thai co-owner Almendres said that in addition to selling delicious meals for hungry patrons, he wants to make the restaurant a real neighborhood joint. In order to do so, he and his staff plan to hold a meet and greet on Monday, between 6 and 9 p.m. for residents and foodies alike to enjoy a free buffet meal to celebrate their opening.
“It’s nice to come to a neighborhood where you are welcome and they are excited to be part of the family,” he said. “We have that old mentality where we know people need to feel a restaurant is their home too."
