Pata Cafe

Eating at Pata Cafe in Elmhurst reminds us of those scratch-and-sniff stickers we used to hoard in elementary school. That sounds weird, but hear us out. In addition to cooking homestyle Thai food, this cash-and-Venmo-only restaurant also sells lottery tickets—so while you mix a sunny-side-up egg into a plate of ga prao kai dow, releasing the pungent aromas of basil, fish sauce, and bird’s eye chili into the ground beef, you can also (potentially) scratch off a jackpot on the side.

An offshoot of Thai cocktail bar Pata Paplean, Pata Cafe has just three tables, one of them apparently reserved for the doodling younger members of the owners’ family. It’s in a more residential area, south of Queens Blvd., than the cluster of destination Thai restaurants on Broadway, and it’s a good choice when you don’t want to have to choose between those places. The menu here is also streamlined for easy decision-making—mostly salads, comforting noodle dishes, red and green curries, and some grilled proteins—with a crunchy through-line of toasted rice powder.

photo credit: Will Hartman