Success is the only sure way to exorcise such a place, and it appears that Spicy Basil has succeeded against all odds: Almost two years after it signed on for this space, the restaurant is still hanging in. Rarely is the dining room busy, but when every other joint on the block is quiet as a grave, Spicy Basil always has a couple of occupied tables and someone waiting at the counter for a big box of take-away curry and dumplings.
In the year since I reviewed Spicy Basil ("Lots of Luck," June 17, 2004), the kitchen has shaken loose any losers, any sense of wildness or insecurity, and settled into a steady, confident track; producing all the standards of urban Amerasian cuisine and occasionally reaching toward excellence. The miso soup is good, and the peanutty satay sauce is great. Across the board, the curries are better than average, and the Penang curry, a specialty of the house, is a true marvel. But the high point of any meal here is an order of shumai dumplings -- shrimp and pork-stuffed dumplings, wrapped in the house's own dough.
Finally, it looks like a restaurant has broken the curse of 1 Broadway. Spicy Basil isn't going anywhere -- which means that I'll keep coming here whenever I need a fast Thai fix.
