New Yorkers all over were ugly crying when they heard the news that Ugly Baby, the Carroll Gardens Thai restaurant that’s been serving spicy (and we mean spicy) Thai food since 2017, announced it would be closing its doors on December 22nd, 2024.
The restaurant had posted on Instagram:
We are not here to fit in. We come to change…It’s all about experience here at the restaurant that was built by literally two hands and two pieces of stone. We have pounded batches of curry paste everyday for 7 years. That’s what we are proud of the most…Thank you for making us part of NYC’s restaurant scene these last 7 years. We’ve made great friends and had great times, but this is the end of our journey.
Following the news, the restaurant’s already consistently long lines expanded to hours-long waits for fans of the restaurant looking to get just one last taste before its closing. Many also took to social media to express their sadness, with some writing on Reddit, “This is so upsetting…I will never forget their spiciest dishes that made me sweat in the best way possible,” and “Deeply sad.”
The reason for the closure wasn’t due to landlord issues, low business, a bad post-health-inspection letter grade or anything like that. Rather, chef Sirichai Sreparplarn told Eater that he was simply “tired, and wanted to focus on other projects like a cookbook.”
And though we’ll never get our Ugly Baby back, there is some good news: former employees of the restaurant are setting out to open their own Thai restaurant in the same space! Eater writes that the new venture will be called Hungry Thirsty. Napat Ruangphung and Thanatharn Kulaptip will be the ones behind the new restaurant; both former servers at Ugly Baby.
Prasert “Tee” Kanghae, who also worked in the Ugly Baby kitchen before its closure, will be Hungry Thirsty’s head chef, cooking up a menu of delicious dishes that emphasize Southern Thailand. Some dishes will also be adaptations from Ugly Baby, like the Beef Shank Penang, a beloved Ugly Baby fav.
Ruangphung told Eater:
We’ll try our hardest to get as close as we can to recreate the original recipes. We’re not Ugly Baby — but we are certainly inspired by Ugly Baby.
Hungry Thirsty is aiming to open at the end of January or early February. Similar to Ugly Baby they’ll only be offering walk-ins–at least to start.