Pete Wells gives one star to Isan Thai spot Somtum Der in the Times this week. On the various papaya salads: One has brined, boiled eggs, which are fluffy and creamy and soothe the burn of the chiles. Another is seasoned with slivers of grilled pork neck, sweet and pink. The one called som tum poo-plara is darker than the rest in color and in flavor because it's mixed with intensely funky fermented fish sauce and rock-hard miniature crabs scooped up in Thai rice paddies. It was the most complexly rewarding on the roster." [NYT]
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