100 Very Best Restaurants 2013: Nava Thai

Many Thai restaurants flag their spiciest dishes on the menu with one or more chili-pepper symbols. Heat is such a foundational element at this tavern-like dining room that pointing it out would be like asking a burger joint to tell you it uses meat. Most dishes wouldn’t exist without it, such as the Floating Market Noodle Soup, a sweet and tangy broth that lashes the tongue. An innocuous-looking salad of country-style pork with cilantro and pulverized rice ignites a series of small fires in the mouth. But heat isn’t the kitchen’s sole preoccupation. In the best dishes, spice, fragrance, and texture are braided into an often thrilling unity. Don’t miss: Larb gai, ground chicken with lime, onion, and chili; crispy mussels; pad Thai; drunken noodles; red curry with pork. Open: Daily for lunch and dinner. Inexpensive.