Thai restaurant to open in 'emerging neighborhood.' (Lavo Thai Seafood Restaurant)

Thai restaurant to open in |emerging neighborhood'

A new Thai seafood restaurant, to be called Lavo Thai Seafood Restaurant, will be opening in September at the Food Mall on Third Avenue at 12th Street, joining three other ethnic restaurants.

The Third Avenue corridor, between 11th and 14th Streets, professionals in the area say, is changing rapidly from a little-known area to a lively neighborhood of affordable restaurants, entertainment and housing.

The 55-seat establishment will serve traditional Thai food for lunch and dinner in a classically Thai environment. Dinner checks will average $11, say owners Chef Varapora Sangsudham and her husband, Roger. Sangsudham was most recently the chief chef at Siam Garden Cuisine in Brooklyn Heights. She learned traditional Thai cooking techniques from her mother, who served as the chief chef at the locally popular Lobburi Restaurant outside Bangkok.

Lavo Thai Seafood Restaurant joins an array of ethnic restaurants already at the Food Mall, including Shaun's Bagel Cafe, Noodle King Restaurant and Luigi's 3rd Ave. Pizza.

"We are a spoonful of the New York melting pot on Third Avenue," said Stephen Anfang and Tony Goldman, owners of the Food Mall. "All our restaurants are affordable," added Mr. Anfang. "And affordable seems to be the buzz-word today among restaurant-goers."

On the entertainment side, the new Loew's seven-cinema complex opened early this summer down the block on Third Avenue at 11th Street. The Variety Photo Plays, a former X-rated theater, at 14th Street and Third Avenue, that closed two years ago, will reopen this year as the largest Off-Broadway theater in New York. The 499-seat theater, to be called the Variety Arts, is being developed by Ben Sprecher and William Miller, with backing by The Shubert Organization.

Other developments in the vicinity include a new six-screen cinema complex on Second Avenue at 1 2th Street and new residential condominium and rental buildings. Already in place within three blocks of the Food Mall are two New York University dormitories and New School housing. A new dormitory for Cooper Union is under construction.