But Uncle Boons has many charms all its own. The owners and chefs, Ann Redding and her husband, Matt Danzer, met while working as cooks at Per Se, and the marks of Thomas Keller’s ballet academy are far more visible than you’d expect at a place that plays warbly Thai covers of “Another Brick in the Wall” and “Hang On, Sloopy.”

A coconut-milk-based curry yellow with fresh turmeric is one key to the greatness of Uncle Boons’s khao soi. But really, everything in the bowl plays a part: the chicken leg stewed to irresistible tenderness, the pickled mustard greens, the big frizz of fried cilantro-flecked egg noodles on top and the same noodles boiled in the curry. I wouldn’t scream if Ms. Redding and Mr. Danzer threw a few more dried chiles into the pot, but this is still the best khao soi I’ve eaten in New York.

Ms. Redding was born in northeastern Thailand, but before opening Uncle Boons she and Mr. Danzer roamed the country, and their cooking does, too. The couple may be in the market for a better electrician. But where it counts, in the kitchen, they have all the power any lover of Thai food could ask for.

Are non-New Yorkers supposed to know where NoLIta is?

7 Spring Street (Elizabeth Street), (646) 370-6650, uncleboons.com