Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 154

G18 SMALL BITES Jaiya 5 The cuisine of winter is a specialty at these three warm restaurants ARTURO'S 246-04 Jericho Tpke Bellerose 516-352-7418 Steady consistently satisfying Artur-o's ensures return visits with hearty Italian dishes Sample the excellent spaghetti alia carbonara farfalle with sausages and broccoli rabe the juicy steak alia pizzaiola osso buco and foamy zabaglione heady with Marsala PUMPERNICKELS 640 Main St North port 631-757-7959 This veteran restaurant has undergone a rebirth And the German food can be quite good Try the platter of wursts with mashed potatoes or the thick loin of pork Sauerbraten is tender though not too sweet-tart and flanked by red cabbage and dumplings Skip underseasoned beef Stroganoff 46 OLD COUNTRY RD HICKSVILLE 516-681-3400 wwwjaiyacom By Peter ianotti STAFF WRITER Jaiya which decades ago sparked the Thai explosion in Queens now ignites more fireworks in suburbia It's the latest restaurant giving the vibrant cuisine a presence east of the city To an area where so many Chinese spots have become defined by middling takeout and Japanese eateries seem increasingly generic Jaiya brings big flavors Jaiya recently closed its wildly popular Elm-hurst storefront moving to this Hicksville location Jaiya in Manhattan still is open The old reliable newcomer is "Thai-Oriental" which translates into some curries and Chinese preparations But you're here for Thai adventures sweet and sour hot and salty They're served in a spacious politely neutral dining room with some luminescent artwork and tall windows looking onto the traffic of Old Country Road All signs of previous occupants gradually are departing Arrivals include zesty barbecued Chinese sausages with chiles and lemon juice onions and cucumbers A rush of fresh mint scallions and dried chiles jump-starts the ground beef in lab-nur a snappy appetizer "Naked shrimp" are barbecued and spiked with mint chile paste and lemon juice for an invigorating opener "Dancing shrimp" however are more minuet than tango despite similar ingredients Barbecued squid: pretty tough sweet ZLATA PRAHA 28-48 31st St Astoria 718-721-6122 Czech and Slovak cooking once a Yorkville mainstay has a cozy bastion at this little restaurant The cold-weather comforts include stuffed cabbage stuffed peppers pork chops with onions peppers and tomato beef goulash chicken paprikash and boiled beef in dill sauce Pilsner Urquell helps too Peter Gianotti Newsdav Photo Dick Yarwn with some of the offerings Charles Pokpoonpipat the son of Jaiya owner at the restaurant's new Hicksville location WINES OF nun mi Hnin LUIUU I5LHNU ly sauced Tod mun-pla the Thai-spiced fish cake also is rubberized and forgettable Instead sample the generous pork or beef satay or the terrific nam-sod a lively and balanced mix of ground pork ginger peanuts chiles onions and lemon juice Mee-krob the familiar union of crunchy glass noodles shrimp pork and chicken in plum sauce is respectable stuff You may fire up the palate with Thai-style shrimp soup and chicken-and-coconut milk soup Milder routes run to soups of salted cabbage and ground pork and chicken and rice Jaiya prepares a savory roast duck served in a pot Pad Thai the classic rice-noodle dish is a well-made familiar choice likewise the fried soy sauce noodles with pork or beef and fried rice noodles with chicken and egg The vegetable fried rice is routine The lunch specials come with soup and either egg roll and fried rice or vegetable salad But you may happily order from the main menu all day For dessert there's a mellow pumpkin custard Or consider the neatly wrapped cylinders of fried banana Ice creams are the alternatives But you're not far Just in time for Valentine's Day comes a two-glass serving of dessert wine from Bidwell Vineyards Bidwell one of the older Long Island wineries had never made a late-harvest wine till now The fruit definitely was ripe for 2001 Late Harvest Riesling with accents of peach and apricot Bidwell produced 50 of the 24-bottle cases Bottles are for sale at the winery on Route 48 in Cutchogue 631-734-5200 Each little bottle is about $9 Full-size and familiar is Bidwell's 2001 White Riesling It's a very accessible fruity easygoing riesling and a fine match with ham roast pork turkey trout Bidwell made 700 cases A bottle of the white riesling available at wine shops is about $10 Peter Gianotti from Broadway and the pleasures of the Hicksville Sweet Shop for that kind of finale Exit Jaiya with a glow Newsday Supper Club Wondering where to dine out tonight? Let your guide be the Newsday Long Island Supper Club with its database of more than 400 restaurant reviews Look for restaurants by location rating cuisine or setting (a water view perhaps?) Keep abreast of restaurant openings and staff changes with Epicurean E-mail and receive advance notification of restaurant reviews Rate dining establishments yourself and e-mail questions to Newsday restaurant critics Peter Gi-anotti and Joan Reminick A year's membership is $1495 For details vujt http: 1 1 supperclubnewtidaycom curry balancing the spices The kitchen will raise or lower the BTUs on request but you're better off not asking that they apply the blowtorch directly to your palate Chicken in the "house special sauce" is bland breast meat but it's given a boost with fragrant Thai seasoning Chicken with baby corn doesn't get that benefit The dish is just dull You'll prefer either the chicken with chile and basil leaves or with chile and onions Red snapper crisp and snowy is very good in a near-syrupy chile-studded sauce and the whole fish is appealing in ginger sauce too Take a Chinese turn with a tasty rich version of lobster Hunan-style "Jaiya baked special shrimp" is a plump quartet atop clear noodles in very satisfying fish broth ASSESSMENT: Thai star moves east OPEN: Every day for lunch and dinner PRICE RANGE: Dinner main courses S925 to $1895 appetizers $425 to $1050 soups $625 to $1250 Lunch specials $695 to $895 CREDIT CARDS: All major cards WHEELCHAIR ACCESS: Steps at sot retries DIRECTIONS: North side just west of Route 107 four stars mean outstanding three excellent: two very good: one good: none fair or poor For more Newsday dining and food stories visit newsdaycomfood on the Internet.