Best Thai restaurant
You'd think twice about visiting an eatery called Mold, right? By the same logic, we tend to give places with mouthwatering names a head start. Brown Sugar and Sweet Chili, as last year's champs, already had a head start. So where does that leave them now? Far beyond the competition. With two locations near BU and Fenway and a menu long enough to stretch from one to the other, Brown Sugar has its crowd-pleasing shtick down pat: there's plenty of pad Thai and mix-and-match curry for the student hordes, while chili-heads and other adventurers explore such options as kicky drunken noodles, choo-chee ribs, spicy fried whole fish, and orange-juice-based curries. Thai compatriots, meanwhile, head straight to the Thai-language section. But be warned: where there's something for everyone, everyone's usually there to retrieve it. At least at Mold you could get a seat.

Sweet Chili's Inman Square space (the original branch is in Arlington) is as fair and airy as Brown Sugar's spaces are noisy and dim; similarly, its menu is, indeed, as sweet and simple as the other's is sprawling. Making accommodation rather than authenticity its sine qua non, the menu soothes with coconut, tamarind, ginger, plum, and nuts more than it stimulates with hot pods and garlic cloves. Topped off with a strawberry daiquiri, it's just the thing to smooth the edges of a rough day.

Brown Sugar Café, 1033 Comm Ave, Boston, (617) 787-4242, 129 Jersey Street, Boston, (617) 266-2928; Sweet Chili, 1172-1178 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, (617) 864-4500, 470-472 Mass Ave, Arlington, (781) 646-2400.