A Review of Elephant Trail Restaurant, in Avon The Elephant Trail restaurant, in Avon, decorated throughout with pachyderms - on sequined wall hangings, a carved wooden mask and glass-covered tablecloths - serves a range of tasty Thai dishes, most of which are prepared with fresh, crispy vegetables and only a moderate amount of chili pepper. If the Elephant Trail's use of pepper is comparatively light, its preparation of greens is straight from Bangkok, where the crunch of raw fruit and veggies is greatly appreciated. Also in the authentic Thai tradition, the kitchen at the Elephant Trail (which has a sister restaurant, Blue Elephant Trail, in West Hartford) successfully integrates disparate assertive seasonings like ginger, garlic, lime juice, lemon grass, coconut milk and basil. Yum larb, one of several flavorful salads on the menu, is a case in point. Coarsely ground beef (chicken is offered as an alternative), nested into a wedge of iceberg, is dressed with lime juice, red pepper flakes, cilantro and toasted rice powder. There's nothing fancy about this blend of seasonings, yet the rice contributes an intriguing nuttiness, while the citrus, pepper and green herbs yield a refreshing counternote. Yum woon sen reflects similar finesse, with lime juice, lemon grass and a sweet chili sauce bringing harmony to a salad of rice noodles, ground pork, red onions and scallions. Many of the same ingredients are in yum pla muek, a garlicky squid salad, but here the tender squid, attractively crosshatched but saturated in a cloyingly sweet chili sauce, would have benefited from the salty infusion of nam pla prig (based on fish sauce) or a sourish nam pla waan (derived from tamarind). Both sauces are staples of Thai cuisine that bring balance to the palate. Elephant Trail offers neither, with the result that many of its dishes, while generally pleasing, are far too sweet. This is especially true of the appetizers: more than half of the dozen on the menu were paired with the same sweet chili dipping sauce. Other sauces, like a hoisin-based accompaniment to Thai summer rolls (plump rice paper wraps filled with sizable shrimp, noodles, bean sprouts, carrots and iceberg) and the cucumber relish of both satay (four skewers of peanut-dressed chicken) and tod mun pla (oily, tired-looking fish cakes seasoned with lemon grass) proved to be no less sugary. Even tom yum soup, an otherwise enjoyable bowl simmering with chicken, mushrooms, bell peppers, cilantro and lime juice, was more sweet than peppery-sour, as is traditional. Entrees are not spared this treatment, but several rise above it. A particular standout is Elephant Trail kai ka-pan, a delicious panoply of ground chicken, minced onion, garlic, lemon grass and jalapeños. With its edge of salty-spiciness (and turmeric coloring), it made a welcome contrast to earlier dishes. More robust, with plenty of fresh ginger and garlic, is ginger crispy duck, another fine choice. Its chunks of deboned duck were sublimely tender and the array of vegetables (bell peppers, carrots, snow peas, mushrooms, scallions, onions) lent appealing color to the platter. Like the duck, Thai basil red snapper is wok-fried. The foot-long fish, served whole, was crispy yet moist and engagingly flavored with fresh basil, garlic, bell peppers and lime (and possibly tamarind). Salmon, in a house special that was simply called garlic, was cooked with the same aplomb. Sweet and crispy, as if fried in brown sugar, the large filet was easily separated into succulent flakes. My only disappointment was that there was too little bok choy and napa cabbage with this dish. An otherwise agreeable red curry brought a different sort of disappointment: the taste of canned bamboo shoots overwhelmed the delicate interplay of spicy basil and rich coconut milk. And the noodles at the center of the pad Thai, limp with sweet chili sauce, might have benefited from a dose of lime and fish sauce. Waiters at Elephant Trail are consistently friendly. They do, however, habitually bring successive courses without clearing previous ones so that by dessert, your table, overcrowded with soup bowls, appetizer plates and partially eaten entrees, may only have space for a martini glass of iced litchi. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The Elephant Trail Restaurant 39 East Main Street (Route 44) Avon (860) 677-0065 theelephanttrail.com THE SPACE Homey one-room restaurant evokes old Siam with dangling paper lampshades, a carved wooden figurine, an elephant mask, and sequined and phoenix-like wall hangings. About 45 seats, at tables and booths, plus an additional dozen at three tables outside. THE CROWD Couples, friends and family groups, attracted by modestly priced, moderately seasoned Thai cuisine. THE BAR No bar, and strictly a B.Y.O.B. establishment, with a 50-cent corkage fee per person. Non-alcoholic beverages include Thai iced tea, mango juice and fresh lemonade (from $3 to $3.50). THE BILL Appetizers, $4 to $11; soup, $3.50 to $6; main courses, $10 to $24; desserts, $3.50 to $7. All major credit cards accepted. WHAT WE LIKED Thai summer rolls, chicken satay, yum larb, yum woon sen, yum pla muek; Elephant Trail kai ka-pan, crispy ginger duck, Thai basil red snapper, garlic (with salmon), pineapple fried rice; longan, mango with sweet rice. IF YOU GO Monday through Saturday, from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Sunday. Reservations recommended, especially on weekends.