It is almost as if the good Thai restaurants in Colorado Springs are in cahoots. They are perfectly spaced like rival mob families in neighborhoods around the city: Arharn owns the east; Bhan Thai, the southeast; Taste of Thai Spice, the southwest; Wild Ginger, the west side; and NaRai Thai in the northwest. The only neighborhood that went wanting (if you don’t count the hole left downtown when Little Bangkok went belly up) was Briargate on the north.That was fixed this fall when Lanna Thai opened on north, north Union Boulevard, serving excellent traditional Thai curries and salads that are tasty enough to rival the other neighborhood bosses.Lanna may be the prettiest of the bunch. Owner Varanya Meyer took over a corner shop vacated by Culpepper’s Louisiana Kitchen. She left the comfy booths, but painted the walls a stately imperial red, introduced a few Buddhas to the decorative scheme and opened in early October. The staff, too, seems exceptionally good-looking.But more importantly, they know how to cook. Every dish seems to have a bright, inventive balance.The fresh, acidic notes of finely chopped fresh kaffir lime leaves offer levity to thick, rich, delicious panang curry ($9.50), made with cream of coconut, shrimp paste, peanuts and a slew of spices.The slightly bitter bite of crispy fried garlic gives character to warm, soft, steamed shrimp dumplings ($6).A classic pad Thai ($10) with shrimp, chicken and tofu has just the right blend of sweet, sour and savory, without being the least bit cloying or oily.Lanna serves some special items the other Thai bosses don’t, including pad Ma-Khuer ($11), a deceptively simple stir-fry of chiles, fresh basil and long, slender Asian eggplants. It is rare to find these tender eggplants on Colorado menus, but for authentic Thai, they can’t be beat.The menu is solid and makes no apologies about being authentically Thai. Where some kitchens would dial down the fish sauce in the green curry, Lanna does not. And it’s the right choice. It gives the green mix of spices, ginger and coconut milk an added depth. The Som-tam gai yang ($9) — a cool salad of shredded green papaya, carrots, tomatoes, peanuts and grilled chicken — shows Thai cuisine’s yen for fresh and light at its best.There is only one area where Lanna might want to conform to Middle American tastes: the spice.Like all Thai places in town, Lanna lets diners choose their spice level: mild, medium, hot, or Thai hot. And like all Thai places in town, it has is own heat scale that bears scant resemblance to the others. In Lanna’s case, mild means it is spicy enough to cause a mild sweat, and the scale grows more painful from there. At dinner recently, I heard folks at four tables breathlessly remark that they would order a step milder next time. I’d recommend two steps.Lanna may want to consider dialing down the chiles a little bit. Either that, or it should call a meeting of the five other families and lay down some rules about what mild, medium and hot really mean.

LANNA THAI4 STARS out of 5 (beware the spice)Address: 8810 N. Union Blvd.Phone: 282-0474Hours: Lunch 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; dinner 5-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays and 5-10 p.m. Fridays; Saturdays 11 a.m.-10 p.m.Entrees: $9.50-$16Vegetarian: yesAlcohol: Beer and wineCredit cards: yes

Lanna Thai restaurant, 8810 N. Union Blvd., moved in when Culpepper’s Louisiana Kitchen moved on. The menu is authentically Thai, and diners can choose from four levels of spice. But beware, Lanna’s mild means it is spicy enough to cause a mild sweat, and the scale grows more painful from there. Photo by BRYAN OLLER, THE GAZETTE