Thai in Chicago

It really amazes me that the level of Thai food is so high in Chicago (and of course, not at the most famous Chicago Thai, Arun's.) I recently visited two of the best in Chicago.

Spoon Thai

A LTHForum.com dinner was organized for the weekend visit of sergeant-At-Arms, Shirley the Hammer, at Spoon. Not a huge crowd, but a huge amount of food:

Ja plon, or something like that. - A small crab shell stuffed with cheap crab meat (claw meat), small shrimps and perhaps squid. Well done. I mean the fying was perfect. But more of a snackin' item.

Whole mudfish, fried and then put in red curry with a few vegetables - spicy and good

Pork neck laab - fatty in a great way, very spicy

Exploded catfish salad, bigger pieces of catfish, maybe a bit too cold, still good

Fried chicken - yea

Nam prik with vegetables and small fish - artfully presented, and the nam prik was (well, was what you want in a nam prik, direct, smelly, spicy, mysterious...)

Rice cooked with shrimp paste, with sweet pork and other things to eat with it - smelled a lot worse when cooking

Catfish custard - A Spoon Thai classic, steamed soft fish in a delicate yet spicy custard block

Boat noodles - not really a dinner dish, but very well done

Ice cream in pineapple - nothing special

As at any hound gathering the company was foodly intense as well. It was also the first time at Spoon that there was leftover sticky rice.

Spoon Thai
4608 N. Western Ave
Chicago, IL

TAC Quick

I am slowly catching up to others at this terrific spot under the El Tracks. With the kidz off of school, we used the chance to roam afar for lunch. Met the Zim family and Erik for lunch. Because of a vegetarian and the kidz we had to cater our ordering a bit towards their needs.

Pad thai folded in omelet - nice idea to create "something" out of this warhorse, nice presentation too, with the condiments put in little piles on the outside of the main item.

Papaya salad - ordered "medium" and with tiny shrimps on the side, but it still had plenty of flavor and heat.

Green curry "fish cake" - not so much fish cake, but fish balls - Erik notes that TAC makes their own fish balls. Truthfully, they tasted like pretty much any fish ball, but they were good. The green curry was a bit gloppy, yet spicy and sweet at the same time.

Crispy pork on greens - This is one of Erik's favorite dishes here. I liked the heavily flavored greens, tons of garlic, but I was less keen on the pork, which was more like cracklin's

Braised pork belly with eggs and tofu - The best dish in the house? - Very rich broth, almost too sweet on the tongue but with flavors that bloom and emerge in the mouth, including a nice hot finish. The fatty pork pretty much "literally" melted in the mouth. The eggs and tofu were good for the non meat eaters.

Grilled chicken over curry rice - Loved the spicy curry rice, more Malaysian tasting than Thai. Hardly got to try the chicken, but from its curry marinade, looked great.

Ginger tofu - For others. I sampled a jalepeno.

I believe there is one more dish, but it is slipping my mind.

3930 N. Sheridan Rd.
Chicago