Chicago’s oldest Thai restaurant, Siam Café cooks up a wide-ranging menu of traditional Thai dishes. If you want to treat a date to some spicy, old-school Thai food, bring them here.
You can start a meal with pork or chicken sate in peanut sauce or the fresh, spicy spring rolls with cucumber, bean sprouts and egg. Salads include the traditional Papaya Salad with your choice of salted shrimp or crab. The Thai iced tea and Thai iced coffee are sweet but not cloying, and arrive in round ceramic cups. All of the rice and noodle dishes and entrees cost less than $10 and portions give you enough for two meals. If your date likes to share, you can try several dishes. The cook will accommodate your request for more or less spice. Many wait staff totally ignore or disbelieve my request for spicy food, but Siam Café understood.
The Sweet and Sour Chicken came with large slices of pineapple, tomato, green pepper and onion in a tangy brown sauce, sweet but not too sweet. I really enjoyed the wide rice noodles and fresh basil in my Pad Kee Maow, which I ordered hot with tofu. The dish had plenty of red peppers and crisp seasoned tofu. If your date likes seafood, they can enjoy many shrimp dishes like Kao Pad Kra Paow (with holy basil and jalapenos) and Kao Nam Mun Hoi (with mushrooms, green onions and oyster sauce) and cuttlefish, mussels and sometimes red snapper and pomfret. Siam Café is the first Chicago Thai restaurant I’ve found that serves my favorite soup, the spicy pink Yen Ta Fo with shrimp, wide rice noodles and vegetables. Vegetarians can easily get tofu or vegetables only in most dishes. If you have a weekday off, try the $6.50 lunch buffet from 11:30am until 2:00pm.
The unassuming Edgewater storefront houses a quiet dining room decorated with wooden statues and plants. Many customers order take-out, but I prefer the cool, quiet dining room. Service is polite and you are never rushed to finish a meal. You have plenty of time to savor your appetizer, enjoy your main course and sip Thai iced tea or Thai iced coffee. The large comfortable booths invite you to sit and converse. When I visited, the only noise was from a family watching Thai TV in the back of the dining room, which added to the welcoming atmosphere.
There are no desserts or alcohol on the menu, but neither is really necessary here considering the large portions and spice. If you or your date live Devon (north) Western (west) Lake Shore Drive (east) and Diversey (south), you can order take-out. Otherwise, Siam Café is well worth the trip for a savory meal in a mellow setting.
This unassuming storefront on Broadway near Argyle holds one of the hottest, sweetest Thai restaurants in Chicago. Curries and hot pepper dishes are unflinchingly spicy and the pastry case offers house-made Thai desserts. Almost any Thai restaurant will serve pud see ew and pad prik king, but how many mix their own lychee ice cream and bake coconut dumplings and thin, crisp wafer cookies? Bring your friends to Thai Pastry to share dishes, eat family style and split the delectable desserts.
The menu includes the usual rice, noodles, salads and soups: pad thai, pad prik king, crying tiger (spicy beef), red, green and yellow curry. There are plenty of appetizers to share, including: satay, shu mai and fried bananas. The peanut sauce on the Rama chicken has a perfect balance of sweetness and spice. Basil, peppers and other vegetables are fresh and flavorful. Tofu and brown rice can be substituted in most dishes. Seafood dishes abound and specials change weekly; ginger tillapia or fresh sautéed perch for $13.95 are a few good picks. Most entrees range from $5 to $10.
The hot and sour seafood soup mixes green mussels, tender squid, and shrimp with basil and bell peppers. The kang pa red curry tasted spicy but not overpowering with Thai eggplant (lighter and crunchier than the Japanese variety) bamboo shoots and seedy little green peppers swimming in lush golden broth. Pud see ew is savory sweet with brown sauce and fresh carrots. Portions of pad thai and wide noodles with broccoli are generous and just saucy enough.
Tall glasses of Thai iced coffee and Thai iced tea mitigate the spice of the hot dishes and you can also order coffee, a pot of tea and soft drinks. Thai Pastry is BYOB.
Remind your friends to save room for dessert. You can try some of the pastries, many filled with cream, coconut or fruit. The house-made ice cream comes in parfait glasses or by the carton to take home. Coconut, green tea and mango are available and my favorite is lychee, light and creamy with chunks of the sweet white fruit.
Delivery and carryout are available and super cheap with the $6.50 lunch specials. If your coworkers like Thai food, try this menu on a weekday between 11am and 3pm. Delivery is available between Devon, Lake Shore Drive, Diversey and Western and it’s well worth a trip to Thai Pastry for lunch. You could also come here for a happy hour dinner after work. Popular but never overcrowded, Thai Pastry is relaxing with lime green walls, soft Thai music, and doll-house size models of Thai restaurants by the entrance. Service is friendly and substitutions are no problem.
This store front Thai restaurant serves up some pretty good noodles and more, adding a fair amount of spice at the right price and has become a local favorite over several years. They're not the best in the world and the servers could stand to smile once in a while, but it sure is some darn good eatin' and fills you up when your palate craves a little something different.
Since I live a few blocks away, the location couldn't be any better. I tend to get take out on most occasions and chill with a Thai iced or bubble tea while I'm waiting, but when I do eat in with my entourage, we're never disappointed and usually need a box to take some home! The Vietnamese spring rolls are good, as is the Pad Thai and cury dishes. Crab rangoons are always good, and well, it's a recipe that's pretty hard to mess up. Now if you are a noodle nut like I am, keep this place in mind, because like I said, price per portion, the servings are pretty large, and this is where they really do their Thai justice! For people who don't particularly care for traditional Thai flavorings, they offer a speckling of standard Chinese fare – the orange chicken and Mongolian beef are better than average.
The overall décor is charming, fairly lit and unassuming, and I admit to being a sucker for wood. The seating can be a little tight, but that goes without saying for quite a lot of Chicago restaurants these days. However, I wouldn't call this a place you could impress a date with, since while the food comes out fast and consistently good, the wait staff are notoriously curt and sometimes not very pleasant. It's better for hanging out with friends while chilling over a few BYOB drinks instead – enjoy your meal and forget about the owners. What's nice about this place however is they offer fast and reliable delivery service, in case you decide to keep it in for the evening, so it might be a good idea to keep that tidbit of info on the back burner for another time.
Dharma Garden may not be the most elegant or sophisticated Thai restaurant in Chicago, but it is the unique menu and the generous hospitality at this north side establishment that has people returning time and again. Whether you are a Thai-infused seafood connoisseur or simply a vegetarian seeking a new place to expand your palate, Dharma Garden will delight you and your date with fresh, traditional fare and leave you begging for more!
If karaoke is your thing, then crooning along with the regulars at night while enjoying a sumptuous meal can become quite an experience. Their bar features a variety of healthful drinks and compliments the array of the original specialties, and because they are designated as a BYOB, those wishing to expand their choices are able to do so.
The knowledgeable, helpful wait staff will tone down the spiciness of their many selections if asked, so it is a good idea to ask about the heat in advance, even on otherwise unassuming dishes. Since the owner is staunch on health, no MSG can be found at this Asian restaurant, nor are fish sauce, refined sugar or other processed ingredients. The mock duck and jasmine rice are by far some of the best in the city, the spring rolls are light and flavorful, and the surprisingly large and inventive dessert menu demands your attention!
Overall, Dharma Garden is a fun, quaint place to experiment without going overkill on the pocket book, and it is guaranteed to have newcomers from all walks of life to stop by again and again.
