There are dozens of Thai restaurants in the Chicago area, but few focus on the northeastern portion of the country, but a new restaurant in Lake View has salads that showcase those flavors.
The two salads appear on plenty of Thai menus around Chicago, but few offer the sheer number of variations on display at Tuk Tuk Thai Isan Street Food in Lake View.
You’ll find the usual suspects like curry and noodles too, but no visit is complete without trying the specialty dishes.
The mortar and pestles – to say nothing of the forearms of the cooks – get a workout at the restaurant, just a few yards north of the Century Mall on Clark Street. That’s because som tam – the native dish from Isaan – has to be pounded to-order.
“The Som Tam – Som means ‘sour’ in Isaan – that means you have to have a sour taste for sure. Then follow-up with the salty, spicy and sweet,” said owner Ratchapol Treegamrongrit.
In addition to raw green papaya, there’s a range of flavors. Crunchy Thai eggplants, green beans and tomatoes; salted crab, fresh lime juice, fish sauce and basil, as well as palm sugar for sweetness.
After it’s thoroughly pounded and plated, they’ll add fresh vermicelli noodles, pork roll and crispy skin for a riot of color, flavor and texture, all of which can be tamed somewhat with a side of sticky rice to soak up heat.
The Food Guy
On the softer side, laab. But unlike popular versions with pork or chicken, here they use ground duck.
“It’s softer and tender,” he said.
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Again, tossed with a technicolor range of ingredients like red onions, dried chilies, toasted rice powder and the omnipresent fresh lime and fish sauce, plus fresh herbs and makrut, an aromatic lime leaf. Once plated, crispy duck skin is added for toothsome crunch.
Familiar items like Pad Thai are more than respectable, since they add tamarind juice and serve it not only with the shrimp heads intact, but also small sides of sugar, peanuts and chili.
“We serve that on the side, together, but if somebody doesn’t like it, you can take it off,” he said.
Bring some friends and get the whole fried fish, buried in cilantro.
“You can eat that and it can be shareable,” he said.
Panang curry is familiar to most Thai food fans; here, they use curry paste but add coconut milk to temper the heat.
“Normally have the coconut milk inside; you can put some extra,” he said.
That is, unless you prefer it more spice forward, in which case there’s roasted chili oil.
“…To make it a little bit spicy,” said Treegamrongrit.
Our Food Guy Steve Dolinsky says they are not fooling around with the spice levels at the restaurant. So if you want it mild, say so. Otherwise you might find yourself pleading for a side of rice, as he did on one visit.
