I too would push for the gaeng som. Though of course I love that dish pretty mucheverywhere, and its probablythe dish I make most often at home (though I tend to make veggie versions of it, including cauliflower)

Here is the seventh and final page of my 2006 Spoon Thai language menu translation:

TÔM YAM – THAM KAENG : “SOUPS AND CURRIES” (CON’T)

kaeng kàrìi mũu : yellow curry with pork
kaeng kàrìi néua : yellow curry with beef
kaeng kàrìi kûng : yellow curry with shrimp
kaeng mátsàman kài : “Muslim” curry // mild, cardamom and cumin-flavoured curry with chicken
kaeng mátsàman mũu : “Muslim” curry // mild, cardamom and cumin-flavoured curry with pork
kaeng mátsàman néua : “Muslim” curry // mild, cardamom and cumin-flavoured curry with beef
kaeng mátsàman kûng : “Muslim” curry // mild, cardamom and cumin-flavoured curry with shrimp

KHRÊUANG DÈUM : “DRINKS”

náam àt lom : soda
chaa dam yèn, chaa yèn (sài nom) : Thai-style iced black tea, Thai-style iced black tea with milk
kaafae yèn : Thai-style iced coffee
náam má-mûang : mango drink
náam faràng : guava drink
náam má-khãam : tamarind drink
náam chaw kway : grass jelly (Mesona chinensis)
náam taan sòt : palm juice
náam máphráo lûuk : fresh coconut juice (whole coconut)
náam “aloe vera” : aloe vera drink
náam “soy bean” : soy bean “milk”

AISAKHREEM : “ICE CREAM”

aisakhreem má-mûang, sàppàrót : mango or pineapple ice cream
aisakhreem gàthí : coconut ice cream

KHANÕM THAI : “THAI DESSERTS”

bua láwy : “floating lotus” // taro balls in coconut milk
mâw kaeng : Thai-style egg custard
khâo tôm mát (sài klûay) : steamed sticky rice in a banana leaf (with bananas)
khanõm thûay : coconut custard
khâo nĩaw má-mûang (tháng lûuk) : sticky rice with mango
khâo nĩaw thúrian : sticky rice with durian fruit


E.M.

ORIGINAL POST EDITED TO INSERT PHOTO LINKS.

To answer a question I have been asked repeatedly...

The distinguished Thai gentleman seated toward the rear of the restaurant most evenings is Wanna's father.

If you encounter him I would encourage you to pay your respects; he is 100 years old.

E.M.

As I'd mentioned before--howsover obliquely--Spoon Thai occasionally served one of my absolute favourite Thai curries, kaeng tai plaa, or "fish kidney curry," which is a specialty of Southern Thailand.*

So, it pleased me to no end on Saturday night when I was not only offered this dish once again, I was also informed that it is now a permanent menu offering. This is big news for diehard Thai food fans here in Chicago, because, as far as I am aware, Spoon Thai is now the only restaurant establishment to do so.**

NB Not only is this dish one of the most pungent dishes in the Thai culinary repertoire, it is also one of the hottest. I strongly encourage you to compliment this dish with something bland and soothing in addition to steamed white rice, like, say, khài jiaw cha-om ("Accacia leaf omelette"), or perhaps one of Spoon Thai's exceptional kaeng jèut ("bland soups").

E.M.

* I have said a bit more about this dish both here, and here.

** There is no telling when this dish might be added to one of Spoon Thai's actual menus, so it remains a request of the diner, albeit one without any prior notice.

Mrs. JiLS and also were at Spoon Thai Saturday night, for an early pre-movie dinner. Kept saying, "Too bad we don't have somebody like Erik M here to help us order," etc. Anyway, we did just fine. No fish kidneys were consumed, but we were very pleased with a banana blossom salad and I, at least, was completely impressed by the raw shrimp and fish sauce salad I ordered (Mrs. JiLS was not in the mood for "Thai Sushi" last night, meaning I got to eat all 12 of these prime quality, very flavor-full shrimp (tasted wild, though I suppose probably not), at $12.95 one of the best shrimp bargains going). I was only mildly pleased with the "lemon glass [sic] chicken," which was more like beer nuts than an entree; not bad, but rather bland (and those fried lemon grass leaves are like eating needles). Is it supposed to come with a dipping sauce? None was provided. But live and learn. (We ordered a pepper chicken dish to fill the gap, and it was pretty decent if uninspiring.) Oh, and the chicken tom yum was delicious and an ideal starter on a frigid night. Service, however, was really slow. Took a good 15 minutes to get that soup on the table, because they were filling takeout orders and clearly those were getting priority. And the service was disconcertingly selective. A group of three were seated after us, served their first course before us, and paid and left before us ... maybe when I complete that assertiveness training correspondence course, things will be different. But at $48 bucks with tax and tip, that's hard to complain about.

I've wanted to try Spoon Thai for a couple of years. I called them last year and explained that one of us couldn't eat gluten and asked if they would work with us. Yes, they said. Last night, having a belated celebration of two birthdays, we threw a coin - either TAC or Spoon. Spoon is was.

I printed out Erik M's translations - all seven pages - and took them with us. I also came with my own oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, and a red and green curry paste just in case they wouldn't check the ingredients for us (that phone call was a year ago) or if one or more of their versions had gluten and would prevent a desired dish from being made.

It took us about a 1/2 hour to make our choices. Then the server came over and we started the explanations and gave her the Thai dining card (explains the dietary restrictions in Thai and English). She immediately went and got another woman who knew the ingredients in the food. She spent at least 15-20 minutes with us, reviewing our choices and telling us the ingredients in the food. One of the appetizers we wanted was marinated in oyster sauce. Rather than have her read the label, we just moved on. In the end, we had three appetizers and three entrées, two each without shrimp and one with (two of us could have it, one of us couldn't), all GF (gluten-free). We wanted one of the noodle dishes, but it had wide noodles. To our knowledge all wide rice noodles in this city have some wheat flour - only the narrow ones do not (both dried and fresh narrow ones are usually only rice, but all fresh wide ones have wheat). She kindly subbed the thin noodles for us.

After about 15 minutes, we got the first appetizer - the khanom beuang yawn - a Vietnamese style crepe. They continued to bring an item about once every 5 to 10 minutes for until we had them all nd our table was literally covered with a dazzling variety of food. We have never eaten so well in our lives. My friend and I both agreed that the khanom beuang yawn was one of the best of the night, liking it more than the sai krawk Isaan - Isaan-style sausage served with chile, ginger and peanuts.

As another poster mentioned, we did wait awhile and carryout/delivery did seem to make up much of their business and may have been more of a priority. That said, we ordered six dishes and they were all brought out in perfect time, allowing us to try one before the next arrived. When the last one arrived, we felt like royalty, with more food than we could possibly eat in one sitting and all of it tasting heavenly.

Josephine and I met up at Spoon Thai tonight, and while the food was outstanding as usual, the one item that really stood out was the steamed catfish and red curry custard. I've loved just about everything I've tried at Spoon, but this custard was easily the best item I have ever eaten at Spoon . . . ever! And neither Josephine nor I had ever tried it before tonight. It's on the smallish side (we shared one), perfect for an appetizer, and served in the banana leaf package in which it is steamed. Words cannot do justice when describing the flavor combination of the catfish and the red curry (the absolute perfect level of heat) and the texture of the custard.

This item is listed on Spoon's Chicago Tribune menu (provided at the restaurant), but not on the 2005 Translated menu which Spoon also provides. When I got home, I noticed a similar sounding dish on the 2006 translated menu: "hàw mòk plaa dùk (tham eng): steamed Catfish and coconut milk “custard." Is this the same dish as the one on the Chicago Tribune menu? I'm not sure.

In any event, if you haven't tried it, try it. This might just be the best thing I've tasted in 2007 . . . and it didn't even contain a lick of pork.

Hi,

I have had the catfish custard before, it is a golden yellow color. Since you mentioned red curry, did this also affect the color?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I have had the catfish custard before, it is a golden yellow color. Since you mentioned red curry, did this also affect the color?

Regards,

If I recall correctly, it definitely had a reddish hue, which leads me to believe it might be a different dish. They mentioned that it has been on the menu for about a year.

Hi,

The other catfish custard I ate there at least 5 years ago for the first time. Clearly a new offering, which is good to know.

There is another catfish dish referred to as 'Exploding Catfish.' This was finely minced catfish cooked in deep fat fryer that was crunchy with a light sauce and slices of Granny Smith apple. I haven't had it in years, though I regularly attempt to order it. Either I need to order a day in advance or it was withdrawn from the menu. It has never been clearly stated what happened.

Regards,

BR and C2,

Golden yellow or reddish hue, Ho Moak is quite delicious.

Spoon Thai Ho Moak ('05)


Banana* leaf cups are made in house.

Vanna, co owner Spoon Thai

Cathy2 wrote:There is another catfish dish referred to as 'Exploding Catfish.' This was finely minced catfish cooked in deep fat fryer that was crunchy with a light sauce and slices of Granny Smith apple.

Exploding Catfish, I haven't had that in a good long while, maybe we should give Vanna a call and ask if she would whip up a couple of orders.

Exploding Catfish


Clearly a visit to Spoon Thai is in my near future.

Enjoy,
Gary

*Edit of Banana for bamboo

Spoon Thai
4608 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
773-769-1173

Thanks for the picture . . . I'm pretty sure that's the one . . . banana leaf cups though.

Let us know when you're planning your visit over to Spoon. I don't often pass up meals there.

By the way, both are down-the-middle standard "real Thai" snacks, though as with most things, Spoon does them well. The Thai groceries are good places to look for ho mok, and you can check out the frozen section for imported examples that will allow you to see how the local, freshly made stack up.

If you're near Forest Park, Yum Thai on Madison has Yam Pla Dook Foo - exploding catfish salad - on their translated Thai menu everyday....

Unless something has recently changed, the exploding catfish is regularly available (and delicious) at Sticky Rice.

-ramon

BR wrote:Thanks for the picture . . . I'm pretty sure that's the one . . . banana leaf cups though.

Right you are, I thought banana leaf, typed bamboo.

I will edit my post.

Ramon wrote:Unless something has recently changed, the exploding catfish is regularly available (and delicious) at Sticky Rice.

-ramon

its also on the thai menu at thai avenue on broadway, while there, there fairly often specials of marinated pork ribs and apple salad are pretty nice as well

Since it's just around the corner from the Old Town School of Folk Music (darn I wish I lived closer to that neighborhood), we went to Spoon for New Years Eve dinner, before the 10:30 show of The Punch Brothers, Chris Thile's new Newgrass band (hit of the evening was a cover of The Band's "Ophelia").

We didn't order too adventurously, partly because MrsF is not much of a fish fan.

• Chive Dumplings -- had to have these after seeing recent pictures of the ones at Sticky Rice. Must be a different chive than I grow in my garden, because it's very mild. I love the contrast between the crisp exterior and the starchy interior of the wrapper.
• Banana Blossom Salad -- The sauce here was very interesting. Flavors were similar to a Panang Curry without the keffir notes, but much more sour. The banana blossom has the look of cabbage or noodle, but the texture, and a similar flavor, to tender artichoke leaves (and I would even go so far as to recommend that as a substitute in a recipe if you can't get to H-Mart to find a banana blossom). A couple of shrimp and a lot of chicken, plus plenty of crisp-fried shallots like the best Durkee Fried Onions in the world
• Duck Curry -- The dark gamey duck meat is a nice foil for the red curry. You need something strong here to stand up against the curry flavors. We have a lot of broth left from this, likely to be tomorrow's lunch (woke up too late today to have it for lunch today). Tomato, pineapple and basil round this one out.
• Pork Neck Larb -- The hit of the evening. Usually larb is fine-ground, this was visuall more like Nuea Nam Tok (one of our favorite quick summertime dinners), which has thin-sliced steak. The grilled pork here had a nice chewiness and deep flavor you only get close to the bones. For those of you fearing this is a 'nasty cut' meat, have no worries: no gristle, cartilage, etc. can be found, just nice little slices of porkiness. There's a lot of heat to the sauce/dressing, mixed in with copious cilantro flavor and ground rice (which is nicknamed "dried fried clam chowder" in our house from a Dr. Seuss book).
• Bah Mee Noodles with BBQ Pork (without broth) -- Relatively dull compared to the others, but very good roast pork with ramen-like egg noodles and cilantro.
• Thai Custard -- An unappetizing-looking gray square of custard had a great flavor, with layers of coconut (other nuts too?), fruit (lychee? some fruit in syrup at least), topped with a maraschino cherry

A great way to end the year. The place was pretty-much full the whole time we were there, but the service never faltered.

Erik M. wrote:While waiting for sazerac and A2Fay to join me for lunch yesterday, I had a better look at Spoon's new Thai language menu.

One of the dishes which caught my eye was khâo phàt plaa salìd, or "fried rice with Gouramy fish."*


(photograph compliments of sazerac)

It turned out to be my favourite dish of the day, and one which I look forward to having again, very soon.**

E.M.

I went to Spoon for lunch yesterday and attempted to order this. There seemed to be a bit of a language barrier--my menu Thai contains neither tones nor the word for gourami--but we established that I wanted fried rice with fish. I was not convinced we were talking about the same dish. Shortly after placing my order, I pulled out my iPhone and found the phrase "khâo phàt plaa salìd," showed this to the waiter, who ran back to the kitchen to change my order.

What arrived at the table was what seemed to be pretty standard-order fried rice (complete with peas and diced bell pepper) with the notable addition of little pieces of fried gourami. The fish was good, but the rest of the dish was completely unremarkable... seemingly unworthy of the praises sung by Erik M. and others on this board. Had the fish been substituted with fatty bits of red pork, this could have come from pretty much any run of the mill Chinese place.

Was the proverbial wool pulled over my eyes on this one? Does the kitchen produce something different from what I got for the initiated? Or am I just complaining about something that a lot of people in the know seem to love?

jonathanlehman wrote:Had the fish been substituted with fatty bits of red pork, this could have come from pretty much any run of the mill Chinese place.

I haven't had this at Spoon for a couple of months (an oversight which I intend to remedy as soon as possible), but here are the differences as I recall them: When you say, "run of the mill Chinese place" it makes me think of tasteless clumps of unevenly-cooked, greasy rice. In Spoon's rendition, the rice grains are all distinct, and, being jasmine, extraordinarily flavorful. Together with the nicely salty and delicious fish, it is -- to me -- an extremely satisfying meal.

While at Spoon tonight--and, man, is that catfish custard good--I noticed a number of tables consuming a rather banal-looking dish of what looked to be chunks of fried chicken doused in some sort of crema or tartar-like sauce, with slices of lime intermixed and shredded lettuce underneath. Not to be a hater here, seeing as I didn't try it, but seriously: it looked like the Spoon version of KFC's Famous Bowls. What's the dilly, yo?

chezbrad wrote:I noticed a number of tables consuming a rather banal-looking dish of what looked to be chunks of fried chicken doused in some sort of crema or tartar-like sauce, with slices of lime intermixed and shredded lettuce underneath. Not to be a hater here, seeing as I didn't try it, but seriously: it looked like the Spoon version of KFC's Famous Bowls. What's the dilly, yo?

I haven't had it at Spoon, but it sounds like
"512. Lime Chicken Fried chicken breast with special lime sauce" (from MenuPages)

I had it once at Thai Homemade (RIP). It was not terribly exciting. I don't know if anyone executes it better or if it's just one of those things that is easy to sell to unadventurous eaters...

I've had it once at Spoon, and it was probably my least favorite dish I've ever had from there.

I had that lime chicken dish recently at Thai Pastry, and found it practically inedible. Cloyingly sweet with an unpleasantly bitter aftertaste from the lime pith. Maybe there's a good version of this dish out there somewhere, but I'm real hesitant to try it again.

Aaron Deacon wrote:I've had it once at Spoon, and it was probably my least favorite dish I've ever had from there.

I would probably agree. It's basically fried chicken tenders with a bland crust, and mayonnaise with a lime flavor. I don't know that I could even recommend them above Chicken McThingNuggets. But thankfully, Spoon Thai has so many amazing things on their menu that I won't ever have to order these again.

My wife an I had dinner at this restaurant on Saturday night. It was the worst restaurant experience I've had in a long time. It took 25 to 30 minutes before our order was taken, 20 minutes before the appetizers came and about 15 minutes before the entres came and they were 10 minutes apart. Service was horrible for most people sitting near us. Maybe they were having a bad night but, there are plenty other great Thai restaurants in the city.

urbanpln wrote:about 15 minutes before the entres came and they were 10 minutes apart

Most Thai restaurants don't pace table delivery like American-style restaurants. Specifically, the fact that the entrees were not served together should be expected.

Honestly, for a Saturday night, if that's the worst restaurant experience you've had in a long time, I guess I'd consider you lucky.

I do find Spoon perhaps a bit slower on getting food to table after ordering than some others. But I also find it's food worth waiting for. (Never had the lime chicken thihg.)
Recently just had the plain ol' Thai fried chicken and it was grait. Searing hot and crisp right out of the pan. And that catfish custard is a total winner. And the pork neck larb is marvelously gamey, and the Issan sausage, etc. etc.

If I have any real complaint, it goes back to another Spoon thread. That is the decision not to put prices on the board with specials or on the special menus. I just don't see why not. The food is worth the money and I'll usually pay whatever they charge, but as others have noticed, there is often a 100% price spread between a regular menu item and a special that will be described almost identically.

Yes, you can ask your waitress to name the price of everything you're interested on the special board and special menus, but it seems a rather tedious and inefficient way to go about things. Also, in company, you might not want to broadcast your interest in the prices.

These menus don't change all that often, and they're not business neophytes. Why not just publish all the prices instead of only some?

It kind of baffles me.

Ordinary but great meal at Spoon yields a new discovery for a heat-seeker.

I had an excellent meal last night at Spoon Thai, ordered some of the usual suspects, one-bite salad, banana blossom salad, Isaan style pork and rice sausages, and a dish that I had not tried on any other visit to Spoon Thai. I don't know how or why this was overlooked by me on prior occasions.

The shrimp dish phla kûng: located on the "recommended by the Chicago Tribune" menu insert. I mention this because the heat and flavor were both noteworthy. I consider myself a chili lover but not someone who likes heat for the sake of heat only. I asked our waitress to have the chef prepare the dish as hot as possible only because I suspected that a dish generally recommended on a special insert might be toned down to suit the average gringo who might send back an overly hot dish and much to my suprise I was treated to that chilihead sensation that can only be compared to feeling as if a white-dwarf star of capsacin goodness collapsed upon itself into a chili-laced black hole inside my mouth. Yes it was that good!! I am always looking for dishes that replicate this warm buzzing feeling that I get in my head when I know heat is done right. I think I found a winner here. I wanted to mention it to those of you with similiar interest in scoville heat units.

I spent the afternoon today at Wrigley Field followed by a late lunch/early dinner at Spoon Thai. I feel compelled to post because it was one of the least satisfying experiences I have had at Spoon to date. Maybe it was the fact that the cubs were down 11 to zip by the 6th inning, but i doubt it, i am used to a dismall cubs team. Dismall food at Spoon.....thats another story.

Sadly, the spicy italian sausage with marinara, hot peppers, sweet peppers and a bit of onion being served on the councourse at Wrigley by the entrance to club boxes 32-34 was absolutely the best thing i had to eat today. If they would sustitute the hot dog bun with a gonella roll it would actually amount to a respectable sausage option at the north side ballpark, but i digress.

Started our meal at Spoon with issen-style sausage, one bite salad, papaya salad and an order of me-krob. The sausages were completely dry. This is a go to dish for me at Spoon. Usually the sausages are like little juicy baby thumbs. I mentioned this to our waitress and she brought out another order...still dry bordering on awful. I gave up.

The fried chicken was very good, as usual, and they had a tremendous soft shell crab special served with a delicious and rich curry. At $15.95 for two crabs I felt that this was a pretty good deal. I would order it again.

The absolute horror of our meal was the whole red snapper. The fish was not edible. There was little to no meat on the fish and, i swear, it was not very fresh. I was actually stunned by what was served. When we asked the waitress about the fish she agreed with us that the fish did not look right and brought it back to the kitchen and brought us another order of soft shell crabs instead. As you would expect they were pretty embarrased and kept apologizing for the horrid fish that they tried to serve to us.

I consider Spoon one of the greats, a go to place for me. I am ready to treat the fish episode as a one off, i mean anyone can have a bad day i suppose. The sausages, that was a drag too. I hope that this is just a one time thing, has anyone else noticed a problem here?