Another great lunch there today. I found it amusing that as we were leaving, Mote was taking a substantial delivery order down the block to Elizabeth.

SAUSAGE UPDATE: A new batch of sausage has been made, but it won't be ready to serve until tonight or tomorrow.

We had lunch there today. Gary W.'s photos on Facebook gave us a craving. We get lunch at rainbow about once a month for staff Meal. It's always pretty darn good. I'm glad to see them getting some attention. Their traditional dishes are always more inspiring than what you find on the average Thai menu restaurant menu. Thanks for supporting our neighbors.

ilianaregan wrote:We had lunch there today. Gary W.'s photos on Facebook gave us a craving. We get lunch at rainbow about once a month for staff Meal. It's always pretty darn good. I'm glad to see them getting some attention. Their traditional dishes are always more inspiring than what you find on the average Thai menu restaurant menu. Thanks for supporting our neighbors.

We were sitting to your right when you came in to order

Looking forward to visiting Elizabeth finally on 5/30!!

Delivery last night, ground chicken basil, baby egg rolls, fried rice, soup, fried chicken all home runs. Our delivery guy was literally running, he said some website had made them insanely busy.

Boudreaulicious: excellent! Can't wait!!! That night is practically an LTHer party!

Once they have the meatballs again we are having them! They were out when I got our lunch that day but was super happy with everything we had, squid salad, omelette, fish ball curry, beef noodle soup, and wonton soup. They were slow for a while after they took over the previous spot and I always thought they were pretty tasty. Sometimes they'd be having their own staff meal when we'd go in. More traditional Thai cuisine which wasn't on the menu and they'd share with us. I'd say, this is your answer.

Public Service Announcement: per Pramote, as of 4:51 pm today, of the latest batch of sai krog Isan, there are only ten orders left.

m'th'su wrote:Public Service Announcement: per Pramote, as of 4:51 pm today, of the latest batch of sai krog Isan, there are only ten orders left.

And a great batch it was! I'd say even better than the first.

laikom wrote:

m'th'su wrote:Public Service Announcement: per Pramote, as of 4:51 pm today, of the latest batch of sai krog Isan, there are only ten orders left.

And a great batch it was! I'd say even better than the first.

Agreed. And I'd like to add 2 new highlights from our last meal: mussel pancake and kanom buang yuan. They were both crispy, packed with flavor, and just really good. The mussel pancake had that homemade feel to it with bits of egg here and there. Really great stuff.

Ursiform wrote:Delivery last night, ground chicken basil, baby egg rolls, fried rice, soup, fried chicken all home runs. Our delivery guy was literally running, he said some website had made them insanely busy.

I really wanted to try Rainbow for delivery on Sat. PM, but took pity on them as I figured they would be swamped. Had a decent array of things rom Spoon Thai--good but not great. The Isaan (sp?) sausages, in particular, seemed to be off.

The new LTH Restaura--er, Rainbow Thai--sure is having its moment: everyone in there last night was an LTH'r (clearly), and Dolinsky's now been tipped off; it's only a matter of time until the world knows. Yogi Berra is on the ready.

This is a great, great find--I know because of how good that sausage was for breakfast this morning. Magical stuff. And the fried rice salad: while I wish for a more pronounced lemongrass zing a la Spoon, the uber-crunch of this version is a major upgrade over the soft textures of Nam Khao Thawt everywhere else. The mushroom salad was a nice contrast to it all.

Curries looked great on other tables, as did the mussel pancake. I can understand why Laikom's here every night: it's going to be nigh impossible to get into the place for the next month or so.

Delivery was spot on--not even the slightest variation from eating in. Even the Nam khao thawt was perfectly crispy. Sausages were terrific--and are now in the freezer (had to go out of town this morning and didnt want them to spoil-- will be interesting to see how they reheat.) SO liked everything but remarked on the fact that it was all spicier than Spoon and that the rice was the clumpier kind which he doesn't like. Order delivered right at the time promised--just under an hour.

A few updates! For those keeping track, yes I've been back more than a few more times, and I've lose count. I'm missing a few pictures - while taking a picture I dropped my brand new cell phone into a bowl of Tom Kha (which was very good BTW). The hazzards of being an LTHER.

Neua Daet Diaw - fried dried marinated beef
Very awesome, not so much dried as tender, juicy fried marinated steak.



Kanom Buang yuan - Crispy Thai Crepes w/savory filling
A touch on the sweet side, other than that it was a good dish. For the crispy fried egg pancake type thing, I much prefer the mussel pancake. I think fropones preferred this one.



Hawy Tod - Crispy Fried Mussels pancakes
Speaking of mussel pancakes... Freaking awesome. Quality mussels, great flavors, all around best version I've had.





Banana Blossom Salad
This was really great. The cell phone picture doesn't really do it justice. It reminded me a lot of laksa in that it was really fishy with the fishy dried shrimp.



Hor Mok - Steamed Curry Fish
This is the first time I've tried this dish, and I'm now a fan. Reminded me of the random fishy custardy street food I tried all over malaysia. For about $4, this will be one of my go-to appetizers!



phla koong - Shrimp Lemongrass salad
THIS WAS AWESOME. I'm not sure if he amped it up for us because he knows we like the heat, but this was burn your face off spicy. Lots of chunks of tender edible lemongrass. Barely cooked (mostly raw) marinated shrimp. It was a lot like the raw shrimp salad only spicier! Loved it.



Soop Nawmai (pickled bamboo shoot salad)
The first time I had this dish it didn't have any pork in it and was as RAB described somehow lacking. On a recent visit (maybe he was reading the LTH thread?) Pramote randomly started talking to me about the salad without my prompting. He said the previous incarnation was a regional dish and he was going to make me a northeastern/central thai hybrid. The result was much better, but still not as good as the same dish at Aroy. It was good enough to scratch the itch, but i'll still be going to Aroy for this one.



Also, here are some more pictures of the Nam Khao Tod, just because I know everyone wants to see more of it.

I have myself developed an addiction to that place, its food, and think that its owners are delightful people.
For lunch today, after enjoying the marvelous "baby" egg rolls which are totally different than their many mediocre counterparts all over the city, and the incredibly sexy fried chicken, the pleasant but shy lady from the kitchen, wife of the owner, brought me a little plate of freshly made Issa sausages. No additional enthusiastic comments are needed after everything that was written about them on that thread over the last 2 weeks.
But I would add that their more traditional dishes are also worth of attention: the Pad Kee Mao is one of the best and well prepared one I had in a long time. Great noodles. Good balanced spicing. The Tom Yum soup with shrimps is incredibly aromatic.
What worries me, and my conversation with the owner today when he told me about the various media personalities who have been here over the last week and those who called to say that they are coming confirmed that fear, is that they will not be able to face the crowd that will show up, as Ronnie and other mentioned, with their 4 tables.
Ouch... It reminds me of similar problems some small neighborhood bistros encountered after they were featured on Check Please.
Let's hope that the Rainbow will still be able to illuminate our sky after the big storm.

alain40 wrote:What worries me, and my conversation with the owner today when he told me about the various media personalities who have been here over the last week and those who called to say that they are coming confirmed that fear, is that they will not be able to face the crowd that will show up, as Ronnie and other mentioned, with their 4 tables.
Ouch... It reminds me of similar problems some small neighborhood bistros encountered after they were featured on Check Please.
Let's hope that the Rainbow will still be able to illuminate our sky after the big storm.

It's a bit different than the small neighborhood bistros who experience an unwanted flood of traffic. Rainbow was very close to going out of business due to lack of customers. From their point of view this is the best thing that could have happened to them and they are very excited for, and welcoming of the publicity. From our point of view in regards to food quality, Pramote and Wanpen are very dedicated to maintaining quality, as was evident from day one when they had nobody to impress but still brought out the best damn Thai food I've eaten. From conversations with them, they are very concerned that the food lives up to our expectations. Even as they are growing and hiring new people Wanpen is hesitant to allow anyone else to touch the real Thai dishes yet, and even then she is very heavy on the quality control. Their worst fear (and probably ours as well) is that they don't want to make anyone have to wait for a seat.

Rainbow Thai lunch yesterday hit on all cylinders but, for a place that seems to be spinning up, it was surprisingly, completely, totally, absent of customers from 12:00 - 1:30 with the exception of myself and two dining partners.

In addition to exceptional Naem khao thawt, Isan sausage, Hawy Tod and light, almost aerated Hor Mok, Rainbow kindly whipped up a spot-on version of a Thai salad I've been making at home, Yam Khai Dao/Thai fried egg salad. They even went with my typical variation of peanut and sometime add-in of chopped shrimp. I first had Yam Khai Dao at Aroy Thai, liked it but thought their version unnecessarily sweet so started making it home. Loved Rainbow's version.

Rainbow Thai, Yam Khai Dao

I think that is actually one of the key reasons I like Rainbow's food so much. I really only enjoy the tangy/sour/fishy/vinegary/savory side of the thai menu and, typically, dislike most thai food since it tends to skew too sweet for me. Rainbow definitely veers away from the sweet, even for dishes like the red curry that are commonly more sweet than savory.

I am a lucky girl--my job is within Rainbow's delivery area! On Wednesday I ordered the red curry, the mushroom salad, and a small Tom Yum Gong "thai style" as per upthread. I somehow managed to order the curry with tofu instead of beef but I wasn't disappointed for very long--the tofu was exactly the right size and texture for the dish, and really held the flavor of the curry perfectly. I ordered everything spicy and it all really was spicy, which rarely happens with other Thai delivery options within my range. The mushroom salad was a perfect al dente blend of sour, spicy and earthy, I actually drank the leftover "juice" at the bottom of the container . I'm not usually one to go for red curry since it can so often be boring and overly sweet, but after all the accolades on this thread I couldn't resist and I'm glad I didn't. I just had the leftovers for lunch today and it was just as good as the day I ordered it. The tom yum was some of the best I've ever had, MAN is that broth good.
The delivery got to me within 45 minutes of ordering, and the food was piping hot. I ordered directly from their website and got 15% off, too--or what they called a 15% disconut, which pleased me.

Given that I live two blocks west and this is the third tenant in this space since we moved in 2007, I was thrilled to read the LTH raves for Rainbow. I work in Lakeview and take the Brown Line, so I placed an order via Grub Hub at 5:25, and requested, under comments, a 6:30 pickup time. At 5:43, I received a text that my order was ready. On arrival, at 6:30, I was asked by the gentleman (perhaps the owner, I regret I didn't ask) at the window how I learned of Rainbow. I sheepishly said, "The website", assuming he knew which one, then added to be sure, "LTH Forum". He responded, "I thought so because you ordered the Issan sausage."

He informed me of a service charge from Grub Hub to restaurants for pickup orders, in this case $7.50. When I placed on my order, the screen showed I would have been charged $7.50 for delivery, but it appeared to be waived for pickup. I had no idea that this charge was passed on to the restaurants, so it looks like this was my last ever Grub Hub order. When paying for my meal I tipped him extra, to offset this fee, and he was extremely reluctant to accept it, trying very hard to return the money. Clearly his intent was just to educate me about GH for future circumstances, so consider it a lesson learned. I also received a carryout menu, and it indicates online ordering is available at http://www.rainbowcuisine.us, as mentioned by geli.

Now for the food: Amazing! In addition to the sausage, we also ordered the Larb Ped (duck salad), Pad See Eiw with chicken, Soft Shell Crab Curry, and the free vegetable egg rolls available by coupon with a $20 order. The sausage was the best I have had, or perhaps tied for first with Lotus of Siam's in Vegas. They were like encased meatballs, and I think the world could use more of those! Equally revelatory was the crab curry. Inside the container were two decently-sized fried soft shell crabs, five to six inches across and a small pile of steamed or boiled vegetables (snow peas, carrots, broccoli, and baby corn), plus a styrofoam container of a deliciously balanced red curry sauce, and some steamed rice. This was really a gift for my husband, as he loves soft shell crab, and we rarely order it because I prefer meatier crabs and the texture isn't quite my thing. They were outstanding! The batter was more crumbly than a standard tempura, closer to the cornmeal coatings I'm used to on fish in my native Kentucky. The combination of textures and flavors was absolutely perfect in this dish. It will be interesting to see if they are frozen and remain on the menu year-round (such as at sushi restaurants) or are a seasonal specialty. Finally, the spice level, without me specifying desires, was right in my wheelhouse--spicy but not uncomfortably so. Everything paired quite nicely with our last bottle of Half Acre Horizon Ale from Next Thailand.

Thanks LTHers for the notice. I look forward to many more meals from Rainbow.

We live right by Rainbow. We drive and walk by it all the time. We thought it was another crappy Thai place. We greatly appreciate you pointing this out. We had Snow Spice, the previous restaurant in this space but had not tried Rainbow. We did not know what we were missing.

Service is very slow but we are willing to look past it. It will probably get better as he gets more used to having people in the dining room and has more help in the kitchen. The owner is really nice and is very helpful in recommending dishes. I think it took about two hours each time we ate there. However, we are not bored. We were talking to the owner, other LTH members, and other Rainbow customers. The small environment makes for friendly atmosphere.

We have tried 12-15 things on our two visits so far and plan on trying a lot more items. We have liked everything so far. Most dishes we have had are already covered numerous times in this thread.

Our favorite items so far are Nam Khao Tod (Crispy rice salad with pickled pork), Isan sausage (fermented sausage), Raw Shrimp salad, Kai Tod (Fried Chicken).

We wanted a soup and the owner recommended the Tom Yum. We then asked him about what meat would be best in it and after consulting his wife, she prepared it with fish. We thought it was really good and will be ordering it again.

Our baby daughter liked the Hor Mok(Steamed curry fish) appetizer.

Even his bubble tea is really good. He recommended avocado, taro, or coconut. They were all outstanding and certainly hold up against other good bubble tea. The tapioca pearls are firmer than other restaurants though.

The only item I will probably not get again was the fried mussels. It was good but there are so many other outstanding items at Rainbow. It had a ton of breading and was very greasy, not sure if that is typical of this dish.

Items we plan on trying so far are Yen ta Fo, Drunken Noodle, Pad See Eww, Yam Khai Dao(fried egg salad), ground basil chicken, baby egg rolls, and Moo Ping

He did confirm that he has another employee starting in the kitchen this week to help with prep and maybe cook some of the more american stuff. He did point out that his wife will still be making all the more authentic food and will have very stringent quality control.

Definitely add this spot to Sticky, Spoon, Aroy, TAC, Opart, Rosded, and the Argyle area places (Thai Pastry, King of Thai Noodle, Thai Avenue, Siam Noodles) as another terrific, authentic Thai cafe which, like each of the above, really excels at particular things. Truly great couple running the place too. In my 2 varied dinners, I have experienced remarkable freshness and attention to detail (eg, the julienne on the vegetables and fruits for certain dishes). The Issan sausage is definitely a standout, maybe the best.

To add a note of moderation, however, I found the flavors of several "Northern" and/or "funky" traditional items to be subtle to a fault (with the sai krok an extreme and delicious exception). I have not been to Chiang Mai or anything, but I've spent substantial time in Thai Town and eaten at the above mentioned places more often than I'd like to admit. Fermented crab, salted mackerel, fish sauce, shrimp paste, raw shrimp, count me in. I personally would like to see them bring on the funk in dishes like kao kluk kapi, which lacked any real shrimp paste flavor in my batch. The classic homey dish kai jeaw moo sub (omelet with ground pork) was so restrained, subtle, and small, that it approached tamagoyaki - which I love but did not expect or want this time. Minor quibbles, but I hope worth noting for the conversation. And I know I can probably ask the owners to adjust - but I'm not sure that either works or is appropriate here. We are not talking levels of heat, but rather what seems like an overall quite subtle philosophy in the kitchen. Which is just fine. I like my Thai drinking foods a bit more rustic, is all. Maybe they throttled things down for me and I was quitely "gringoed," twice. Who knows.

JeffB wrote:Definitely add this spot to Sticky, Spoon, Aroy, TAC, Opart, Rosded, and the Argyle area places (Thai Pastry, King of Thai Noodle, Thai Avenue, Siam Noodles) as another terrific, authentic Thai cafe which, like each of the above, really excels at particular things. Truly great couple running the place too. In my 2 varied dinners, I have experienced remarkable freshness and attention to detail (eg, the julienne on the vegetables and fruits for certain dishes). The Issan sausage is definitely a standout, maybe the best.

Totally agree, Jeff…except with the sausage maybe being the best - too processed for my tastes. I prefer a sausage with a bit more chunk (and funk) such as what is found at Andy’s TAC or ATK. Nonetheless, still a very good version which I'd happily order again.

JeffB wrote:I personally would like to see them bring on the funk in dishes like kao kluk kapi, which lacked any real shrimp paste flavor in my batch. The classic homey dish kai jeaw moo sub (omelet with ground pork) was so restrained, subtle, and small, that it approached tamagoyaki - which I love but did not expect or want this time. Minor quibbles, but I hope worth noting for the conversation. And I know I can probably ask the owners to adjust - but I'm not sure that either works or is appropriate here.

As to Rainbow Cuisine’s overall lack of funk to their dishes, I haven’t been here as many times as Laikom or Gwiv (Who could?!) but of my 3 visits, I would agree that Mrs. Rainbow’s (Wanpen?) style is more subtle but certainly isn't lacking. I too enjoy Thai dishes that’ll knock you down with an aggressive depth of fermented fishy/funky goodness and spice. So, I can see your point. However, I’m betting that they’ll accomodate your request if you ask.

There’s no doubt that Rainbow, at a minimum, adds an extra dimension to Chicago’s Thai scene. However, correct me if I’m wrong but is Rainbow cooking anything new that wasn’t offered up at Spoon Thai during her tenure there?

Being puzzled that they have never publicly made it known that they were once affiliated with Spoon Thai, I asked Mr. Rainbow (Pramote?) why this was so. His answer was not surprising at all after chatting with him; that they didn’t want to detract from Spoon Thai’s business. This says volumes about them and only makes it even easier to want to frequent Rainbow Cuisine.

PIGMON wrote:Totally agree, Jeff…except with the sausage maybe being the best - too processed for my tastes. I prefer a sausage with a bit more chunk (and funk).

The latest batch of the sausage, while still good was not without flaws. Pramote actually apologized to me for the sausage and asked if he should still serve them. They were experiencing a problem using their equipment to make a larger quantity, which would account for the different texture. I imagine the meat warmed up too much while stuffing using their grinder to stuff which caused the fat to smear resulting in a less course texture. I was also told that in scaling up the recipe Wanpen accidentally didn't put enough rice into it so it wasn't getting sour enough as quickly as usual, hence the lower fermentation funk.

Though not their best batch yet, I thought they were good enough to serve. It is this exact type of forthright interaction with the owners which is one of the reasons I love the place so much. Today I plan to order them a sausage stuffer online since pramote has never ordered anything online and is having trouble locating one locally for a good price.

I stopped by Rainbow this past weekend for dinner with a few friends and ran into RonnieSuburban+Crew at the restaurant. His generous contribution of some Michter's to our dinner definitely rounded out the night (Ronnie, I'll bring the whiskey next time).

I agree the isan sausage was very good, but maybe not great. It was still quite tasty, and I'd order it again, but I found the grind to be a little too fine and the sausage itself to be a touch dry. But, I did just have isan at Sticky Rice last night, and did fine Rainbow's version superior.

What really blew my socks off was the nam kao thawt and the fried chicken. Those were both hands down, easily the best versions I have had. Similarly, at Sticky Rice last night, their nam kao thawt was only a shadow of what Rainbow's achieves in terms of texture and flavor.

A couple less-than-adventurous friends rounded out the meal with some crispy pad see ew, which texturally I found very nice, the noodles almost reminded me of pork skin. But the flavor was very one-dimensionally sweet with nary a hint of spice or anything else to balance it out. Frankly, the chef probably took one look at my friends and totally nailed the flavor profile - they were very happy with the dish. But if I get it again, they either need to ramp the spice way up, or it needs some serious doctoring with sriracha at the table.

The food was definitely a little slow to come out and it took a lot of effort to hail somebody down for little things like more napkins or glasses for Ronnie's whiskey. But everyone working was nothing but friendly, and if you go there planning to have a laid-back dinner, and bring some booze to enjoy, you'll have a great time.

DClose wrote:But the flavor was very one-dimensionally sweet with nary a hint of spice or anything else to balance it out. Frankly, the chef probably took one look at my friends and totally nailed the flavor profile - they were very happy with the dish. But if I get it again, they either need to ramp the spice way up, or it needs some serious doctoring with sriracha at the table.

Actually pad see ew is not supposed to be spicy out of the kitchen. You can add the spice at the table, but I would not expect it to be spicy when it comes out.

I actually had to ask SheSimmers just to be sure I remembered it correctly...

CrazyC wrote:

DClose wrote:But the flavor was very one-dimensionally sweet with nary a hint of spice or anything else to balance it out. Frankly, the chef probably took one look at my friends and totally nailed the flavor profile - they were very happy with the dish. But if I get it again, they either need to ramp the spice way up, or it needs some serious doctoring with sriracha at the table.

Actually pad see ew is not supposed to be spicy out of the kitchen. You can add the spice at the table, but I would not expect it to be spicy when it comes out.

I actually had to ask SheSimmers just to be sure I remembered it correctly...

I suppose spice maybe wasn't the right word. I just found it to be dull, very one-dimensional, with a subtle sweetness but nothing else really. More dull than even many pad see ew dishes from other restaurants. I'm not necessarily sure what it lacked, but I know it lacked something.

All the way from Lexington, KY, I'm eagerly awaiting my takeout order!

Serendipitous mix-up, thought I asked for a side of nam prik pla, Pramote thought I said nam prik pao and out from the kitchen comes sticky, funky, hint of sweet, suggestion of fruit nam prik pao, aka chili jam. What SheSimmers calls "one of the most — if not the most — versatile composite ingredients in Thai cooking"

Rainbow Thai Nam Prik Pao, aka Thai Chili Jam

Rainbow Cuisine has again been discovered: http://www.tastingtable.com/entry_detail/chicago/13712

wordlvr wrote:Rainbow Cuisine has again been discovered: http://www.tastingtable.com/entry_detail/chicago/13712

Same thing happened with Nha Hang after it was discovered/popularized by LTHers. The Tasting Table reviewers are definitely lurking here, if not full-blown contributing members. Reveal yourself Batman!