Chai Asian Bistro [Pictures]

LTH,

Open just a few weeks Chai Asian Bistro shows promise. Fresh, clean, distinct flavors, nicely prepared food in attractive surroundings. There were a few stumbling blocks, service was slow and, from the time we ordered to when the food arrived, would best be measured in Geologic Time. Physical space, while small, is nicely done with an Asian aesthetic.

Steve Z and I started with Asian Lettuce Wrap, distinctly Thai with butter lettuce. We asked for hot and, surprisingly, it had a bit of heat.

Asian Lettuce Wrap


Chive dumpling was fine, nothing exceptional, with the sauce a bit thinner than I prefer, but I'd order it again, ~maybe~.


Spicy Basil Chicken was a straight up Thai preparation, really quite good, though $10 seemed a wee bit high. Frankly, that is one of the main reasons I don't see becoming a regular at Chai as the prices are 20%, as a rule, higher than my regular, and favorite, Thai restaurants. (Spoon, Thai Elephant, TAC etc.)

Spicy Basil Chicken


Roasted Chicken was quite good, though it took just about forever to come to the table. Juicy, with hints of lemon grass and served with both papaya salad and a sticky rice roll on the plate, this is something I might develop the occasional craving for. The deep fried sticky rice spring roll was particularly good, in a starchy/neutral fashion.

Chai Bistro Roasted Chicken


Sticky Rice Spring Roll


The owners of Chai have a Thai restaurant in Evanston, (Noodle Country ?) and, once they work out the kinks in service, should be a viable option in the immediate neighborhood. Currently BYOB.

Chai Asian Bistro
4748 W Peterson Ave
Chicago, IL 60646
773-481-0008

Do they use a lot of Nam Pla (fish sauce) in the Thai dishes?

Snark wrote:Do they use a lot of Nam Pla (fish sauce) in the Thai dishes?

Snark,

Not sure of your question. You mean did they drown everything in fish sauce? No they did not. If you mean was fish sauce used when appropriate. Then, yes it was.

If you mean, was the food at Chai Asian Bistro dumbed down, no it was not. At least not the dishes Steve and I sampled.

I'm guessing there will be a bit of push back from neighborhood locals, Sauganash is not known for being a hot bed of culinary adventurers. It will be interesting to see it the dishes retain their integrity in the coming months.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:I'm guessing there will be a bit of push back from neighborhood locals, Sauganash is not known for being a hot bed of culinary adventurers. It will be interesting to see it the dishes retain their integrity in the coming months.

Enjoy,
Gary

I think that Chai Asian Bistro has done a pretty good job at finding a middle ground in terms of mixing the demographics of the neighborhood with full on Thai flavors. Judging by the good response to Elephant Thai, I don't think they will have to play with their recipes very much. I'm not sure I would choose BAB over Elephant if I was looking for a good Thai meal, but if I had some unadventurous guests that were looking for a more upscale, non-challenging dining experience, I wouldn't hesitate to go to CAB, where I wouldn't have to compromise my ability to find something on the menu that I would enjoy.

The owners of Chai have a Thai restaurant in Evanston, (Noodle Country ?) and, once they work out the kinks in service, should be a viable option in the immediate neighborhood. Currently BYOB.

Gary, do you mean Noodle Garden on Chicago south of Dempster? It's three blocks from our home, and we go there sometimes if we're looking for someplace close, but there are of course better options. We agree that it's pricey for what you get, which is competent but not very exciting. If Pad Thai is what we want we'll walk the same three blocks west to Siam Pasta on Dempster, which at least ranks high on the value scale.
>>Brent

Noodle Garden
1241 Chicago Ave.
Evanston, IL 60202
(847) 332 2775

G Wiv wrote:Open just a few weeks Chai Asian Bistro shows promise. Fresh, clean, distinct flavors, nicely prepared food in attractive surroundings. There were a few stumbling blocks, service was slow and, from the time we ordered to when the food arrived, would best be measured in Geologic Time. Physical space, while small, is nicely done with an Asian aesthetic.

Chive dumpling was fine, nothing exceptional, with the sauce a bit thinner than I prefer, but I'd order it again, ~maybe~.

We at at Chai Asian Bistro last night and had some food from every Asian country represented: Japan, China and Thailand . Of the three, perhaps predicatably, the Thai was best. The owner, who is from southern Thailand, was quite gracious and the service was good -- food came out relatively briskly, even though the place was at capacity; servers and owner came out several times to make sure everything was okay.

Though I would agree that the Thai food here is not "dumbed down" (at least by my somewhat flexible standards), it was lacking in the upfront funk and aggressively bright flavors I associate with Thai food, and the preparations were sometimes inept (we had the chive dumplings, for instance, and they looked nothing like Gary's pic: they were dark brown almost black, though not burned, and The Wife observed that the oil seemed a little old). My green curry was good, and though the earth did not move, I enjoyed it and thought the sauce was good, with fresh flavors of basil, garlic and chili, though I do not think any shrimp paste was involved (befitting, as stevez noted, the need to please the local demo).

Overall, not a bad place, but not worth a drive or more than 12 minutes or so. Maybe 13 at the outside.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:Overall, not a bad place, but not worth a drive or more than 12 minutes or so. Maybe 13 at the outside.

Hammond,

I live less than 12 minutes from CAB, maybe 5-6, though I use the extra couple of minutes to go to Elephant Thai. Not that CAB is bad, it's not, or at least it wasn't last time I was there, it's just that Elephant Thai is 1/3 less money for bright, clear, clean flavored Thai in a comfortable cozy atmosphere.

Enjoy,
Gary

Elephant Thai
5348 W Devon
Chicago, IL
773-467-1168

G Wiv wrote:

David Hammond wrote:Overall, not a bad place, but not worth a drive or more than 12 minutes or so. Maybe 13 at the outside.

Hammond,

I live less than 12 minutes from CAB, maybe 5-6, though I use the extra couple of minutes to go to Elephant Thai. Not that CAB is bad, it's not, or at least it wasn't last time I was there, it's just that Elephant Thai is 1/3 less money for bright, clear, clean flavored Thai in a comfortable cozy atmosphere.

Enjoy,
Gary

Elephant Thai
5348 W Devon
Chicago, IL
773-467-1168

Yes, I thought about Elephant Thai last night, and how it's pretty much in the same neighborhood though pretty much in a different league from CAB.

I'm eating a meal from there right now. It's quite good. I'm having the mixed veggie lunch special with shrimp. I asked for brown rice, but they gave me white with a box of brown on the side. They didn't charge me, and it looks really beautiful; it's two different shades of brown, like wild rice.