Neua Daet Diao and Nam Prik Noom, Daley Plaza

As hoped, the Thai festival at the Daley Center features the ladies from Pad Thai, Etc. in Wheaton who make a mean, rustic mash of green chiles, garlic, onions and other stuff. It's not on the menu board, but ask: for five bucks you get a nice portion of the dip (nam prik noom), deep fried "beef jerky" and a ball of good sticky rice. Some ladies from Bangkok who work the kitchens at the Peninsula were walking by, saw my plate, and demanded to know where I got it. They proclaimed everything very good.

Speaking of which, Sticky Rice has a booth this year, featuring sausages and kao soy. Someone has a bubble shake setup as well.

Not surprisingly, the lines are long for pad thai and deep fried stuff, but short for the places mentioned above.

...was there today(the last day of the festival) around eleven when the few vendors were just setting up after the morning showers...

I was a tad disappointed by the ubiquitous village of bland, white tents, but gamely strode from kiosk to kiosk talking to vendors and sussing out
some off-the-menu fare. And a free fortune cookie from the guy behind Thai Grocery.

I picked up some Issan sausage at Sticky Rice and the nam prik num at Pad Thai, etc. They were esp. friendly at the latter, but I had to ask for rice to accompany my dip/condiment and there was no beef "jerky" forthcoming. Once I got a chance I perused my Thompson for serving suggestions: he offers crispy pig skin, but I ain't got none and they weren't giving samples of that, either. Luckily, I have a crisper full of spring onions, peas, and scapes from the market yesterday. I only wish I'd gotten ahold of Sticky Rice's kao soy gai while there. I was more concerned about beating the threatening clouds.

4 bucks seems a li'l steep for a smallish length of sausage and a ball of rice, but I figure...eh...festival prices.

Thanks for the reminder. Last year there was a ton of advertising in the weeklies for it...this year, as far I can tell...nada.

oh...and I'd promised the s/o some karee phap, but none were forthcoming. I guess that was just for last year. Curry Puffs are a new addiction of ours...coincidentally, Real Thai.com has a travelogue up about Saraburi...apparently, the capitol of this snack.

I stashed my goodies in the fridge for sampling this evening. They sure smell good.

Got there around 1:00 and hit Pad Thai etc. In the pictures and the small plates I saw going by, the portions looked a bit small for $5, but I ordered the chicken and got what felt like a 2+ lb. half-chicken. Deeply marinated/coated with fragrant yellow something (can anyone enlighten me on what goes into this seasoning?) it was terrific. I thought the sticky rice suffered a bit from its holding time inside aluminum foil. I also thought that the sweet/sour/spicy side of sauce --- nice enough in itself -- wasn't much of a complement to the chicken, which I preferred on its own. Are they a traditional pairing?

I only wish the fest. ran the rest of the week so I could have tried more. But I'm very grateful to have been alerted at all.

I too hit Pad Thai today at the festival. Ordered the combo plate - which was about 2lbs of chicken (the leg-thigh was succulent and tasty, the breast was dry), a coconut shrimp, meatballs and sticky rice (same tinfoil negative as above)... I couldn't eat it all, but it was a nice break from lunch monotony. The shredded salad was spicy nice as well.

I just stopped sweating from the walk however.

Sorry to hear today was the last day - would like to go back and try a few other things.

Christopher Gordon wrote:...was there today(the last day of the festival)

Are you sure about this? All the online references I've seen say it runs June 19-22, indicating that today, Thursday, June 22 would be the last day.

edc wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:...was there today(the last day of the festival)

Are you sure about this? All the online references I've seen say it runs June 19-22, indicating that today, Thursday, June 22 would be the last day.

The sign hanging above Daley Plaza indicated that the 21st was the last day. Thursday is Daley Plaza farmer's market day.

Best,
Michael

edc wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:...was there today(the last day of the festival)

Are you sure about this? All the online references I've seen say it runs June 19-22, indicating that today, Thursday, June 22 would be the last day.

I wish it lasted a week at least with extra room for "cultural" presentations.

Then I could get together with friends and do a weekend perambulation.
And procure more of the yummy(tho' a tad palm-sugary) nam prik num
and try some of Sticky Rice's kao soy.

The Thai Consulate? should really look into a relatively bigger festival, better advertised, and placed securely over a weekend.