Thanks for the report seebee. It's nice to know I haven't completely lost my mind....I was thinking maybe Amarind's was too "refined" for my palate. Sometimes I get weary of begging Asian restaurants to prepare dishes spicy. Sometimes you just get the same thing with a bunch of red pepper flakes dumped into it. I can just see the chef chuckling as he shakes the red pepper flakes with gritted teeth..."you want hot!??!"

teatpuller wrote:Sometimes I get weary of begging Asian restaurants to prepare dishes spicy. Sometimes you just get the same thing with a bunch of red pepper flakes dumped into it. I can just see the chef chuckling as he shakes the red pepper flakes with gritted teeth..."you want hot!??!

Wow. That EXACT scenario runs through my mind just about every time I ask for something spicy at an Asian joint.

teatpuller wrote:....I was thinking maybe Amarind's was too "refined" for my palate.

I think "dumbed down" or "Amercianized" is a more definitive description.
This got me thinking... The Owner /Chef at Amarind's is supposed to have quite the pedigree (years at Arun's.) I'm wondering if what comes out of Amarind's kitchen is barely scraping the surface of what they can do.

Is anyone in the area interested in getting an lth meal together at Yum or Amarind's and letting the staff know beforehand that we'd be interested in REAL Thai food? I'm fully aware of Yum's translated menu, but have never ordered anything off of it. Just wondering if there is any interest. I've never been to an lth 'outing' yet much less organized one, but this is something I'd be interested in, sounds like Teatpuller might be as well?

I'm always game for a challenge-the-chef meal; I've done it on an individual basis at Yum with some success, but would love to try it at Amarind, since their ingredient quality is wonderful, even if the preparation and finishing touches are somewhat boring. Let me know when and if you'd like to set this up!

Well, I tried Thai's Oak Park. It was eh. My wife put it best when she said, "well it wasn't that good, but it was better than Amarinds." The service was good. Bell peppers in everything...man do I hate bell peppers. Canned mushrooms in the Basil chicken???

I have a couple pictures if I can figure out how to post them. Next weekend we'll have to hit Yum Thai.

teatpuller wrote:Well, I tried Thai's Oak Park. Canned mushrooms in the Basil chicken???

'Nuff said. Canned mushrooms=automatic deal breaker in my book.

[/interest in Thai's Oak Park]

really good pad thai though. also there's a cool looking bar with no name across the street from thai's. just the old style sign. wonder what that's like.

The bar you're talking about is the Kat Klub, Galewood's premiere/only bar. Home to Galewood scooter trash and drunk old men. It's a small neighborhood bar with cheap pitchers, and the bartenders are nice. The regulars are pretty mellow, usually with a 20:2 male/female ratio.

The address is 6920 W. North Ave. There's no sign, as you mentioned.

grace

sounds like a good hangout when the wife and kids go to visit the in-laws.