I picked up some food from ATK on Friday and continue to be impressed by the food. There was a camera crew filming in the kitchen for a Hungry Hound segment.

I had the raw shrimp, crispy basic pork belly, the Som Tum Poo Ma (papaya salad with blue crab), and the Kao Soy (curry egg noodles with sour mustard). The pork belly really shone with a strong porky flavor that was mainly concentrated in the crispy skin. The raw blue crab was very enjoyable and I really liked the sour mustard greens in the noodle dish. I didn’t realize it at the time, but everything I ordered had a three star spice level. The heat for most wasn’t readily apparent with the first few bites but quickly escalated so I did have to take numerous breaks to cool my mouth down.

I have eaten here before and had the Boat noodles, the pork neck and the crispy ong-choy salad. The only thing that wasn’t to my taste was the boat noodles, with it’s thin noodles and strong broth, which was stew-like in depth of flavor, but thin in consistency.

I haven’t been to TAC Quick, and am not usually the biggest fan of Thai food. However, I am a big fan of ATK and look forwards to further exploring the menu there.

JermAngela wrote:crispy basic pork belly

There's a typo in the menu. Should be "crispy basil pork belly". It is a very tasty dish however it's spelled.

Chicago Hokie wrote:

JermAngela wrote:crispy basic pork belly

There's a typo in the menu. Should be "crispy basil pork belly". It is a very tasty dish however it's spelled.

Ahh... I didn't realize this. I thought they were trying to differentiate between that one and the Pad Prik Khing Crispy Pork!

I had an early (pre-Halloween parade) dinner at ATK tonight and it was terrific. Nam Tok was a home run. Some of the toasted rice might have been just a tad under-ground for me, but the dish was still outstanding - tender beef, and sour, spicy and minty. Basil preserved egg (fried basil, fried preserved egg, stir-fried chicken, hot pepper) was also terrific, maybe even better than the nam tok. It's a little funky, a little savory, a little spicy, and exploding with flavor. The only slight letdown (and very slight indeed) was the pad thai shrimp omelet. It was cooked beautifully, both egg and shrimp, but it was slightly under-seasoned. It was still tasty, but needed just a little help in terms of seasoning.

Overall, I was very impressed. The flavors of the nam tok and basil preserved egg were fantastic, as good as could be hoped for. ATK is a little out of the way for this Lincoln Square neighbor of Aroy, Spoon and Rosded, but tonight's dinner was so good that I am very certain to return soon.

Chicago Hokie wrote:

JermAngela wrote:crispy basic pork belly

There's a typo in the menu. Should be "crispy basil pork belly". It is a very tasty dish however it's spelled.

I don't know, when we ordered they seemed to call it Basic pork belly right back at us. It was good, regardless. All the food was, as was the service.

ATK in the news again on the Hungry Hound. Yay!! http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=8871871

My wife and I stopped in here for dinner on Friday night, and really enjoyed our meal. We arrived about 8:30 or so, and had to wait about 20-30 min. for a table. Once we were seated the service was attentive and paced fine, in spite of some comments I'd read that had me expecting otherwise. Hope this means that any initial hiccups have been worked out.

Based on recommendations from here as well as Michael Nagrant's and Kevin Pang's reviews, I created a list of 8-9 dishes I wanted to try, and from that list we ended up ordering 4 -- the Nam Tok, Crispy Onchoy, Basil Crispy Pork Belly and the Kao Soy noodles. All were hits. The flavor profile of the Nam Tok and Crispy Onchoy were similar, with limey brightness, freshness from the herbs and a good amount of heat (but not too much... maybe could've used a tiny bit more?) The mix of textures in the Crispy Onchoy, with the tempura vegetables, ground chicken, perfectly cooked shrimp, fresh onion, hot peppers and mint was interesting and balanced. The crispy pork belly was different from anything I've had a Thai restaurant... very earthy with the mushrooms, dark sauce and crispy pork chunks. Almost seemed like something I'd expect to find at one of Tony Hu's restaurants. In fact, it reminded us of the spicy marinated beef at Lao Hunan. I really enjoyed this, but my wife was indifferent. Since Nagrant said Soy Kow was the real Thai benchmark dish in his review, we decided to give this a try... did not disappoint. It was a yellow curry over soft egg noodles with crunchy noodles on top, chicken, and mustard greens. The pungentness of the mustard created a unique balance to the sweetness of the curry, and again the dish provided a ton of different textures together.

There were at least 20 more dished that we both wanted to try, so we'll be hitting ATK again soon, and since we're in their delivery zone I expect it might become our standard Thai delivery joint, too.

I went there a couple of weeks ago and thought it was good but not outstanding. The service element was challenging as our server was not very knowledgeable of English, so communication was difficult and because of it, he did not deliver several dishes until we made additional requests/clarifications/repetitions. The food was quite fine but--to me--not close to Aroy Thai in quality. Just one person's opinion...

I went to ATK for the first time to dine in, having ordered from there for carry out prior.

The food was good, but I found the size of the portion a bit disappointing. The dish I ordered was basil chili, which is a standard of most any Thai restaurant. I got that after my first choice was unavailable.

It seemed more like a lunch special portion than a full-price dinner portion, mostly consisting of onion and green onion, with sauce and the protein. What I had was tasty, but meager. I did not have the same reaction to dishes that I ordered on takeout, nor did it seem like the food of the diners around me was similarly skimpy. The table next door had ordered a couple entrees including a green curry that was quite substantial.

While I really enjoy the food, my budget for eating out is limited, and it may be a while before I return to ATK, at least to dine in, because I want to feel that I'm getting a value for my money.

Also, the house was fairly packed but there was only one person working service. She was doing her best, but she could have used some help. (And no, I didn't penalize her for being solo, or for the portion, on the tip.)

I went to ATK for the first time to dine in, having ordered from there for carry out prior.

I'm looking forward to trying this place, as I've always liked TAC Quick. I will have to do delivery. Can someone point me to an online menu?

Best wishes,

bean

There's something on Menupages:

http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurant ... tchen/menu

They do seem to be having some growing paints/staffing issues. We stopped in Saturday night with a group of two and it was pretty full, but there were some open tables. They said they were short-handed and that the food would be slow, so we decided to try it another time since we didn't have a ton of time. They were also not taking any carryout orders that night.

Tambreet wrote: We stopped in Saturday night with a group of two and it was pretty full, but there were some open tables. They said they were short-handed and that the food would be slow, so we decided to try it another time since we didn't have a ton of time. They were also not taking any carryout orders that night.

We tried calling in a carryout order around 6:30 that same night, and they said it would be 1 hour and 45 minutes. 30 minutes later, we were enjoying some Sticky Rice (the restaurant, not the dessert). Look forward to ATK though...

That's interesting about Saturday night, as when we visited Friday every table was full, there were a couple larger groups (6-8) and still service seemed fine. I had expected slow service after reading reviews, and so was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't... thought maybe they'd solved the early issues. Guess not.

Great meal here yesterday - everything was vibrant, fresh, and uncompromisingly spicy, sour and funky. The som tom with preserved blue crab was the best version I've had anywhere. The papaya shreds had great texture, tomatos were sweet and ripe, and the sauce was fishy, garlicky and spicy as hell. The bits of sweet preserved crab were great. Beef jerky was a fine rendition, umami defined. The khao soy the best I've had in the city. Abundant pickled greens (my favorite part) and a truly aromatic curry that avoids being too sweet, hitting the perfect herbal and spice notes.

Great to have another first-tier Thai spot in Chicago.

BR wrote:I had an early (pre-Halloween parade) dinner at ATK tonight and it was terrific. Nam Tok was a home run.

The Nam Tok I had this weekend at Andy's was the most completely satisfying single dish I've had this year. So sour, so hot, so herbal, so toasty, very high quality beef, and just a beautiful presentation. It was exactly what I needed at that moment and exactly what I had hoped it would be. The space is charming and will be fun to return to and explore more.

I must report that it did take 25 minutes from being seated to get a bowl of tom yum, and 40 to get the beef salad, not so ridiculous for a fine dining restaurant but on the silly side of the scale for Thai in Chicago, which is often disconcertingly instantaneous.

My husband and I took out of town guests to ATK Friday night, and though the food was wonderful (we are long time TAC fans but this was our first visit to ATK), the service was so poor that we were embarrassed to have chosen it for our friends. We arrived around 9, and were told that a table of 4 was just finishing up. No problem -- we agreed to wait. After a few minutes, a different table of 4 left, but instead of giving us that table the hostess split it into 2 two-tops and gave it to the party of two behind us. We waited another 15 minutes for the original table to leave, and by that time the staff was clearly anxious to get the kitchen closed down. We were already a little irritated at this point, but the surliness of the waitress was what put the experience in the wrong column. We had to wait at least another 10 minutes for menus, had to request silverware (which was flung on the table in one pile, rather than distributed to the diners), were never offered glasses for our beer, and of course she made a point of telling us as we ordered that the kitchen was about to close. Fortunately, the kitchen redeemed the experience but we will not go back unless it's early in the evening and we have plenty of time (and patience) on hand.

I had this excellent spicy tangy herbal Yum Poo Ma on Sunday


even though the waitress said I might not want to order it though she couldn't explain why. I thought maybe she thought it was too funky or spicy? But we ordered two other very funky and spicy dishes, like the mudfish curd soup, and she didn't seem worried about those. It became clear when the table next to us also ordered it and proceeded to complain that the crab was in a shell...

Dinner the other night at ATK was terrific. Sausage was excellent, and so was the Hainan chicken. But my very favorite dish of the night was the raw shrimp, a common presentation in town. In my opinion, ATK's is by far the best - diced hot pepper (including seeds), garlic, lime and mint. It's quite the simple dish, but the beauty is in the quality of the shrimp and the perfect mix of sweet, sour, herbs and heat. Just one warning: this dish is as spicy as any you will find in town and is pretty much guaranteed to numb your taste buds for several minutes. But if you can handle that kind of spice, you will be rewarded.

A perfect follow-up to the shrimp (and specify that this is how you want them delivered) are the garlic pork ribs. These are very small rib pieces, sauteed and crisp, with plenty of very lightly spiced fried sweet garlic. All of the pieces are nicely crisped, but the best pieces are the ones with plenty of soft fatty meat. And they're all coated with the fried garlic and perhaps a bit like candy - again, the perfect follow-up to the ultra-spicy shrimp.

Though service was excellent the other night, ATK is almost unpleasantly loud. When packed (which it always is), the restaurant is so loud and conversation is slightly difficult. Unfortunately, this is the one thing that will keep my from visiting ATK more often.

I'm surprised to see the last post was a year ago. Maybe this place has made it onto everyone's regular Thai rotation. If not, it should be. It's every bit as good as the other high quality, authentic Thai spots are around town.

I had a great meal there last weekend and hit some of the regulars. The standouts: raw shrimp, tod mun, crispy onchoy, kao soy, and pad prik khing.

They are executing on the same high level as TAC ever was. They're still BYO. There is nothing not to love here.

gastro gnome wrote:I'm surprised to see the last post was a year ago. Maybe this place has made it onto everyone's regular Thai rotation. If not, it should be. It's every bit as good as the other high quality, authentic Thai spots are around town.

I had a great meal there last weekend and hit some of the regulars. The standouts: raw shrimp, tod mun, crispy onchoy, kao soy, and pad prik khing.

They are executing on the same high level as TAC ever was. They're still BYO. There is nothing not to love here.

Couldn't agree more. They're very consistent and definitely in the conversation for best Thai food in town (really it's a three way tie for me between ATK, Rainbow, and Aroy, all are consistently awesome).

Just had an utterly outstanding dinner at ATK last night. And at $55 for five dishes, tax & tip included, this is easily one of the best values in the city.

The Nam Kao Tod (Crispy Rice Salad) needs to make it onto the regular menu - I can't even conceive of coming here without ordering it. Actually, the same goes for the grilled squid, and the Pad Prik Khing Crispy Pork. Every time I come back, I have a harder and harder time deciding what to order - do I stick with my favorites, or try out the rest of the menu?

Clearly, the answer is to eat with a larger group of people and steal off their plates.

Great to hear all of these reports and I agree with them. I think the food ATK is putting out is better than what ever came out of the kitchen at TAC Quick (a big statement) and I really think ATK stands alone as the best and most consistent Thai restaurant in Chicago.

Independent George wrote:The Nam Kao Tod (Crispy Rice Salad) needs to make it onto the regular menu.

Haven't had it here yet. Can anyone provide a comparison with the Nam Kao Tod from Rainbow, which is one of my favorite Thai dishes in the city?

Last night was the first time I tried the naem khao tod at Andy's and it was magnificent -- the best version of this dish I've ever had. I was always a big fan of this dish at Spoon, and a big fan of Rainbow's version, but I just found Andy's to be more complex and more balanced in terms of hitting every Thai flavor note. It was slightly more sour, more funky, definitely more herbaceous, and it seemed as if a concerted effort was made to give every single rice kernel the toasted flavor needed to put this dish over the top. Note that it was on last night's specials board so I'm not sure if they have it every night (though there's no harm in asking).

Otherwise, the Isaan-style sausage is my favorite Thai sausage in town and ATK's version reminds me very much of my favorite sausage in Chiang Mai - slightly charred on the outside, very loose and moist on the inside, quite funky and sour, and served with fresh peanuts, Thai bird peppers and ginger (pretty sure not galangal). While I love the snap of Spoon's (and now Rainbow's) sausage balls, ATK's just delivers that extra sour note/funk I love.

The green curry with Thai eggplant over omelet (which we ordered with pork) was also fantastic. ATK's green curry is fantastic, not too coconut heavy, funky and spicy and much better than any other green curry I've had in Chicago. And if you like spicy, they will happily accommodate (but don't complain when you feel like you're on fire).

There were a couple of other hits last night, but the only slight miss worth noting was the khao soi. I thought that ATK (and Andy while at TAC Quick) used thicker rice noodles for the khao soi, but the noodles we had last night were the very thin variety. Also, there was too little of the curry served. Finally, the curry was not as funky or spicy as I remember it. It was still very flavorful (and served with the appropriate condiments). But perhaps it was a slightly off night in terms of the curry itself. That being said, the thinner variety of rice noodles make this dish off limits for me. I'll take the versions at Sticky Rice (which unfortunately can also be inconsistent) or Jin Thai over the one I had last night.

Dining with some less heat-liking friends, I sadly avoided the raw shrimp presentation which may be the hottest dish in Chicago (though also one of the finest and a must order at Andy's if you can brave the heat).

In any event, another stellar meal from ATK last night. I've frequently changed my mind concerning the best Thai restaurant in the city (and I'm confining this to the city limits), and I'm usually partial to those in my own neighborhood (Lincoln Square), but I just don't think there's anyone hitting as many high notes as ATK is hitting these days. The place just keeps getting better and I think it's better in terms of food than TAC Quick has ever been. More and more, I find myself getting in my car and heading to ATK rather than walking to one of my Lincoln Square-area favorites (and no disrespect for them). The food at ATK is just that good.

Service has also improved significantly though I still find them to be a little too slow and occasionally discombobulated (though always friendly), issues I've largely ignore given how great the food is.

After BR’s song of praise about ATK I rushed in to finally (gasp!) get in there. I have no excuse for it taking so long. Fropones was nice enough to join me. Overall our experience was pretty mixed, a lot of ups and downs, and I left feeling torn about what I think of the place.

We started with the Naem Kao Tod, which was on the specials board. If you ask me, it was a bit of a joke of the dish. There was next to no Thai chili heat (deal breaker). The rice was obliterated into individual kernals, so much so that it may as well have been made with red rice crispies. Perfect NKT rice has a chewy center with crispy exterior. The naem itself was clearly not fresh, it had that frozen/thawed mushy/dry texture, even some freezer burn flavor. The dish was stacked on top of bizarrely perfect squares of iceberg lettuce which was odd to me. My only guess is that it was to bulk up the smaller portion. I don’t know if use of lettuce is normal in Thailand, but I doubt it.





Then came the “sunshine beef” which was the same Thai beef jerky dish that I’m familiar with by the name of Neua Daet Diaw. This was excellent. Had lots of grill char, a bit dry, but then again it’s jerky so that’s okay. It was sweet, as the dish normally is, and could have been a bit saltier for my tastes. It came with a sriracha type dipping sauce, which I’m not a fan of. I would order this one again for sure.



Of course we couldn’t take a trip to any Isan Thai restaurant and pass up the Sai Krog Isan. BR’s description left my mouth watering, and once the dish landed on the table, I was giggling with excitement. I could smell the funky sourness before I even picked up a piece and the huge fat chunks were calling my name. The grill char looked beautiful and the meat was indeed very loosely packed. I plunked a piece into my mouth and uttered the words “oh my god this is…” I was going to say amazing, but the word “bitter” was all I could utter. Just as I was saying this, fropones was spitting his piece out onto his plate. It was so bitter, that it lingered on the back of my tongue for the rest of the meal. It was only 2nd to malort in terms of abrasive bitterness. We told the server about the problem and he said it was probably the grill char. I have made 3 batches of my own Isan Sausage, and have charred all of them up over charcoal and have never tasted anything remotely like what I tasted with this. He was very nice about it and happily replaced it with a 2nd attempt, this time a bit less charred, it was still bitter, just not as much. Some people might not want to hear this, but I my best guess would be that the grill char somehow reacting with the (good) bacterial film that forms on the exterior of the fermented sausages. The exterior of my isan sausages get quite slimy and filmy before I cook them but I usually rinse that off before grilling. I wonder if this char is from that. I can see how this sausage could be amazing, and wish I had experienced them without this problem.





I asked if they had soop naw mai, as it’s one of my favorite Thai dishes. It wasn’t on the menu, but our server asked about it and Andy was happy to make some up for us. It was up there with the best I’ve had, and enough Thai chili heat that breaks between bites were necessary. This was nice because it was the only dish of the lunch with some heat.




The last dish we got was another specials board item. The Wild Boar Pad Ped. I wouldn’t have known this was boar as opposed to any other pork, if anything less “porky” than regular pork belly would have been. There were equal parts skin and fat as there were meat chunks. I always like Thai eggplant and young peppercorns, so not complaining there. The red curry itself was pretty middle of the road. Not spicy, but not overly sweet either, pretty basic. I have one complaint about it, that it was clearly thickened with corn starch or something similar which interferes with the mouthfeel of a curry, and is totally unnecessary. As you can see from the close up picture, it left a sheen over everything including my mouth after eating it.





Based on this experience, I’m not sure I’ll be rushing back. On the other hand, if I’m in the area, I’ll definitely give that isan sausage another shot, since if it didn’t have that bitterness I would dream about the stuff. I can’t imagine that the bitterness was a normal thing. I'm also sure there are a lot more dishes on the menu worth ordering. The absence of the Thai chili heat is somewhat bothersome. I hate to have to order things "Thai spicy", because that is not really a thing, and you never know what you're going to get when you ask for that.

I think the pictures probably say it for me, but it’s also worth noting that the plating of the dishes is colorful and beautiful. The feel of the place is a bit more upscale than I’m accustomed to while eating Thai, but very comfortable, and the prices seem pretty reasonable (though portions smaller than other places). Total after tip for these 5 dishes, a Thai tea, and a diet coke was $60 ($30 ea).

I probably should have noted the less traditional presentation of the naem khao thawt at Andy's. And no question it's different than Spoon/Rainbow. I think they minimize or eliminate egg and perhaps some curry paste. That being said, I really liked the crispy texture of the rice, didn't have any issues with the pressed ham they used, and loved the added herbal notes. As for it being less spicy than other versions (I've never really found this to be a very spicy dish), I perhaps differ in that while I like heat, I don't require that every single dish ordered by very spicy and in fact prefer having diversity. But if you like heat, you really should have ordered their raw shrimp.

Too bad about your sausage too - I definitely have't encountered any such issues. As for the wild boar pad ped, I have yet to try it at Andy's, but I had previously tried it a few years ago at TAC based upon the recommendations on this board and liked it - not sure if they're doing anything differently with it now though.

But I've been to Andy's four times in the past month and find myself liking it more and more; probably more than I ever liked TAC and I was always a big fan of Andy's work at TAC.

BR wrote:I probably should have noted the less traditional presentation of the naem khao thawt at Andy's. And no question it's different than Spoon/Rainbow. I think they minimize or eliminate egg and perhaps some curry paste. That being said, I really liked the crispy texture of the rice, didn't have any issues with the pressed ham they used, and loved the added herbal notes. As for it being less spicy than other versions (I've never really found this to be a very spicy dish), I perhaps differ in that while I like heat, I don't require that every single dish ordered by very spicy and in fact prefer having diversity. But if you like heat, you really should have ordered their raw shrimp.

Too bad about your sausage too - I definitely have't encountered any such issues. As for the wild boar pad ped, I have yet to try it at Andy's, but I had previously tried it a few years ago at TAC based upon the recommendations on this board and liked it - not sure if they're doing anything differently with it now though.

But I've been to Andy's four times in the past month and find myself liking it more and more; probably more than I ever liked TAC and I was always a big fan of Andy's work at TAC.

I have never seen egg in NKT, other than when G Wiv special orders the "lily gilder" And while I've only had it at 2 places, likely made from the same or very similar recipes, it has always been spicy and would seem weird to me if it wasn't. Not blow your head off spicy but enough to make you notice. Fresh chilis and chili paste are key ingredients to the dish. It wouldn't even look right to me without it, let alone taste like NKT to me.

As I thought further about this, I recalled that Lotus of Siam's version of this dish (naem khao thawt/nam kao tod) is prepared very similarly to Andy's. If you look at online for LoS' version, you'll notice from the many pictures that it looks a lot like the ATK version, and not like the Spoon/Rainbow version.

Looking at pictures of the LoS' version online it looks even more like my description above. Red rice crispies. I didn't mean to make it sound as though it was wrong or inauthentic, I'm sure there are all types. With regards to the texture of the rice, instead of saying "Perfect", I probably should have said "My preferred".