Cynthia wrote:As for Chinese, one of my favorite places is Best Hunan in Vernon Hills. Cold sesame noodles or cold in temperature, but zippy for spice. They take credit for introducing the now ubiquitous General Tso's chicken to the US, and their's is excellent (as is everything else I've eaten there).

Attached is a NYTimes article discussing the History of General Tso's Chicken. No mention of Best Hunan in Vernon Hills

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/04/magaz ... yt&emc=rss

Hi,

I went to Won Ton Express for lunch today. My soup noodles were very good. I just wanted to make a small update to my last post: Today the temperature was less than 10 degrees outside. Fortunately the temperature in Won Ton Express was warm enough I could take off my coat.

Regards,

As someone else has mentioned, Felix Kitchen can make whatever you want so long as they have the ingredients. I chatted for a bit with the owner while waiting for my food, and he told me that he caters more to the tastes of the large Hispanic population in the area, but he was very flexible in accommodating my requests.

Also another nod for Thai Noodle Cafe in Libertyville...it's run by some of the nicest people and consistently puts up a quality product.

Same boat as you. Moved up here July 1st to Ravinia. On Skokie Valley Rd just south of Lake Cook is a place called Pacific Rim. Not bad and perfect for pickup thai considering the local fare. You're not alone up here. Many of us were dragged up here by our significant others to live and they didn't care that we'd starve from lack of good thai or chinese.

Pacific Rim Kitchen
315 Skokie Blvd.
Northbrook, IL 60062
847-714-1888

Haven't been to Pacific Rim in quite awhile, but gave it a few chances some years ago. And the old saying that always occurred to me when eating there was:

"Jack-of-all-trades, master of none"

That, to me, is Pacific Rim. Not authentic in any way, shape or form, a place where Cantonese, Japanese, Thai, Korean & Vietnamese cuisines become interchangeable. Sordid business, indeed...

What is more odd is that presently on the North Shore there is not one authentic Vietnamese restaurant north of Touhy Ave. (And NO, don't even mention Nam Viet on Northwest Highway).

So coming down from the far north suburbs, we must go to Ben Tre Cafe on Touhy, which has been discussed on this forum before (sorry, don't know how to imbed a link!). But it is the real McCoy, right down to the Vietnamese crepes and the sweetened iced coffee.

Ben Tre Cafe
3146 W Touhy Ave
Chicago 60645
773-465-3011

jnm123 wrote:(sorry, don't know how to imbed a link!)

Assuming you know the website address of the link you want to embed, here's how to type it:

[ url = http://websiteaddress.com ] link description [ / url ]

Substitute the website address above, and change the link description to how you want it to appear. And leave out all the spaces between the sets of brackets; I included them above because otherwise it will try to make a link out of my post. If you do it right (and assuming you have enabled HTML and BBCode in your post - those are options under your post when you type it in), whatever you type as "link description" will appear in your post, and when anyone clicks on it, it will take them to the website address you have entered.

I think that jnm123 was trying to insert the link to the thread regarding Ben Tre Cafe. Does the cafe even have a website of its own? One can access the menu at menupages.com, but I didn't find a link to a discrete website there (though if you have the menu, the location, the phone number, and the hours, a resto website seems redundant and a waste of money).

sundevilpeg wrote:I think that jnm123 was trying to insert the link to the thread regarding Ben Tre Cafe.

Yes, that's what I assumed as well. The instructions above will enable him/her to do that, using the website address for that topic. The process for embedding a link is the same for a link to a topic as for a link to a restaurant's website.

BTW, there are actually two LTH topics on Ben Tre. Here are the links to both as well as to its listing on menupages:

Topic - Ben Tre Cafe & Restaurant
Topic - Ben Tre Cafe - Vietnamese Chinese West Rogers Park
Menupages listing for Ben Tre

About a decade ago, I used to live in Evanston and would eat at Thai Sookdee occasionally, even though I was never really much of a fan. Much time had passed and finding myself in Evanston recently, I figured it was worth another try, especially considering that longevity is tough to come by in the restaurant business and it usually means something good. I hate to say it but I was thoroughly disappointed by our meal at Thai Sookdee. Aside from the tom kha and the very friendly service, I left our meal feeling very unsatisfied. I really have to question the claim on their menu that they are offering "authentic Thai cuisine," because that's not how it felt at all.

Appetizer selections were an odd lot, with only a few truly Thai offerings, like satay and spring roll. Even the Thai-style potsickers, which we did try, were something I'd never seen before at any Thai restaurant. They were comprised of relatively bland minced chicken and spinach, formed into a puck, dipped in batter and deep-fried. OTOH, egg rolls, shu mai, crab rangoon and gyoza -- all, more often associated with other Asian cuisines -- were available.

We ordered the "som tum," but we should have read the fine print. Curiously, Thai Sookdee's version is made with cabbage, not green papaya, and it was a complete miss. The texture, flavor and absorption properties of cabbage are nothing like green papaya and, as such, the dish played more like Thai cole slaw, made from a recipe in a women's magazine, than actual som tum. The sulfuric aroma of the cruciferous cabbage stepped all over the very essence of the dish.

As for entrees, we were not really pleased with them either. We considered ordering the whole red snapper but were told that it was frozen. So instead, we opted for a curry dish, the "original hot number two" with chicken. Here, the all white meat chicken was very dry and the flavor of the curry was muddy and lacking sharpness and compexity. Yes, there was some heat, which I appreciated but it was the only redeeming aspect of the dish. The 'seasonal vegetables' listed on the menu were broccoli and nothing else. Pad See Ewe with pork was probably the best of the 3 entrees we ordered but it was not without its problems. The meat was moist and the noodles had a great texture but the entire dish had a very strong scorched aroma, which really detracted from our enjoyment of it.

The worst of the entrees we tried was the Ka Prao with chicken. Here, the dish deviated in curious ways from just about every version I've ever had before. This dish is normally served dry, with what little 'sauce' there is being a by-product of the fast cooking process and the seared meat rendering out some juices. Here though, the dish was a big bowl of gloppy sauce, containing some pre-ground chicken that seemed to have never been seared at all. Again, the dish was spicy, hitting one big note, but ignoring all the more subtle notes that create the complexity, balance and depth that normally define Thai food for me. I'm not 100% sure but I'm guessing that this version (along with the aforementioned "som tum") lacked fish sauce, which just made it come off like a dumbed down version of the real thing.

Unfortunately, I think that longevity is the one thing Thai Sookdee has going for it but I personally am at a loss to explain it. I'd have to rate it in the bottom 3 of all the Thai food I've had in Chicagoland. Perhaps we ordered wrong and missed out on what they do best, but what we were served provided us with absolutely no incentive to return.

=R=

I'd have to rate it in the bottom 3 of all the Thai food I've had in Chicagoland.

Heh. It's slightly better than the blessedly long-defunct Siam Square, which used to be downtown in Evanston (Davis & Orrington). I rate it higher baased on the last experience we had at Siam Square, during which I ordered squid with basil, which was served to me without the basil. When questioned about the missing key ingredient, our waiter snapped that "...basil is out of season." Alrighty then!

I did used to like one dish at Sookdee very much, that being the Crispy Stuffed Squid (I see a theme emerging here...). The squid was stuffed with a savory, spicy ground pork mixture, then sliced and deep fried. Delicious. They dumbed it right off the menu some years ago, and I promptly eliminated Sookdee from my list.

I don't agree at all. Granted, I haven't had the dishes Ron mentions. And I don't think you should have to "order the right dishes" for a restaurant (any restaurant, not just Thai restaurants) to be good; you ought to be able to judge a restaurant by anything on their menu. That being said, my opinion regarding Thai Sookdee is the polar opposite of the one stated above. I've had numerous dishes there, and most of them - particularly the tom kha gai (soup) and panang curries - are the best I've had around Chicagoland by far, significantly better than the other dozen or more places I've tried in the past few years (including the widely-lauded TAC Quick, Sticky Rice, and Spoon Thai, as well as every Thai restaurant in Evanston). Their lahb chicken is great, and even more pedestrian dishes like the satay, Thai iced tea, and mango with sticky rice are excellent and enjoyable. Furthermore, these dishes are not only excellent, but consistent, which can be a problem with some other Thai places (e.g. Ruby of Siam) where a dish can be great on one visit, overspiced on another, and overgreasy on another. The only dish at Thai Sookdee that has struck me as just so-so is their pad thai, which is often not reflective of a Thai restaurant's best (like judging a full-menu American restaurant by its hamburgers). Based on numerous visits there, as well as continuing to try other Thai places in the city and suburbs, I still consider Thai Sookdee to have the very best Thai food in Chicagoland.

My experience at Sookdee mirrors Ronnie's almost exactly; poorly done and oddly seasoned AmeriThai food that is entirely forgettable. I had a red curry and spring rolls that last time I was there and frankly could make better at home.

I had a red curry... (the) last time I was there and frankly could make better at home.

*Ding* We have a winner!

This is the salient point. Given that good, authentic Thai ingredients are readily available (to those willing to expend a tiny bit of energy looking), there is no reason to settle for sub-par food out when you can easily make the more run-of-the-mill dishes at home. Heck, I just found another Thai/Cambodian market on Howard and Crawford that carries the prettiest Thai basil I've ever bought, and also fresh lime leaves, roughly 1001 brands of Nam Pla, and cool looking green and pink tapioca pearls (Customary Dining Companion is very intigued by this discovery). They also carry durian extract. No, I didn't buy any. I'm trying to justify it.

Chicago - especially Lincoln Square/North Center - is blessed with tremendous Thai restos. Don't settle.

We've been to Wonton Express twice now - the food is pretty good but felt the service was slow compared to most Chinese places even though we went during off hours. Also felt the portions were a bit small for the prices. Did we just get unlucky both times?

jujubee wrote:We've been to Wonton Express twice now - the food is pretty good but felt the service was slow compared to most Chinese places even though we went during off hours. Also felt the portions were a bit small for the prices. Did we just get unlucky both times?

If you are comparing this to Chinatown with the heavy pressure of competition keeping prices down and portions high, then you are correct. I readily admit when Wonton Express - Deerfield is compared toe-to-toe to his Father-in-law's Seven Treasures: portions are slightly smaller, the prices higher and the menu considerably smaller. I balance this with a 60-mile roundtrip to Seven Treasures to the less than 10 mile roundtrip from my home to Wonton Express at Milwaukee and Deerfield Roads. I have what I like at Wonton Express without the time and mileage I would devote to going to Seven Treasures. Until now there has been no good local option for Chinese soup noodles unless I made it myself or visited friends. I am glad to have Wonton Express as an option, especially with the extensive road repair delays I now endure.

Regards,

Hi,

Felix Kitchen In Highwood has changed hands for the third time. In the beginning, Felix founded Felix Kitchen. It was sold to the cook. The cook has since sold it to the cashier.

My friend Helen's husband, whose name also happens to be Felix, speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. Helen's Felix ordered his food in their native tongue to be, "LIght on the sauce," because they had drenched it before. Helen reported it was a watery sauce with no flavor and lots of it.

Regards,

My wife and I had a stop to make in Buffalo Grove in the early afterenoon, so we decided to try the I Am Siam Thai Restaurant in Wheeling. It had been reviewed favorably by several folks in this thread and elsewhere in the LTHForum.

We walked in at around 2:25 and asked if there were still serving lunch. (A note on the door stated that they serve lunch until 2:30.) The person who greeted us reluctantly gave us a lunch menu. I order the Panag curry with chicken and thought is was just so-so. My wife order the Pad Sie Ewe (sp?) with beef. The beef couldn't be chewed and the rest of the dish had a strange flavor. So we sent it back and my wife ordered the fried rice with shrimp. I tasted it and the only seasoning I could detect was soy sauce. In addition, the shrimp had been overcooked and tough. I personally make a much better fried rice.

Needless to say we won't go there again. We have Yummy Bowl in Highland Park that does very nice curries although not at lunchtime unfortunately. But their other dishes are tasty and I'll continue patronizing YB since they have both Thai and Chinese dishes and are nearby my home.

Best regards,
Grandpa Bob

Grandpa Bob wrote:My wife and I had a stop to make in Buffalo Grove in the early afterenoon, so we decided to try the I Am Siam Thai Restaurant in Wheeling. It had been reviewed favorably by several folks in this thread and elsewhere in the LTHForum.

We walked in at around 2:25 and asked if there were still serving lunch. (A note on the door stated that they serve lunch until 2:30.) The person who greeted us reluctantly gave us a lunch menu. I order the Panag curry with chicken and thought is was just so-so. My wife order the Pad Sie Ewe (sp?) with beef. The beef couldn't be chewed and the rest of the dish had a strange flavor. So we sent it back and my wife ordered the fried rice with shrimp. I tasted it and the only seasoning I could detect was soy sauce. In addition, the shrimp had been overcooked and tough. I personally make a much better fried rice.

Needless to say we won't go there again. We have Yummy Bowl in Highland Park that does very nice curries although not at lunchtime unfortunately. But their other dishes are tasty and I'll continue patronizing YB since they have both Thai and Chinese dishes and are nearby my home.

Best regards,
Grandpa Bob

Bob,

I've probably been remiss in that I haven't posted much about I Am Siam since my initial visits, which I enjoyed very much. Unfortunately, my more recent meals there mirror the one you describe above. It's been a few months since I've been back but hoped that my less enjoyable experiences were aberrations and didn't represent a trend.

Anyway, I'm sorry to read about your less-than-favorable experience.

=R=

Ron,
Saw your post above. Don't feel badly that you hadn't posted something similar. It's a crap shoot when it comes to restaurants, but I doubt if the folks at I Am Siam had an off day yesterday.
As a dear friend of mine says, "Did you ever hear of a good restaurant ever getting better?" By that he meant that popularity can ruin a restaurant due to the pressures exerted by their success - either the food quality suffers or the service declines or customers stop going because of long waits, etc.
Regards,
GP Bob

GPBob -

I haven't been there yet, and am not sure if you have, but there's a new Thai joint that opened up in that Wok's Cooking space on Lake Cook you reported on a while back. I haven't been to I Am Siam in quite awhile, but did find it serviceable for the Thai options up this way when I did last go. Maybe the new place on Lake Cook is decent. I'll be trying it pretty soon - actually, kinda surprised I haven't already. It's called Thai Thai. Picked up a menu, prices are pretty standard, no "lunch specials" listed on this to-go menu

Thai Thai

There's another link that discusses the Thai Thai restaurant. The subject line is: Thai Thai (New Thai place in Deerfield) Now with pics. Unfortunately, I'm not computer savvy enough to create a link where you can directly click to go to that thread. I'm sure that someone else can assist with that.
GP Bob

seebee wrote:GPBob -

I haven't been there yet, and am not sure if you have, but there's a new Thai joint that opened up in that Wok's Cooking space on Lake Cook you reported on a while back. I haven't been to I Am Siam in quite awhile, but did find it serviceable for the Thai options up this way when I did last go. Maybe the new place on Lake Cook is decent. I'll be trying it pretty soon - actually, kinda surprised I haven't already. It's called Thai Thai. Picked up a menu, prices are pretty standard, no "lunch specials" listed on this to-go menu

Thai Thai

Grandpa Bob wrote:There's another link that discusses the Thai Thai restaurant. The subject line is: Thai Thai (New Thai place in Deerfield) Now with pics. Unfortunately, I'm not computer savvy enough to create a link where you can directly click to go to that thread. I'm sure that someone else can assist with that.
GP Bob

We ate at Thai Thai last week and thought it was decent but nothing special. A couple of the dishes, like the papaya salad, roasted duck curry and the whole red snapper (which is fresh) were pretty good, although the snapper was a touch overcooked. OTOH, spring rolls, sunshine beef and tom kha all came up short for me. Service, while well-intentioned and very friendly, was pretty rough. When you're waiting for drinks, utensils and extra napkins, eating dinner can be somewhat difficult.

=R=

Hi,

On the southeast corner of Route 176 (Rockland Road) and Waukegan Rd, there is a small shopping center anchored by a Dominicks (formerly Treasure Island) in Lake Bluff. I was there last week speculatively looking for a light lunch. I was contemplating Panera or driving around bit more, when I noticed signage, 'Bangkok Tokyo.' I parked hoping this was a restaurant and not a travel agency. This was indeed a Japanese-Thai restaurant tucked in the corner of this shopping mall.

Since the committee visiting was me-myself and I with a dinner engagement a few hours later, I ordered bamee num noodle soup featuring, "Egg noodles simmered in a broth of Chinese broccoli and green onions, topped with slices of fresh roasted bbq port," for $5.95. I would have ordered their summer rolls, a variation of spring rolls with crabmeat and shrimp, only if I could order one piece instead of two and was declined. I then ordered one piece uni to learn it is for weekends only. Being the odd duck I can sometimes be, I ordered a side of sticky rice largely because I wanted to know if they had it, which they did.

The soup arrived with the wheat noodles I recognized are produced in Chinatown. I stirred the soup around looking at the pork and searching for the Chinese broccoli. I found bean sprouts, curley parsley and some bok choy, but not Chinese broccoli. The waitress came over and began mixing my soup noodles with the other ingredients. It was a nice gesture, though I was a bit surprised. I inquired if I was doing anything wrong, she informed me Asians mix their soup before eating. I guess I was touring instead of mixing.

The BBQ pork was a bit dry and chewy, though a few minutes in the hot soup rehydrated it a bit. The missing Chinese broccoli was a disappointment, which the cashier acknowledged maybe should not have been stated in the menu. They claimed Chinese brocollis was difficult to get, which I guess would be a good answer for most people. If I didn't have Won Ton Express at Milwaukee Ave and Deerfield Roads for soup noodles, then I might be more excited by Tokyo Bangkok's soup noodle offerings.

I cannot offer any comments of their Thai offerings beyond they have been available to try since opening recently on May 5th. I look forward to reports on those sometime.

Bangkok Tokyo
227 Waukegan Rd
Lake Bluff, IL
(847) 295-7811
http://www.bkktokyo.com

Lemongrass in downtown Winnetka (in the Laundry) is really good Thai food. They seem to do more take out as the seating is cramped. But the beef salad and basil chicken are great. Friends that have tried the place love it. Saves me a trip to wonderful Opart.
There is another new place -Sushi Amour -a few store fronts down (next to Little Lan's-a.k.a. Little Bland's). We are not sushi fans so I can not comment. All places are located on Chestnut on the west side of the street. -Winnetka's "Litttle Asia" addition of Lemongrass has drastically improved the eating choices.

Within the last several months, the quality of food at Highland Park Chinese restaurants has declined dramatically. Little Szechwan is no longer open at lunchtime, and some of the other restaurants, which I won't mention, are no longer providing quality food and the service has slipped dramatically.

So I'm really stuck and need my weekly Chinese food hit. Thai food is a second favorite.

I can't find any mention of the House of Peking in Highwood anywhere in the LTHF. Does anyone have any experience with them?

In addition, there are several Chinese restaurants in neighboring communities. Anyone have any recommendations? By neighboring communities, I mean less than a 15 minute drive from downtown Highland Park where I have my home office.

One of our favorites, Silk Mandarin in Vernon Hills, is a bit further than that. I'd really like something closer especially for lunchtime.

Looking froward to your critiques of House of Peking and any other suggestions.

Best regards,
Grandpa Bob

This isn't Chinese, but a new Thai restaurant opened recently in Winnetka, probably about a 15 minute drive from downtown HP. It's called "Lemongrass" and is located in the Laundry Mall on Chestnut St. just south of the Grand supermarket parking lot. I tried it last weekend and was pleasantly surprised. There were several Chinese-type items on the menu too.

You can eat in or carry out.

Good luck with Chinese food up this way. It is all very average. If you have low expectations you might find something that you like to eat at yummy bowl. Some folks like Szechuan Kingdom in Northbrook. My last several experiences there have been terrible. Some here like Won Ton Express in Riverwoods. Again, I was not blown away. Good Luck.

Ditto on the rec for Lemongrass in downtown Winnetka on Chestnut Street-in the Laundry Building. Small place for dining but it does do a lot to take out. The folks are friendly and there are always people dining there even in the late afternoon. Down the street also on Chestnut is a new place Sushi Amour. Not a sushi fan so can not opine -I'll leave that to the experts. It is next to Little Lan's (a/k/a Lil' Blands) which serves nondescript and overpriced szchewan fare. Lemongrass is definately a place to visit in the area.

I tried Lemongrass last week for take away lunch, it was not memorable needless to say. I had tofu fried rice and an appetizer (can't remember). They do not have lunch specials and the prices are a bit higher than I like to spend at lunch. Service was very nice and the space is quaint.

I'd love to find some place in the North Shore that isn't afraid to shy away from flavor and spice! MSG is not a flavor! I have no problem doctoring things up, but most of the time the flavors are so bland, nothing helps.

My wife and I visited Lemongrass for lunch today. She ordered the chicken pad sie ewe and I had the panang curry with beef. Both dishes were poorly cooked.
Her chicken was slightly tough and I couldn't chew the beef at all. I've never had meat that was as tough as their beef. I tried several bites and they all were the same - absolutely inedible!
I informed our waitress of the problem. I asked her if she'd replaced it with panang curry chicken. She took the dish back, but left my dirty plate until she brought the replacement dish. My chicken wasn't very tender either and the curry tasted different than the beef dish. Very strange.
As mentioned above, they don't have a lunch menu and therefore are a bit pricier than other restaurants at lunch.
The service was just OK and the decor was nice. But as it's been stated before, "Who goes to a restaurant to eat the decor?"
Regards,
Grandpa Bob