Thai Thai (New Thai place in Deerfield) Now with pics

I happened upon a new Thai restaurant in Deerfield last week while running some errands. It's in the former space of Lotus Brasserie on the west side of Deerbrook Mall.

The space was nicely updated with some new paint and furnishings. As of now they don't have a liquor license so they are BYOB. I managed to talk to the owner and manager for a few minutes I also got to meet the chef who was very nice. They were very nice and eager to answer my questions. The owner also owns Siam Rice on wells in Chicago.

As for the menu it has almost all of the customary dishes required at any Thai restaurant. This includes spring rolls, basil chicken, curries, etc... In our two visits we tried the seafood salad (Yum Talay) which is shrimp, scallops, and mussels served on a bed of lettuce and onions with a dressing of lime and fish sauce which was wonderful. We also tried the basil chicken which we thought was just as good as our favorite version at Siam House.

On our second visit we tried the Chicken salad (Larb Kai) which is a spicy dish of chicken and hot peppers over lettuce with a similar dressing as on the fish salad. In addition we had the Pad See-Eiw which was the best I've ever had. There was a lot more chicken and greens that most places put into the dish and the flavor was perfect.

We're looking forward to going back this week and trying the curry dishes. My wife and I are very excited to have this place so close to us.

Thai Thai Restaurant
475 Lake Cook Road
Deerfield IL 60015
(847) 564-5999

Love to hear about the curry and anything else you try. I'll be hitting this place up for lunch next week, I'm sure. There is a sad state of Thai affairs up this way, and if this place is just "good" it will be a welcome addition to my lunch scene here.

Thanks for the post. I noticed the sandwich board sign next to Lake Cook Rd after I zipped out of Home Depot yesterday.

I noticed the sign too. Good to know! Thanks for the info!

I went back yesterday for lunch with a friend and had the basil chicken and the Panang Curry (beef)

I'm sorry the camera phone pictures don't do it justice, but the curry was just terrific. It reminded me of the great version I had at Siam Rice and Noodle.

Thanks for the heads up. I look forward to checking it out. Just as an FYI, I think this was more recently the Wok's Cooking space. It's at the southern end of what's known as Lake-Cook Plaza.

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I had lunch there today prior to my second Home Depot visit of the week. Garlic Chicken was my choice. Quite tasty, Lightning fast service, even during the noon rush. There were maybe six tables occupied at the time.

Now if someone could figure out how to fix the noon-time traffic around Lake Cook & Waukegan, I'd be a happy camper.

Is this related to the Thai Thai on Elston just below Irving in Chicago? That's a plain storefront place with very good food.

Here are yelp reviews of that one. Yelp doesn't cut much ice around here (and I'm not maintaining that it should)--it's just that I happen to agree with the positive comments about this place. If the Deerfield one is connected to this one, it's a good sign for the Deerfield one.

Thai Thai
3922 N. Elston
Chicago, IL 60618
773 478 1079

My wife and I stopped by the Thai Thai Deerfield restaurant for lunch yesterday based on a friend's recommendation.

She enjoyed their Crazy Noodles which come with chicken and shrimp along with basil, carrots, green beans, baby corn ears, tomatoes, bean spouts and some peppers to give it heat. I ordered the green curry fried rice with beef that had loads of Thai basil, some green peas and a nice curry sauce. We thought both dishes were quite tasty and we had enough leftovers for dinner that night.

When we were there, they had a full house and turned the place over at least once.

The menu lists two other sister restaurants in Chicago neither of which are called Thai Thai, I neglected to note their names and locations. However, I recall one is at Chicago and State St. in the city, and I think the other is further north, maybe on Clark (?).

I feel that Thai Thai is a welcome addition to the North Shore suburban scene. Anyone else been there recently?

Although the restaurant is about 15 minutes from home, it's nice to see that they deliver. We plan to order in during the bad Chicago winter months or on those nights when we're too lazy to cook or go out.

Best regards,
GP Bob

I eat there regularily. Finally have some good food close to work. We should do a group outing there. Great food, fresh herbs, good heat, EXTREMELY tasty.

Do they have a lunch special yet? My coworker went there when it first opened and said it as great but a bit pricey. We hoped they would come out with a lunch special!

That curry photo looks amazing!

i work close by and go here all the time, very good thai food...i do like ruby of siam in skokie more though...

Here is a link to their website and menu
http://www.thaithaideerfield.com/

had lunch here today..chicken satay appetizer and pad thai were very good..will be making a return trip soon...will try the curry next i think..
nice to finally have another place to go near work

I recently went to Thai Thai in Deerfield (on Lake Cook Rd.) I had heard good things from coworkers and I think I even saw a brief mention on this forum (couldn't find it when I searched) but I have to say I did not have a good experience.

I ordered Tom Yum soup to start and then split an order of Panang Curry Noodles with chicken. I like these two dishes at many other Thai restaraunts but here, I was very disappointed with both.

The Tom Yum soup had a weird smell and didn't taste good. But the bigger problem was with the Panang Curry. My friend and I had actually split the order, half with chicken and half with tofu (our waiter did this for us but told us afterward he wasn't supposed to). I had the chicken and my sauce was curdled, chunky and downright sour. It was practically inedible. I tried the tofu's sauce to see if it was the same and it was smooth and tasted much better. I complained, telling them it wasn't the same sauce but the guy in the back who came out argued with me telling me it was. I told him to look at it, I wanted him to taste how disgusting it was...he walked away not caring. Then my friend insisted our waiter (who was very nice) replace my dish and he did. The other guy had a rude look on his face in the corner.

I ordered spring rolls to replace my curry which were also subpar but edible. I hate to write this bad review because our waiter was super nice and gave great service, it's just that the food and the other guy's attitude were terrible.

We dined tonight at Thai Thai with a friend who lives in Deerfield. I'm afraid the place makes a mockery of even Ameri-Thai restaurants. Spring rolls were loaded with canned pineapple and no other taste. Fish cakes were just fried, chewy goo. This is the first non-vegetarian Thai restaurant I've ever seen that doesn't have pork on the menu. I realize that there's a decent-sized Jewish population in Deerfield, but come on! No pork???? There is shrimp, so I guess Thai Thai keeps the same kind of Kosher as my strange Aunt Betty. Highlight of the meal was a bottle of infrequently-found Chang beer, served in a Chang-logoed glass. My beef with green curry was also decent, though extraordinarily mild despite my strong attempt to convince the server to order it hot. The lean beef was tender, if not-so-flavorful. Listed on the menu under "Thai Thai Specialties" are such homeland classics as teriyaki chicken and beef with broccoli in oyster sauce.

It's interesting to see someone else who did not like Thai Thai!

If possible, I think this place is actually getting worse. I've flat out avoided Thai Thai but tonight it was desperation time and I had absolutely nothing in the house to eat. I didn't want to shop because I'll be getting my CSA box tomorrow and will be dining out for the next several nights. So, when wife and son mentioned they wanted Thai Thai, I reluctantly relented. Both som tum and larb kai were horrible -- even worse than I remembered them. Som tum contained more green beans than papaya and contained no fish sauce at all. It was completely imbalanced. But even the addition of some Three Crabs, which I have on-hand, was not enough to repair it. I'm not even sure the lime juice was fresh-squeezed because it had no aroma whatsoever. Larb was just a hot mess, with abrasive, discordant flavors and shreds of wilted lettuce mucking up the whole dish. This version would have made a first-timer why the dish even existed.

Thai food in the northern suburbs is, for the most part, abysmal and Thai Thai isn't helping the situation one bit.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:Thai food in the northern suburbs is, for the most part, abysmal and Thai Thai isn't helping the situation one bit.

Ronnie

Have you tried Simply Thai on Phingsten just north of Dundee in Northbrook. It is carry out only, but i find it to be a completely servicable thai option, much better then anything else in the area. After a few visits I was able to convince the owner that when I said I wanted the spice level at 10 of 10 that I was serious. Thai hope, sort of, in a hopeless area.

Simply Thai
761 Pfingsten Rd
Northbrook, IL 60062-2511
(847) 509-8424
www.simplybestthai.com

iblock9 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Thai food in the northern suburbs is, for the most part, abysmal and Thai Thai isn't helping the situation one bit.

Ronnie

Have you tried Simply Thai on Phingsten just north of Dundee in Northbrook. It is carry out only, but i find it to be a completely servicable thai option, much better then anything else in the area. After a few visits I was able to convince the owner that when I said I wanted the spice level at 10 of 10 that I was serious. Thai hope, sort of, in a hopeless area.

Simply Thai
761 Pfingsten Rd
Northbrook, IL 60062-2511
(847) 509-8424
http://www.simplybestthai.com

I will definitely try it and I appreciate the recommendation. I know it's been mentioned here before but it has managed to repeatedly slip my mind when thinking of places to grab a meal. I used to occasionally hit I Am Siam in Wheeling but after a few really nice initial visits, it began to tail off for me.

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I Am Siam
1 Huntington Ln
Wheeling, IL 60090
(847) 419-0698

No question about it, Thai Thai is putting out some of the absolute worst Thai food I've ever eaten. Tonight, I again let my family talk me into ordering from here and honestly, words cannot describe how utterly horrible this food is. One example: I ordered som tum, ped ped (a request that was actually met with enthusiasm over the phone). Unfortunately, not only was it not hot, it was devoid of any dressing at all -- no lime, no fish sauce, no chiles, no nothing. It was essentially shredded papaya with nothing on it at all. A small amount of clear, flavorless liquid sat at the bottom of the container, underneath the papaya. Without question, it was the worst example of this dish that I've ever experienced.

I really don't want to waste another moment of my time trying to describe how wrong and awful every aspect of this meal was but I'd just urge anyone who appreciates Thai food to steer as clear of this place as they possibly can. For me, I'm out $60, still hungry and very angry about the experience. I would have been way better off just skipping dinner all together. Thai Thai, never again.

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