Lunch at "Taste of Thailand"

What

"The Taste of Thailand is a 3-day Festival including culinary, cultural and commercial samplings from Thailand; a dance perfromance by Silpakorn, a 50-member troupe from the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture in Thailand; and a Tsunami reconstruction fund raising Gala."

When

Monday, 20 June 2005-Wednesday, 22 June 2005

Where

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Monday

Festival: 10am-7pm Daley Plaza. Free.

Silpakorn Performance: 6.30pm-9pm Pritzker Pavillion. Free.

Tuesday

Festival: 10am-7pm Daley Plaza. Free.

Wednesday

Festival: 10am-7pm Daley Plaza. Free.

Gala: 6pm-7.30pm Reception. 7.30pm-9.30pm Gala. Tickets Required.

www.chicagotasteofthailand.org

I was present for the opening ceremonies this morning. Following that, I tried a number of the food items offered for sale.

Here are a few food items that I can recommend:


kàrìi "puff"


kàrìi "puff" - chicken and potato curry filling


sômtam puu - papaya salad with salty crab and Thai eggplant


kài yâang - Isaan-style grilled chicken

I forgot which restaurant is vending the kàrìi "puff," but their booth is on the Northernmost edge of the grounds. The papaya salad and the grilled chicken are being vended by Pad Thai, Etc., in Wheaton. Their booth is fairly easy to spot, as it is elaborately decorated.

Regards,
E.M.

Thanks Erik M. for psoting info on the taste of Thai. I work in the area but am wondering why they did this so close to the date of the taste of chicago. It should been sometime in the middle of July.

I will check it out Tuesday and hope there something good there.

I have just returned from a lunch visit to the Taste of Thailand festival at Daley Plaza.

Among the various informational booths were about 7 or 8 restaurant booths and one Singha beer tent. About 80% of the food offered was in the form of highly-recognizable items (pad Thai, fried shrimp, satay, fruit smoothies, fried spring rolls, crab rangoon). The booth from Pad Thai Restaurant in Wheeling (mentioned in Erik M's original post) was the most varied, offering the aforementioned Issan grilled chicken and papaya salad along with beef salad and portions of sticky rice. While I stood off to the side, waiting for my papaya salad to be prepared, I did notice that orders of coconut shrimp were flying across the counter at a rate of 10xs faster than all the other items combined. I was slightly disappointed that my papaya salad did not contain either crab or the Thai eggplant that Erik mentioned.

Arun's booth, which was serving a noodle dish and a chicken curry, had a line that stretched nearly twice as long as any other. I'm assuming that many people saw this as their chance to taste very expensive food at a low price. I skipped it.

I didn't taste anything that excited me or is driving me to tell others to rush there for the food. But I still do recommend visiting the festival (if you can make it today, last day). It was pleasing to sit in the sun eating a papaya salad and watching beautifully costumed Thai dancers and listening to live Thai music. It was also fun to watch crowds of Thai people, families on vacation, and Loop-corporate-slaves like me mingle and get excited about eating Thai on the street. I hope they do this again next year.

Best,
Michael / EC

I'm hoping, if it does happen again, that at least some of it takes place on the weekend next time. I work in Evanston, which means that it was impossible for me to make it to this (I could have made it to the dance performance on Monday night but would have missed the rest of the stuff).

eatchicago wrote:...The booth from Pad Thai Restaurant in Wheeling (mentioned in Erik M's original post) was the most varied...

Eh? Wheeling? I can't find such a resto. Could it be in Mt. Prospect on Elmhurst?

I haven't been to that place (partly because I keep ending up at Indian Cuisine in the same neighborhood) and I was hoping it was Wheeling since most of Wheeling is closer to me than the commercial areas of Mt Prospect from where I am (My sons go to HS in Arlington Heights, and I'm closer still to Glenbrook South) even though that's my address.

JoelF wrote:

eatchicago wrote:...The booth from Pad Thai Restaurant in Wheeling (mentioned in Erik M's original post) was the most varied...

Eh? Wheeling? I can't find such a resto. Could it be in Mt. Prospect on Elmhurst?

Wheaton, not Wheeling. My apologies.

Pad Thai, Etc. is in Wheaton, not Wheeling. I have edited my original post, and I apologize for the error.

On Monday, and in addition to the "coconut shrimp," Pad Thai, Etc. was vending sômtam puu, sômtam thai, kài yâang, khâo nĩaw, náam phrík nùm, néua náam tòk, and lâap kài.

NB In my original post, I failed to mention that the Silk Council's booth was handing out very tasty samples of tôm khàa kài.

E.M.

Sounds like Monday was the day to be there. Thanks again for the heads-up, Erik.

I had lunch at the thai fest today as well. Overall I enjoyed it fairly well. I also ate mainly from the restaurant erik had highlighted -sticky rice, gai yang and somtum (at least when i was there they were offering it with crab, thoug I asked specifically for it without as I was eating with the veg.), though there was no thai eggplant in there, it did have a surprising amount of heat, enough so that both my wife and I had to steal bites of my daughter's sticky rice.

I tried arun's noodle dish - mee kati, which I was very happy with. though the restaurant itself may be overpriced and not as good as others around town (I wouldn't know having not been to it in a very long time), for a festival dish it was pretty pleasing, coconut vermicelli with strips of egg, bean sprouts, and garlic chive, topped with a curry which included black beans tofu and chopped shrimp, as well as one whole not overcooked at all whole shrimp.

probably the best thing I ate though was some of the ice cream from thai classic, I tried the coconut and the "herb", they were out of pineapple. The herb was fairly mild, they mentioned it included lemongrass, basil, and mint, though I didn't get a strong taste of any of those. The coconut was very very good. Dense texture (coconut milk instead od cream?), almost chewy, and very strong coconut flavor. the little containers said Thai classic ice cream "made by sammy" and a 773-403-2000. I noticed that the takeout menu they were handing out also highlighted this ice cream - have folks had it at the restaurant?

oh yeah, the drummers were great, as was sliding on the picasso with my daughter, as well as walking over to the cultural center to get an early look at preparations for the mandala being constucted by the tibetan monks

the cultural center to get an early look at preparations for the mandala being constucted by the tibetan monks

Those usually take some days to make, do you know during which period the monks will be there? My Mom loves to observe those in production.

Regards,

here's the info from the cultural center website on the mandala:

Tibetan Monks Will Create Sand Mandala
Artist/poet Dr. Catherine Yi-yu Cho Woo to talk about Buddhist philosophy, June 22

As part of their 2005 Sacred Art Tour, a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in India will create a sand drawing called a mandala as a form of prayer for Chicago in the 1st Floor Garland Room of the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., June 22 - 27. The public is invited to observe the monks as they meticulously place the fine, colored sand to form the mandala (schedule below). The monks also will display and sell Tibetan religious art, including scroll paintings called thangkas, and perform ritual chants. Artist/poet Dr. Catherine Yi-yu Cho Woo will use the symbols in the mandala to illustrate her talk about Buddhist philosophy on Wednesday, June 22 at 5:30pm in the 1st Floor Garland Room. Admission to the mandala and the discussion is free. For information, call 312-744-6630 or visit www.culturalcenter.org.

The schedule is:

Wednesday, June 22, Thursday, June 23 and Friday June 24
11am - 4pm Construction of the mandala
1pm Ritual tonal throat chanting
4 - 7pm Mandala on view


Saturday, June 25
11:30am - 2 pm Construction of the mandala
2 - 5pm Mandala on view


Sunday, June 26
11am - 5pm Mandala on view

Monday, June 27
11am - 5:30pm Finishing mandala
5:30pm Dismantling of the mandala


The creation of a mandala begins with blessing the site. The monks summon the forces of goodness by chanting mantras accompanied by flutes, drums and symbols. Then an outline of the mandala is drawn on the wooden platform. The monks use a narrow metal funnel called a chakpur to place the millions of grains of colored sand into the pattern. There are many different mandala patterns, each with its own meaning that is represented by particular shapes, symbols and colors. The mandala chosen for this site is the Chenrezig pattern, which represents compassion. For Tibetan Buddhists, compassion is sensitivity to the sufferings of others and the realization that humans, animals and the earth itself are all interconnected.

Once a mandala is completed, it is dismantled to symbolize the impermanence of all that exists. The dismantling is the most sacred aspect of the mandala. The dismantling ceremony begins with chanting, then the monks sweep the sand up with brushes, put it into a container, and pour it into a nearby river or stream so the waters can carry positive energies throughout the world. In this instance, the sand will be poured into the Chicago River.

The thangka is a traditional Tibetan form of religious art originating in India, whose subjects may include deities, great teachers, or mandalas. Most thangkas are scroll paintings usually framed in a rich colorful silk brocade with a thin silk veil covering the front surface. They are distinctively Tibetan, highly religious, and possess a unique art style of their own. Tibetans have always considered the thangka a treasure of tremendous value.

For more information about thangkas, mandalas, the 2005 Sacred Art Tour or the Drepung Gomang Monastery, visit www.gomang.org.


Dr. Catherine Yi-yu Cho Woo will give a talk on the nature of heaven and earth according to Buddhist philosophy and Chinese Feng Shui principles, using the mandala as an illustration, on Wednesday, June 22 at 5:30pm. Dr. Woo has studied Tibetan Tantric Buddhism with His Holiness Grand Master Thomas Lin Yun Rinpoche for the past three decades. Her own artworks reflect a sense of the harmony and blessings of nature. Dr. Woo is Director of the Chinese Language Program at the National Language Resource Center at San Diego State University, and formerly directed the China Studies Institute and the Center for Asian Studies there. She was the first Chinese American member of the National Council on the Arts, appointed by the first President Bush.

Public programs at the Chicago Cultural Center are presented by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and are partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. In kind support was provided by Arica Hilton Fine Arts.

zim wrote:
probably the best thing I ate though was some of the ice cream from thai classic, I tried the coconut and the "herb", they were out of pineapple. The herb was fairly mild, they mentioned it included lemongrass, basil, and mint, though I didn't get a strong taste of any of those. The coconut was very very good. Dense texture (coconut milk instead od cream?), almost chewy, and very strong coconut flavor. the little containers said Thai classic ice cream "made by sammy" and a 773-403-2000. I noticed that the takeout menu they were handing out also highlighted this ice cream - have folks had it at the restaurant?

The trib featured the ice cream from thai classic today in their piece on asian ice creams

zim wrote:

zim wrote:
probably the best thing I ate though was some of the ice cream from thai classic, I tried the coconut and the "herb", they were out of pineapple. The herb was fairly mild, they mentioned it included lemongrass, basil, and mint, though I didn't get a strong taste of any of those. The coconut was very very good. Dense texture (coconut milk instead od cream?), almost chewy, and very strong coconut flavor. the little containers said Thai classic ice cream "made by sammy" and a 773-403-2000. I noticed that the takeout menu they were handing out also highlighted this ice cream - have folks had it at the restaurant?

The trib featured the ice cream from thai classic today in their piece on asian ice creams

Zim,

I'm wondering if this "ice cream" is similar to that served at Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas. If it is, I'll be buying it by the gallon. This "ice cream", served over warm stick rice is my favorite desert in the whole wide world.

Has anyone gone to the 2006 festival this week? I'm just curious if this year's food is the typical Thai stuff or something more that's worth going a bit out of the way for?

kithat wrote:Has anyone gone to the 2006 festival this week?

Kithat,

See JeffB's post here

Enjoy,
Gary