Chicago Thai but "Not-Thai not-spicy"

Longtime lurker here -- Chicago native, but I live in Baltimore now. Enroute to Midway tomorrow, I'm hoping to get some Lincoln Square Thai food. It seems like Chicago has some top-notch Thai restaurants, and they are certainly better than those of Baltimore and DC.

However, I'm going with my mother, who isn't into chili heat. A while back, in the same situation, we went to Spoon Thai and I asked for Thai-menu things, but mild. Most were still pretty hot -- nam khao tod, dried beef, and something else.

A lot of you seem to be ordering things "Thai spicy", but I need stuff more so "American non-spicy".

Any suggestions on stuff from the Thai language menu that can be ordered mild? Or where the dish is mild but the blazing sauce is on the side?

Wanpen, Rainbow's owner who cooks the food makes everything to order. I'm sure that Pramote, her husband who takes care of the front of the house, could work with you to either adapt or steer towards the dishes that will make you both happy. It is a very small place--much smaller than Spoon--but the intimate setting is part of its charm--you just may want to warn mom so she won't worry that it's not good

What kinds of things do you like, and where do you plan to go? Which one of the Lincoln Square joints you should choose depends some on your favorite items. If you want the naem khao tod, Rainbow is obviously the right choice.

As for other items, things like the dried beef, fried chicken, moo ping will not be spicy, but the accompanying dipping sauce might be. You can always go for a curry (red, green, penang, massaman), which would only be spicy if ordered that way (exceptions for some of the thinner curries like a jungle curry). And all of the salads and noodles can be ordered not spicy as the level of heat is adjusted with dried red peppers and/or fresh, finely chopped green chilis. Naem khao tod should be able to be ordered not spicy because the heat comes from added fresh chilis - you'll just need to be very clear with them that you don't want it spicy. But I've gone to Rainbow, Rosded, Spoon, Aroy and Sticky Rice with spice-averse friends and they've all satisfied requests to make items non-spicy.

Naem khao to has chili paste mixed into the rice before it's fried (thanks to Wampen for the cooking lesson!!) so even without the chopped chilis, it's going to be spicy for a spice-averse palette.

boudreaulicious wrote:Naem khao to has chili paste mixed into the rice before it's fried (thanks to Wampen for the cooking lesson!!) so even without the chopped chilis, it's going to be spicy for a spice-averse palette.

Are you sure that's a chili paste and not just the red curry paste (which still would include some hot peppers)? When I had made it once myself, I used the shesimmers recipe which came from Spoon Thai, which is what I assumed they were generally using at Rainbow based upon taste.

In any event, if the OP tasted the dish and found it to be too spicy, that would be the best guide.

Oops--just checked my notes--it was red curry paste But I tasted the paste and it was still on the spicy side.

BR wrote:In any event, if the OP tasted the dish and found it to be too spicy, that would be the best guide.

I think the whole point is that he doesn't want to order it if it's going to be too spicy--hence the suggestion that NKT is likely something that would be difficult to de-spice, simply by taking out the peppers. I think there are lots of other dishes that could be adjusted easily but I would suggest Rainbow, or Aroy if Tee is there (tho he isn't always and if he isn't, I think getting recipe adjustments becomes more of a crapshoot), as the two spots it would be the easiest to communicate and receive good guidance.