Taste of Thai Town

I had an oddly pleasant experience at Taste of Thai Town this week after realizing In-On Thai is closed on Wednesdays, needing to head west anyway, deciding on Smoque, and then calling an audible.

Especially with Arun's closing, I wonder if TTT is going to get some more TLC from ownership. In any case, as part of the Thai Town Center, the basic menu doesn't seem to have changed since last year's opening. That's good in that there are still a lot of reasonable pricepoints (many soups and apps and small plates under $5) to combine, and then not so exciting in that there are just a few, mostly Ameri-Thai offerings in each menu category. The former police station looks positively bright and homey.

The odd part of the experience is that two of the plates were perfectly executed, and really not at all Thai-inflected, belying the menu descriptions. Spiced calamari with lime and salad arrived golden and with mustard aioli and no greens. I'm not sure there is much to compete with this at the $4 for a plate-o-squid level in the city. I would have said these were a good rabas tapa in Sevilla or Santander. Pork croquettes with rice powder and sriracha came out like four small schnitzels from Laschet's with a little ketchup. Delicately fried and salted and warming and in no way evocative of any peninsula. I did also have tom kha, which was a better-than-average rendition with a nice chili oil and really fresh cilantro and lemongrass and mushrooms. Chicken was silky and not the rought-cut frozen chewy chunks or twists I run into at lower tier Thai places.

Value and execution were there for me, and I left liking the place for what it was, which is basically an Amarind's / one-notch-up prep take on your basic suburban Thai place. I'll be intrigued to see if more challenging or homestyle fare comes home to roost there soon.

Taste of Thai Town
4461 N Pulaski Rd, Chicago
(773) 299-7888