Siam Pasta

Any good reports on Siam Pasta (7416 N. Western)? I haven't found many mentionings on the forum. My lunch standby in the area near work is Chai Asian Bistro—it's fine, fine, but I need to branch out. What's good at Siam?

I have never eaten there myself but a friend who lives in that 'hood uses it as her go-to Thai delivery place: and I quite respect her opinion on food. If you're lucky, perhaps our resident Thai expert Erik M. will have some words of wisdom to guide your eating experience.

I would say, if you've never been there before, order up whatever your favorite dishes are at other Thai establishments and see how they measure up. I'll email my friend now to see what her faves are and report back later!

fela wrote:My lunch standby in the area near work is Chai Asian Bistro—it's fine, fine, but I need to branch out.

I can't say much about Siam Pasta. My one visit there was pretty mediocre, but it was only one visit. Instead, since Chai Asian Bistro is your go to place, I would highly recommend GNR winner Elephant Thaiin the same neighborhood.

Since it first opened many years ago, I have eaten take-out food from Siam Pasta a few times, but was never very impressed. The food was not necessarily bad from a preparation standpoint. But, it was just about the most Americanized rendition of Thai food I had ever eaten (at least in Chicago). There must be a pretty solid market for that style. Siam Pasta has been very successful, despite a less than ideal location. I do have some friends that love the place, but they also think Las Palmas in Evanston is the world's best Mexican restaurant. To be fair, I think I did like Siam Pasta's egg noodles (ba mi).

bananasandwiches wrote:If you're lucky, perhaps our resident Thai expert Erik M. will have some words of wisdom to guide your eating experience.

Oh, I am perhaps the last person that should be dispensing advice on this subject. Your own advice is surely sound, and the O.P. might also do well by heeding the advice of your friend. I have had some truly phenomenal food from the kitchen at Siam Pasta, but it was not otherwise intended for an American audience. The really good stuff at Siam Pasta is prepared for the staff, and for friends of the staff, or it is prepared to be sold elsewhere.

In any event, stevez has already presented an excellent alternative in case the O.P. strikes out at Siam Pasta.

E.M.

fela wrote:Any good reports on Siam Pasta (7416 N. Western)? I haven't found many mentionings on the forum. My lunch standby in the area near work is Chai Asian Bistro—it's fine, fine, but I need to branch out. What's good at Siam?

If you just want to branch out, you could spend days searching the forums here finding great thai restaurants. Why did you pick Siam Pasta? Location?

We definitely have a scarcity of thai in Rogers Park, especially delivery thai. (R.I.P. Thai Homemade )

Siam Pasta will deliver to us. It's, as has been noticed, standard ameri-thai. We only had them deliver once and it was fine, but far from life changing.

Grande will deliver to us, but for some reason we don't take them up on it very often. I haven't had a really bad experience either dining in or at home, but it hasn't caught my imagination either. It's a hybrid thai/sushi spot that I swear I'd seen discussed on LTH before, but it's not coming up on my searches.

Some of the Evanston places (Cozy, Joy Yee) will occasionally deliver to us, but it's usually a fight.

If you just want great thai food not as far west...
the recent Spoon Thai Feast post should whet your appetite, or check out GNR recipients
Sticky Rice,
TAC Quick or review the index of translated menus which skews towards thai and places that are generally closer. If you search the board for most of those places, you'll find more details, but I doubt Erik M. wastes time translating menus for lousy restaurants!

Grande Noodles
6632 N. Clark
773-761-6666

Erik M. wrote:The really good stuff at Siam Pasta is prepared for the staff, and for friends of the staff, or it is prepared to be sold elsewhere.

What is sold elsewhere?

zim wrote:

Erik M. wrote:The really good stuff at Siam Pasta is prepared for the staff, and for friends of the staff, or it is prepared to be sold elsewhere.

What is sold elsewhere?

Khãwng wããn (various "sweets") at Thai Grocery, Bangkok Video, and PNA.

Khãwng kin lên (various "snacks") at Thailand Food Corp., Bangkok Video, and PNA.

Thai Grocery
5014 N. Broadway
773.561.5345

Bankok Video & Grocery
4617 North Clark
773.728.3333

PNA
2310 W. Leland
773.784.1797

Thailand Food Corp.
4821 N. Broadway
773.728.1199

E.M.

I order there from desperation. . . . fast, fresh, boring. Not bad, just boring. But only Thai that will bring it to the door.

Erik M. wrote:I have had some truly phenomenal food from the kitchen at Siam Pasta, but it was not otherwise intended for an American audience. The really good stuff at Siam Pasta is prepared for the staff, and for friends of the staff, or it is prepared to be sold elsewhere.

It is interesting that you say that. I always got the impression that there was some good food lurking somewhere at Siam Pasta, but I never could find it on the menu. (Actually, when they first opened they did make barbecued eel).

dan1234 wrote:I order there from desperation. . . . fast, fresh, boring. Not bad, just boring. But only Thai that will bring it to the door.

I am not sure where you live, but Thai Peppers on Howard will deliver to Rogers Park. IMHO, it is a half step up from Siam Pasta. Lanna Thai on Broadway, which is actually pretty good, will also deliver to most of east RP.

Thai Peppers
1901 Howard St
Evanston, IL 60202
(847) 475-4248

Lanna Thai
5951 N Broadway St
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 878-1155

Ordinary as the food is, given the right evening weather the second floor outdoor patio at the Evanston location on Dempster rocks! We'll walk over when the al fresco mood strikes us, but it's no TAC Quick.
>>Brent

d4v3 wrote:I am not sure where you live, but Thai Peppers on Howard will deliver to Rogers Park. IMHO, it is a half step up from Siam Pasta. Lanna Thai on Broadway, which is actually pretty good, will also deliver to most of east RP.

Thai Peppers
1901 Howard St
Evanston, IL 60202
(847) 475-4248

Lanna Thai
5951 N Broadway St
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 878-1155

Thai Peppers has been shuttered for a while now. No signs of a successor.

Lanna Thai at 5951 N. Broadway became "Indie Cafe" a few years ago. There was quite a buzz after a Reader review compared them to Arun's. I don't remember if this was the original verbiage or not, but it currently reads "Arun Sampanthavivat might want to take note of this place, as the food here comes closer to his exquisite cuisine than anything else in town, and at a fraction of his prices."

I've never been.

germuska wrote:Thai Peppers has been shuttered for a while now. No signs of a successor.

Lanna Thai at 5951 N. Broadway became "Indie Cafe" a few years ago. There was quite a buzz after a Reader review compared them to Arun's. I don't remember if this was the original verbiage or not, but it currently reads "Arun Sampanthavivat might want to take note of this place, as the food here comes closer to his exquisite cuisine than anything else in town, and at a fraction of his prices." I've never been.

Ooops, I guess I can throw the menus away. Obviously it has been a while since I ordered food from either (but I really didn't think it was that long). I had sort of forgotten about Thai delivery around here since a short drive yields so many better options.

Actually, as I wrote that last post, something in the back of my head told me that Thai Peppers might be closed. I happen to drive by there tonight on the way to the store and saw that it was dark (I don't know why I didn't notice before). Too bad. It wasn't great, but it was OK in a pinch. I also recently saw that the place that replaced Sala Thai on Touhy is gone (TopOne?). I guess there is indeed a dearth of Thai restaurants in Rogers Park. Maybe Siam Pasta really is the only one that delivers. Bummer.

Weren't there actually two Lanna Thais a few blocks from each other? I thought I picked up some food from there within the last year, but I guess it must have been longer. Maybe it had changed names, and I didn't notice.

I have heard talk about "Indie Cafe", but I didn't realize it was Lanna Thai. Is that the same owners? The whole Thai-Sushi notion makes me wary. I can't believe the same place can do both well. It is similar to the aforementioned Grande Noodles, which used to be a Vietnamese restaurant, and is now a japanese-chinese-vietnamese-korean-thai-sushi-noodle-dumpling restaurant-cafe-bistro-teahouse (or something like that).

Erik M. wrote:
Khãwng wããn (various "sweets") at Thai Grocery, Bangkok Video, and PNA.

Khãwng kin lên (various "snacks") at Thailand Food Corp., Bangkok Video, and PNA.

E.M.

any standouts among these?

While it is a bit Americanized, you won't find stuffed chicken wings anywhere else like the ones made at Siam Pasta. They are battered, deep fried, and stuffed with a mixture of garlic, chicken meat, and glass noodles.

They come in orders of two, and that's all you'll need as they are gut-busters for sure.

When I lived in the area, Sala Thai was always my preference over Siam Pasta--whatever became of Sala? it was a nice family that ran it.

Lanna Thai at 5951 N. Broadway became "Indie Cafe" a few years ago.

Lanna Thai was also very nice, but no question Indie Cafe is better. The fusion actually works there, at least in the noodles department. Both Pad See-uw and YakiSoba were tops.

I've never been to the Western Avenue location, but have enjoyed several meals at the Evanston location.

Last nite went with friends because the weather was perfect for eating on the 2nd floor outdoor patio.

All the food we tried was good. The grilled calamari appetizer was a hit. Grilled just right so it had a nice char, but wasn't rubbery. We also shared a couple of curries, a beef dish with large flat noodles (can't remember the name) and the very flavorful larb.

At the very back of the menu are a group of less Americanized dishes which is where the larb is to be found. I asked for it mild, but it still had plenty of heat. On a previous visit I ordered the Tiger Cry which was a good, though not great version. Again, plenty of heat.

In all, I'd say that Siam Pasta in Evanston is a pretty good place for a meal.

809 Dempster St
Evanston, IL 60201
847-328-4614

Since I live nearby, I can second the reco for Siam Pasta. The outdoor deck is an ideal place to eat on a nice night, and a venue that not many other places offer.

I'd second the motion for Elephant Thai for my takeout in that area of RoPa....though my very favorite Thai Spot is Thai Spice on Devon at Wayne. The service is slow but friendly when Tony, the owner is manning the floor, but we loooove everything that comes out of his kitchen, especially the Ga Prow Kai and See Ew (sp?).

ETA: Thai Spice does deliver, but can be slow. Also, they're much pricier than Siam or Elephant, but portions are huge and the quality is worth it IMO.