May is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and NBC Chicago’s Steve Dolinsky is going all-in on his favorite restaurants serving up the diverse cuisines of the region throughout the month.
The culinary journey begins at a Thai restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop operated by group of local Chinese entrepreneurs who are also behind a hot pot concept in Chinatown.
After founding a successful Thai restaurant in New York City with two locations, the approach to modern interpretations on classics made its way to Chicago.
A pair of cooks meticulously hand-forms pork dumplings, each tied up with a slender chive like a purse. You notice the kitchen’s attention to detail and the fact they’ve weighed out ingredients, like the lump crab that’s used in the fantastic salad with bright pomelo – a sort of Thai version of grapefruit, only sweeter.
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These are signs of a professional kitchen, keeping an eye on portions and consistency. Siam Thai Eatery already has locations in Flushing, Queens and Staten Island, and the restaurant group from Chicago thought it might do well here, in the South Loop.
“You know the whole theme, the uniqueness and whole presentation is what really attracted us, and we thought this is what we don’t have in the Chicagoland area. So we thought this was a good idea and would be a good fit in Chicago,” co-owner Ting Ting Zheng said.
There’s also a straightforward papaya salad – like all dishes, you specify your heat tolerance. Another classic – pad thai – is almost textbook here. Shrimp, bean sprouts and rice noodles are tossed with tofu and eggs, but also the requisite amount of chili, plus tamarind and palm sugar. It’s a well-worn staple done right.
A Southern style duck curry is another dish. Here, lightly fried duck is chopped-up, plated, then doused in a red curry embedded with pineapple and lychee, which adds subtle sweetness. Whole steamed sea bass is suffused with aroma; fresh ginger and lemongrass serving as a bed beneath it.
“That’s something with a modern twist to it,” Zheng said.
Kao Man Gai is typically a chicken dish; here it’s either poached or fried, served with a soothing cup of chicken broth and a few dipping sauces. Zheng said even though the kitchen is mostly Chinese, led by a Chinese chef, it hasn’t affected the quality of the execution on the plate.
“Chef played with a lot of ingredients already, so for them to catch up with Thai cuisine is not as hard, because actually Chinese cuisine is a lot more complicated than Thai,” Zheng said.
For now, the restaurant is BYOB, and parking on this stretch of Michigan Avenue can also be tricky for those driving to their dine-out destination.
Siam Thai Eatery
1329 S. Michigan Ave.
312-763-6193
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