Tub Tim Thai Restaurant

Best Thail food in the Chicago area.   Loved the Yum Woon Sen salad and the Meang Kum appetizer.   Just like I had in Bangkok.   Ginger,  lime,  roasted coconut and more on a tasty chappoo leaf.

1 February 2013:

I hate to say it but despite this restaurant's awards from years ago I've had better Thai food elsewhere and at lesser expense. It's the only downtown Skokie Thai place of which I know but...$2 for one small tea bag? Really? Get out. No, wait; I will.

The dish I ordered, a "Specialty" of "Thai-style Fried Chicken,"  was a special disappointment with a scant few carrot and broccoli pieces which were much, much better than the batter-fried mystery meat next to which they laid.

Lesson learned: I should have ordered a bowl of steamed vegetables instead. Kudos also to this clean place's sticky rice but here I will not return.

The other day my lunch pals and I were talking about Chinese food in Chicago. In my super small hometown, Chinese food is the only Asian option even remotely nearby, and together with Mexican food, it's one of the only ethnic options at ALL. So it's a staple in those communities, but here in the city, Thai food is where it's at -- fresher, more interesting, and less steeped in Americanized, gelatinous tradition.

But even Thai food in the city can start to seem uniform, so when my coworkers told me TTT was unusual, I was excited to try it. Their lunch special is super reasonable and I always take some home. The pad thai is sweeter and saucier than what I get elsewhere, and the noodles are thinner and I think glass noodles instead of rice. Pad thai chicken has both chicken and tofu, which is a nice changeup. They do the tofu right, too.