Thai Aree closed for vacation

I was informed by the lovely people at Thai Aree that they are closing for vacation starting tomorrow. He needs to go home because his father is sick. They are scheduled to reopen 8/22/05.

Thai Aree
3592 N Milwaukee
Chicago
773-725-6751

Interesting, I ate there for the first time today. I had the pork Pad Ped, a nice simple curry of pork bamboo shoots and green beans, just what I was looking for. The egg roll was unusual in that the glass noodles inside were tinted dark brown but had great flavour.

Octarine, I was there on Wednesday, too; sorry I missed you.

I had several dishes, but the standout was nam sod. It was a fireworks display of flavors, with threads of ginger and galangal exploding on the tongue, and strips of white fungus (looking a lot like tripe) adding crispness and little earthy flavor notes, with lemon grass, scallions and minced chicken playing supporting roles. Eddie showed us some of the rice that he roasts by hand in his kitchen; this is a very subtle ingredient in the nam sod and could easily be "deleted." I think it shows a lot of integrity on Eddie's part that he makes the effort to include it, though it adds almost imperceptibly to the overall flavor of the dish.

Eddie brought out a lot of stuff to show us. My daughter complimented him on the tea, and he brought out the Thai leaf he uses, and which he told us he boils (!) to extract the liquor for Thai tea. Boiling is a major no-no with most tea, but my guess is that Eddie does this to capture all the tea flavor, and if a little bitterness creeps in, no problem; the half-and-half creaminess in the Thai tea will balance that out.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote:I had several dishes, but the standout was nam sod. It was a fireworks display of flavors, with threads of ginger and galangal exploding on the tongue, and strips of white fungus (looking a lot like tripe) adding crispness and little earthy flavor notes, with lemon grass, scallions and minced chicken playing supporting roles.

Did Eddie tell you that it was white fungus? LOL!

E.M.

Erik M. wrote:

David Hammond wrote:I had several dishes, but the standout was nam sod. It was a fireworks display of flavors, with threads of ginger and galangal exploding on the tongue, and strips of white fungus (looking a lot like tripe) adding crispness and little earthy flavor notes, with lemon grass, scallions and minced chicken playing supporting roles.

Did Eddie tell you that it was white fungus? LOL!

E.M.

No, it said so on the menu. You suspect Eddie was trying to slip some tripe in there.

David "Continuing to Stoically Endure ErikM's Seemingly Ceaseless Onslaught" Hammond

David Hammond wrote:No, it said so on the menu. You suspect Eddie was trying to slip some tripe in there.

I am not going to argue with you, David. I have never tried the nãem sòt at Thai Aree. I only mean to say that the inclusion of "white fungus" would be a new one on me.

But, what do I know.

Now, if instead it was pork skin, like I strongly suspect...


lâap mũu : minced pork and pork skin salad at Thai Avenue

E.M.

Erik M. wrote:Now, if instead it was pork skin.

Erik,

I just double-checked the menu, and it does say "white fungus," and what I had was white and...um... fungus-like (it had a slightly gelatinous but vegetable-like texture, and actually very little taste).

I think the question here may be: are Thai chefs allowed to vamp around with ingredients, using what's in season, foregoing some seemingly important ingredients (as Eddie avoids dried shrimp in Som Tom)? Of course, right?

Is white fungus very rare (I couldn't find mention of it in Thompson) or unlikely to be used in Thai dishes?

Hammond