Red Ginger. Anyone been?

The Reader (online) has a review this week. Evidently, it's owned by the same chef as Roger Park's Blue Elephant. I've been to BE once; food was nothing to write home about, and the service was below par. I had an eggplant dish. The eggplant was cooked (fried) perfectly but the accompanying vegetables were literally raw. However, the write up of Red Ginger is tempting me. Anyone been?

Red Ginger
3103 N. Narragansett Ave.
773-622-5606

My GF had read one review in Chicago magazine, then another in Time Out Chicago. She showed me the TOC review, which peaked my interest.

We started with the Red Ginger Salmon Roll. One order consisted of six slim, hot (temp, not spice) deep fried rolls of tender salmon topped with a good helping of a very mild peanut sauce.

We followed with the Red Ginger Somtum Salad. It seemed to be missing the papaya and mango, and had a strong aftertaste, maybe balsamic. It was so good that I didn't care. Be careful of the red pepper flakes (more on this later).

Our two entrees were Spinach Noodle, a slight variation on Chicken Rama, the Thai's response to Chop Suey. A nice, plain dish with very fresh vegatables. Both the spinach and the spinach pasta were a good touch. The other entree was Five Star Salmon. Once again perfectly done vegtables, and a chili paste ang garlic sauce that was balanced with the vegtables and salmon. The salmon seemed to have been pan fried, giving it a crunchy crust.

The portions were very large and with the exception of the salad, everything was nice and hot. We both could not stop eating it was so good. It was so good I'm glad it isn't so close to where I live so I won't go every night.

We were about to leave and they asked us to wait. Then the waitress brought out pumkin in coconut cream - they saw me coughing on the pepper flakes, so they gave us a free dessert.

Thanks, bigfatgeek, your message has me in a tizzy to try Red Ginger. I'll report back when I do.

Nigel wrote:Evidently, it's owned by the same chef as Roger Park's Blue Elephant. I've been to BE once; food was nothing to write home about, and the service was below par. I had an eggplant dish. The eggplant was cooked (fried) perfectly but the accompanying vegetables were literally raw.

Just wanted to respond to your comment on Blue Elephant. I went there tonight with a friend, and our experience was quite a bit different than yours. Service was prompt and friendly, food was quite good, and decor was very pleasant. (One comfort thing: my skinny butt would have appreciated cushioned chairs).

For appetizers, we had the excellent Tom Kha Ta-Lay soup and the BE Platter - a sampler of four appetizers. While I usually don't go for deep fried appetizers. BE's are not bad. They're not the least bit greasy, but a bit heavy on the breading for my taste.

Ordering from the "Blue's Specials" entrees, we had the Blackberry Roasted Duck and the Salmon Green Curry Pasta. The duck was moist and lean. The blackberry sauce was rich and flavorful and not at all sweet. The green curry sauce was rich and creamy, tasting of tarragon and basil, with a deep, warming spicyness. The plentiful veggies that came with each dish (green beans, squash, eggplant, peas) were fresh and perfectly cooked.

BE is small, seating maybe 25 indoors, and another 20 or so outside, I hear, in Summertime. And BE is BYOB. Cheers!

Me & the GF went back to Red Ginger. They were out of the #10, Spinach Pot Sticker, so we quickly ordered the Shrimp Dumplings, #14. The ever so nice and charimg waitress was rushing around and dripped some of the sauce on the floor (it sounds worse than it was, in fact, it was quite entertaining, along with the son of someone connected with the place who seemed very at home being bored & goofing around. That's what makes this place so good - It's a mix of fancy and regular)
Back to the dumplings. They were piping hot and a perfect mix of soft and crunchy. A very light flavor, not overpowering. I could have eaten plates of these things.
We got two entrees - #75, Five Star Salmon (again) and #69 Mussamun Curry. 69 is so fine, 69 is so fine - the BEST mussamun curry I ever had. and the Five Star Salmon once again was great.
The ONLY thing I could say is that the first time was sooo good that my expectations were waaaay too high. I think I elaborated my own memory. Don't do that to yourselves, peoples
It is slowly becoming my favorite asian restaurant.
Here are my favorites:
Chinese - Mayflower - Foster & Pulaski - in the mall with Jewel
Sushi - Tank - on Lincoln, near Wilson
Japanese - no decision here
Thai - Red Ginger

My gf and I finally got around to trying Red Ginger, and we're more than satisfied we made the trip.

A preface: it's in an unlikely neighborhood. From the north side of Chicago in Saturday night traffic, it was a 40 minute drive. Not too bad, I suppose.

The food: A Doozy, or so my mom would say. It knocked our socks off. After eating our appetizer (described below), we told the server we wanted to stay awhile, relax, hang out, let our hair down and pig out. She giggled. I was thirsty, mildly tired and craving coffee. I ordered the Thai Iced Coffee--something I like, but tragically can be hit or miss. It was a hit! It was the best I've ever had. Strong and not so sweet that you have to wait for the ice cubes to melt before it's drinkable. We ordered the Spinach Pot Stickers for starters. They were square-shaped, hefty and drizzled w/ a sweet plum sauce. Perfectly cripsy, and the spinach was fresh w/out being saturated in oil from being pan-fried. We ate these quickly. I could have had another order.

The gf ordered the Miso Soup, I had the Tom Yum. Mine was delish. The heat didn't overshadow the flavors. I tried the Miso. Heavy on fish sauce, which I liked, but gf had to work at it.

I considered ordering the Five Star Salmon, but I mentioned I didn't want much heat. The server pointed at something on the menu. My mistake, I looked at her rather than the menu. She said "You'd like this!" I believed her! "SURE!" I said.

Chickaboom. What was it?! Green curry w/ salmon and spinach noodles. I slurped the curry from my spoon. It was raunchy, inelegant, and crude. I didn't care, it was so good. The veggies were very fresh. Gf had Pad See Eew with chicken which my fork frequented often.

We didn't get any free dessert, but we did get a wonderful meal. My new favorite Thai restaurant. The drive will not deter me in the future. I'm already planning my next visit.