TAC Quick

Ok, I owe you folks a lot for turning me on to this place. It is fast becoming my my favorite Thai place. (I do have yet to try Thai Aree though)

First trip was a couple weeks ago on a scouting trip for a dinner for out of town guests. I had the Thai fried chicken for lunch and it was wonderful. I also got the peanut curry noodles to go for dinner that night and I'm sad to say it didn't survive past 4:00 pm

The dinner was for 14 people and we had a pretty good selection of dishes, the moo ping is sooo bloody good, I HAVE to find a recipe for this. Everyone was very happy with the dinner so I decided on this again for last Sunday.

It being Fathers Day I was allowed to choose dinner for me, my gf, her sister in from FL and Sis's two girls, 9+13. We started out with the papaya salad, the beef salad, the moo ping, Thai fired chicken and chicken satay. Sis was blown away by the beef salad, her Thai experience was limited to AmeriThai down in St. Augustine and this was a revelation. The papaya salad I ordered fairly mild as the girls are pretty sensitive to heat, it was still very good but I will have to go back and try it in its full blown glory. I ate most of the fried chicken as the girls aren't really dark meat fans (yay for me!) They did like the parts they tried.

We then split beef panang curry, green currychicken on omelet, and the seafood lard nar, with an order of garlic beef for the kids. All were incredible, the seafood lard nar was super, the scallops were firm and delicious, and the calamari was among the best I've had, tender and tasty.

Sis called me from Fl and thanked me profusely, she says the meal was one of the best she has had, ever.

Hi,

On the 'Useful Stuff' board is a translated menu for TAC and several other restaurants.

Regards,

I posted about this a while back, TAC Quick will also give you a translated copy of the Thai menu if you ask for the Thai Menu - very nice as it translates most of the dishes (though at least the last time I was there it did not have prices on it - however you can also see the Thai menu with prices in the window of TAC Quick.

I agree, TAC Quick is my current favorite Thai restaurant in Chicago - though I still am very fond of Opart Thai House as well - but they are different places. TAC Quick has been consistently great every time I go and each dish has been fresh, flavorful, and spicy (when I asked for it).

Probably my favorite aspects of TAC Quick is the service - which has been very friendly and helpful - something I have found lacking at Spoon in the past, and that each dish is full of flavors and complex - at least the times I have gone to Spoon I have found even the "secret menu" dishes generally fairly one-note and even somewhat bland (the sausage for example which when I ordered it while tasty was not served with anything to complement it).

Shannon

Shannon Clark wrote:at least the times I have gone to Spoon I have found even the "secret menu" dishes generally fairly one-note and even somewhat bland (the sausage for example which when I ordered it while tasty was not served with anything to complement it). Shannon

Hey Shannon,

I make no bones about my regard for Spoon, and I don't mean to get defensive, but my experience with Spoon's Issan sausage is that they do serve it with garlic, cilantro, ginger and other high-flavor accompaniments. With these "condiments," the taste of the sausage is certainly enhanced, though it starts out at a fairly high level. I've had the home-made Issan from Thai Grocery on several occasions, and while good, it lacks the fine funk of the fermented rice in Spoon's. When I make this sausage at home, I always lay it out on a bed of the aforementioned and herbs/spices, and some cabbage.

About cabbage, at the Spoon Thai food demo at Botanic Gardens last weekend, I asked the cooks about the cabbage sold in the Argyle area, which they seemed to say was the same as the cabbage sold anywhere else. To me, though, the cabbage sold at Tai Nam or Thai Grocery is whiter and much sweeter than cabbage at, say, Dominick's. Perhaps it's just the season (it's earlier in the year, so the cabbage everywhere is sweeter and whiter).

Question: I forgot the name of the Thai place where you and I went for lunch in the loop. Can you refresh my memory?

David

David,

The place we had lunch in the loop is Siam Rice - which is a great option when in loop.

Odd about the sausage but when I ordered it at spoon it was basically sausage with a small bit of cabbage - nothing much else with the dish.

I think Spoon may be an example of a restaurant that can wildly differ depending on when you go (and perhaps who you go with).

In TAC Quick's support having gone there on many different days and at different times of day I have always gotten good food - which implies to me that they have multiple skilled chefs working (or one overworking).

Shannon

You know, you could be talking about different sausages. The little ball-shaped sausages come with the garnish David describes, but I believe the sliced, slightly looser sausage (sorry I don't have notes on me to identify proper names) is served simply on lettuce.

I, by the way, have not found Spoon do differ wildly based on time or day, company, using the Thai-language menu, or ordering takeout; rather I have found it to be amazingly consistent, both among its fans and detractors. That is to say, those who like Spoon rarely report an off-meal and those who are unimpressed with Spoon on one visit don't seem to feel any differently on subsequent visits.

Cheers,

Aaron

Shannon Clark wrote:I think Spoon may be an example of a restaurant that can wildly differ depending on when you go (and perhaps who you go with).

Shannon, considering the experiences you've reported here and on the listserv, I'm wondering if maybe Spoon has your picture behind the counter, and someone's playing an amazing, long-running practical joke on you. ;)

Shannon Clark wrote:
Odd about the sausage but when I ordered it at spoon it was basically sausage with a small bit of cabbage - nothing much else with the dish.

On my visit to Spoon, the sausage was similarly presented. Nothing except for the sausage. Note that these were the small pseudo-ball-shaped sausages, not sliced.

the meal was fantastic, mind you, but it wasn't served as david described.

-ed

Re: thai menus, I asked for the thai menu the first time I went there for lunch and the woman has subsequently brought it out to me unasked each time.

Granted, perhaps spending close to $300 in three weeks in a place will get you noticed but I've had nothing but fantastic service there.

Aaron Deacon wrote:You know, you could be talking about different sausages. The little ball-shaped sausages come with the garnish David describes, but I believe the sliced, slightly looser sausage (sorry I don't have notes on me to identify proper names) is served simply on lettuce.

I, by the way, have not found Spoon do differ wildly based on time or day, company, using the Thai-language menu, or ordering takeout; rather I have found it to be amazingly consistent, both among its fans and detractors. That is to say, those who like Spoon rarely report an off-meal and those who are unimpressed with Spoon on one visit don't seem to feel any differently on subsequent visits.

Aaron,

I think you may be right on both counts - I had the sliced variety - only one that was offered to me.

I should be clear, it is not that my experiences at Spoon have been completely bad - just not at all relevatory or even very notable except because of the hype. Perhaps I have just had incrediably bad timing each time I have visited, and clearly even having occasionally managed to get the "secret" menu, I still haven't managed to get the best versions of the dishes on that menu - such as the balled sausage not the sliced one.

Sometime Gary and I will have to go so I get the "full" experience and see what, perhaps, the fuss is all about.

Shannon