Gary (or anyone, really),

If you were to eat one last meal at Sticky Rice, what would it consist of? I ask because so many of the posters in these types of threads are regulars, and thus can try many different things with each visit. I don't have the luxury of being hit-or-miss when I go, since I'm only in town occasionally. I'd like to make the most of my visit.

Thanks,

Mike.

mikehartnett wrote:If you were to eat one last meal at Sticky Rice, what would it consist of?

Solo meal or with others? If with others how many people?

mikehartnett wrote:Gary (or anyone, really),

If you were to eat one last meal at Sticky Rice, what would it consist of? I ask because so many of the posters in these types of threads are regulars, and thus can try many different things with each visit. I don't have the luxury of being hit-or-miss when I go, since I'm only in town occasionally. I'd like to make the most of my visit.

Thanks,

Mike.

Assuming you're talking about a solo meal, I would start with tom khai soup and fish maw salad, with either shrimp in chili jam or Northern Thai larb, followed up by sticky rice with durian. That's way too much food for me, but if it was the last time ever, I would make a valiant effort.

Solo meal or with others? If with others how many people?

Very likely with one other person. I doubt she'll eat a huge amount, but we can pretend that she will for these purposes.

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:Assuming you're talking about a solo meal, I would start with tom khai soup and fish maw salad, with either shrimp in chili jam or Northern Thai larb, followed up by sticky rice with durian. That's way too much food for me, but if it was the last time ever, I would make a valiant effort.

Thanks! These all sound great, and the shrimp in chili jam sounds like a definite.

I would not skip, under any circumstances, the northern thai sausage or the nam prik ong.

Whenever I visit Sticky Rice, I buy these items, even if I don't intend on eating them that day.

Best,
Michael

Thanks! This is the kind of thing I'm looking for...

I tried the durian with sticky rice for the first time last weekend and would heartily recommend it as a closer. Great stuff.

chezbrad wrote:I tried the durian with sticky rice for the first time last weekend and would heartily recommend it as a closer. Great stuff.

to each his own. Several of my dining companions last week liked this as well, though it made me gag.

eatchicago wrote:I would not skip, under any circumstances, the northern thai sausage or the nam prik ong.

Whenever I visit Sticky Rice, I buy these items, even if I don't intend on eating them that day.

Best,
Michael

Seconded.

Fried quail still incredibly crispy after delivery order arrived, with fragrant toasted garlic that perfumed the whole condo. 25 minutes from phone call to eating. This was weeks ago and I still taste it.

The answer to question posed in this thread's title is "at your door 25-30 minutes after you call". They are very consistent with the speedy delivery.

Tonight's feast...

Yum Preserved Egg:


This is a new addition to the Sticky Rice menu, and it was terrific. When Sticky Rice is on its game, it finds balance not through restraint, but from excess. I imagine the kitchen's thought process goes something like: Taste. Add more fish sauce. Fish sauce too dominant? Add more lime. Too tart now? Add more fish sauce. Uh oh, better add more lime now. I think they decide they're done adding fish sauce and lime when they realize they'll miss the 25 minute delivery standard if they don't get the dish out the door. The eggs themselves were moist and rich.


Eastern Sausage:

As long as they're made by hand, no 2 versions of this sausage are the same. At Sticky Rice, garlic is a way more dominant flavor in the sausage than in any other version I've ever had. It's quite good, but if I had to rank, I'd say I prefer versions that skew a little more sour.


Lard Nar with Tofu

The best I can say about this is that it was OK. The noodles were very mushy, and they were swimming in enough thin gravy that this could have been a soup. Not much flavor to it, other than sugar.


One fantastic dish, one very good dish, and one OK dish. 25 minutes to my door, 20 bucks dinner for 2, and I continue to love Sticky Rice. That said, I also wish I could find a Thai place that did the "native" type dishes as well as Sticky Rice, but also served high quality Ameri-Thai noodle dishes for those into that kind of thing. The milder noodle dishes at Spoon, TAC and Sticky Rice continue to disappoint. Suggestions, anyone?

I'm not trying to induce panic, but there's a sign on the door of Sticky Rice saying that they're closed due to electrical problems. They promised to re-open today, but as of 12:30 pm the sign was still up and they were still closed. The last time they were closed with a sign on the door it was several weeks before they reopened.

Does anyone know when they'll be open again?

JBH wrote:Does anyone know when they'll be open again?

probably their electrician.

Crisis averted...they are open again today!

I'm embarrassed to say that it's taken me up to last night for my inaugural visit here. My Favorite Dining Companion, a friend, and I made total pigs out ourselves for less than $40. To confirm, two of us managed to spill sauce on our shirts. A successful evening indeed.

Made my first visit to Sticky Rice for a late lunch yesterday with the family. I had the Nam Prik Ong with Sticky Rice, Somtum, Shrimp Ball Soup, and Northern Thai Sausage. Standard "safe American" dishes were ordered by the rest of the family...Chicken Pad Thai, Chicken Fried Rice, Stir Fried Vegetables in oyster sauce, Egg Drop Soup (Corn soup minus the corn and crab), and Stuffed Fried Calamari. I asked for my Nam Prik Ong and Somtum "extra spicy," and definitely think the spice/heat level could have been higher. Nonetheless both were tasty and in the end the balance of flavors benefitted from not being crazy hot. The flavors of the Shrimp Ball Soup were excellent, but the shrimp balls seemed rather tough and chewy...I don't know if that's how they always are in general, but I would have liked them to have been lighter and fluffier in texture. The sausage was good, albeit a bit on the dry side. I didn't try anyone else's dishes, but everyone said they loved their food. All in all, a nice and delicious meal, and I'll be back to try the multitude of dishes that I was unable to due to only having one stomach and far from adventurous dining companions.

Nam Prik Ong


Somtum


Shrimp Ball Soup


Corn Soup minus corn and crab equals Egg Drop Soup


Northern Thai Sausage


Stuffed Fried Calamari


Chicken Pad Thai + Iowa Hawkeyes shirt


Chicken Fried Rice


Stir Fried Vegetables in oyster sauce

The proper way to order for maximum spice at Thai places is "Thai spicy." That said, as a non-thai, I tend to get delivered food from the Thai places much spicier than when eating in. TAC is an exception. Based on my orders, the kitchen could assume I'm Thai. Just how it is.

pigOut wrote:Made my first visit to Sticky Rice for a late lunch yesterday with the family. I had the Nam Prik Ong with Sticky Rice, Somtum, Shrimp Ball Soup, and Northern Thai Sausage. Standard "safe American" dishes were ordered by the rest of the family...Chicken Pad Thai, Chicken Fried Rice, Stir Fried Vegetables in oyster sauce, Egg Drop Soup (Corn soup minus the corn and crab), and Stuffed Fried Calamari. I asked for my Nam Prik Ong and Somtum "extra spicy," and definitely think the spice/heat level could have been higher. Nonetheless both were tasty and in the end the balance of flavors benefitted from not being crazy hot. The flavors of the Shrimp Ball Soup were excellent, but the shrimp balls seemed rather tough and chewy...I don't know if that's how they always are in general, but I would have liked them to have been lighter and fluffier in texture. The sausage was good, albeit a bit on the dry side. I didn't try anyone else's dishes, but everyone said they loved their food. All in all, a nice and delicious meal, and I'll be back to try the multitude of dishes that I was unable to due to only having one stomach and far from adventurous dining companions.

Ha. I'm pretty sure you all were sitting behind my husband and I.

JeffB wrote:The proper way to order for maximum spice at Thai places is "Thai spicy." That said, as a non-thai, I tend to get delivered food from the Thai places much spicier than when eating in. TAC is an exception. Based on my orders, the kitchen could assume I'm Thai. Just how it is.

Is asking for it "Thai spicy" actual protocol and understood at most places? I just assume emphasizing I'd like it very spicy will work, and avoid the potential awkwardness of a blank stare in response to requesting it "Thai spicy."

pigOut wrote:

JeffB wrote:The proper way to order for maximum spice at Thai places is "Thai spicy." That said, as a non-thai, I tend to get delivered food from the Thai places much spicier than when eating in. TAC is an exception. Based on my orders, the kitchen could assume I'm Thai. Just how it is.

Is asking for it "Thai spicy" actual protocol and understood at most places? I just assume emphasizing I'd like it very spicy will work, and avoid the potential awkwardness of a blank stare in response to requesting it "Thai spicy."

Funny, when I was growing up my family always liked very spicy food and whenever we'd go out for Chinese food, my dad would explain that "we like really, really spicy food . . . not like other people who order spicy food, but much spicier . . . please don't pamper us!" We'd often end up with food that was quite spicy and perfectly adequate. Occasionally, we were delivered food so spicy as to render it almost inedible (but a family challenge nonetheless). I've borrowed to some degree my dad's ordering style and the results have been pretty decent, whether at Thai, Chinese or Indian restaurants. Usually, the food is delivered spicy enough . . . if not, there's always hot pepper to be added (Spoon Thai has always been reliable for me, and aggressive with heat when requested).

As with many things on this board, my comments simply are based on experience. In this cse, lots and lots of experience. I've ordered takeout or delivery on average close to 2x a week from one of the 3 great Thai places near my home (Sticky, Spoon and TAC) for several years. In my experience, "Thai spicy" is well-understood by the nice folks on the phone regardless of their English facility. And, unlike "extra spicy", which could lead to somewhat complicated decision making during a very short period of time (what is "extra-spicy" to the gringo on the other end of the phone? Does he want me to make something that shouldn't be spicy at all (say, rice soup) piquant? etc.), "Thai-spicy" indicates that I want the food to be spiced as it should be. In the case of Thai salads and dips, this is usually very spicy indeed. I've had very similar luck based on a much smaller, but not insignificant, sample of experiences in Thai Town, Los Angeles. Hope that helps.

If you want it good and hot ask for "pet-pet"

If you want your food take-your-head-off, fire-out-ears hot, request "pet-ma"

You will probably get a sly look and a "you sure?"... just smile and nod

Stagger wrote:If you want it good and hot ask for "pet-pet"

If you want your food take-your-head-off, fire-out-ears hot, request "pet-ma"

You will probably get a sly look and a "you sure?"... just smile and nod

Haha...seriously? I had reservations about asking for it "Thai spicy," and I'm supposed to say that? For real?

I can testify that "pet pet" or "ped ped" will indeed get you some spicy food. I've never f'd with "pet ma," but most of the Thai places featured on LTH are used to non-Thais ordering authentic dishes in broken Thai. Just say it and you'll be fine.

Stagger wrote:If you want it good and hot ask for "pet-pet"

If you want your food take-your-head-off, fire-out-ears hot, request "pet-ma"

You will probably get a sly look and a "you sure?"... just smile and nod

The other night I made it over to Sticky Rice for dinner and tested out the "pet-ma" when ordering Somtum. I got a confused look and the server motioned towards the menu thinking I was trying to order another dish, so I said I wanted it "Thai spicy," and re-iterated I wanted it as spicy as possible. What came out was definitely very spicy, but not the sweat inducing spice level I had hoped. It wasn't a big deal though, as the Somtum was still excellent and I am quite confident that perhaps with a different server there would have been a clearer understanding. I also think that maybe I'm just a chili-head that on occasion likes to eat food with a heat level that is borderline inedible and anything less just doesn't leave me fully satisfied.

As for the rest of the meal, there were huge portions of both shrimp only and vegetable only tempura that were crispy and delicious. Best thing eaten was the Gang Hung Lay, a stewed dish of extremely tender pork with garlic and ginger in a red curry that I ate with sticky rice...incredibly good. Northern Thai sausage was tasty, but again I found it to be slightly dry. The Bamboo Pith soup was a letdown, as I found the taste to be off putting. I can't exactly pinpoint what it was, but there was a muddy, sort of woody flavor that just didn't vibe with me. I like earthy flavors but not earth.

Service was erratic, with dishes seemingly coming out whenever they happened to be done. I got most of my food well before anyone else did, and appetizers and entrees weren't spaced out at all, with one of my dining companions getting their appetizer after their entree had come out. That being said, I was able to mostly overlook this because the food was good and I could tell our server had good intentions and was trying his best...by the end of our meal the place had gotten pretty full and he was literally running around trying to attend to all his tables.

In the end, it was a pretty satisfying meal with the Gang Hung Lay really standing out both in taste and in contributing to me eating way too much.

Maybe this is old news, but the world has discovered Sticky Rice big time. Yesterday marked the second Tuesday in a month when the place actually had a wait for a table at 6PM! Last night was a mob scene of mostly well-heeled fancy wine drinkers and double parked Lexus SUV's. I'm not kidding.

Anyway, the food hasn't changed. Northern style larb was as funky and flavorful as ever, and Northern Thai sausage may have gotten even better. They still get to my door in 25 minutes when I call for delivery.

Kennyz wrote:Maybe this is old news, but the world has discovered Sticky Rice big time. Yesterday marked the second Tuesday in a month when the place actually had a wait for a table at 6PM! Last night was a mob scene of mostly well-heeled fancy wine drinkers and double parked Lexus SUV's. I'm not kidding.

On the way home from dinner at Spoon Thai last Sunday, we drove past Sticky Rice around 8:30pm and noticed that every table was full and 5-6 beer/wine-toting folks were milling around outside the door.

I heard that Google was being bogged down by "best wine for thai" searches.

Really though, after a year off from Sticky Rice to get intimate with Spoon's menu, I am glad to say that we are back on the Sticky Rice boat.

Their stuffed fried chicken wing appetizer is like crack.

pigOut wrote:Best thing eaten was the Gang Hung Lay, a stewed dish of extremely tender pork with garlic and ginger in a red curry that I ate with sticky rice...incredibly good.

In all the years and dozens of times I've eaten Sticky Rice food, I recently had this dish for the first time. Wow was it fantastic. Gorgeous chunks of long-braised pork shoulder chunks in a relatively thin, wonderfully complex sauce. Ginger is a major component, as is garlic - but I'm pretty sure it's not just regular garlic, but rather funky pickled/ fermented garlic. Great dish.