Date:
August 9, 2002
Section: Time Out! Edition:
All Page: 20
Column: In the 'burbs; Entrees under $10
Terrific Thai Siri Thai II offers taste of exotic
cuisine atreasonable prices
Keri Wyatt Kent Daily Herald Correspondent
There's something about Thai food: it's exotic,
but not too out there. It's sort of like Chinese,
but more complex. It's sort of like Indian,
but more accessible.
I'm always looking for good Thai food, and I
found it at Siri Thai II in Palatine. I also
found excellent service and reasonable prices
on a menu with plenty of variety. The kitchen
does wonderful things with seafood as well as
other meats, and also offers nine different
vegetarian dishes, most of them featuring some
type of tofu, a mainstay of Thai cuisine.
As the name implies, this is the second location
for Siri Thai, the first is in Hanover Park.
Owners Pam Soramuk and her husband Rod Lanpouthakoun
opened the first Siri Thai on Barrington Road
in Hanover Park 14 years ago. Three years ago,
they opened in Palatine. He runs the Hanover
location, she manages and cooks at the Palatine
location. The couple is also planning to open
a third location at 230 W. Virginia Road in
Crystal Lake this fall.
You can begin with an appetizer, salad or soup.
In addition to the extensive menu, there are
daily specials.
We chose one appetizer from the specials menu,
called Crab in a Bag. A mixture of crab and
shrimp, with a bit of cream cheese and seasoning,
is wrapped in a little sack of very thin dough,
then deep fried. The result is similar to crab
rangoon, but more delicate. The crispy little
sacks make an attractive presentation on the
blue and white plate. It's served with a light
sweet and sour sauce seasoned with a bit of
chili, which adds just the right amount of kick.
Soramuk had recommended the Siri Thai escargot,
so we tried that as well. Again, the presentation
was intriguing, as the escargot was served swimming
in a spicy curry and chili coconut milk, with
fresh basil leaves, in a clay dish with little
terra cotta caps over each serving. It came
with garlic bread, which complemented the spice
rather well. If you've never tried escargot,
it's not bad. These are steamed, and have a
consistency somewhere between an oyster and
a mushroom. The sauce is what makes this dish
wonderful.
Siri Thai also has the ubiquitous satay and
egg rolls and other Asian appetizers. But if
you want to be more adventurous, Soramuk also
recommended the "Land of Smile" apple
salad, and the spicy coconut soup. Many of the
salads and soups feature chicken or seafood
and would make a nice light meal.
There are also a number of fried rice choices.
Soramuk recommends Siri basil fried rice, which
comes with your choice of meat and plenty of
vegetables. There are also 12 different noodle
dishes and five noodle soups, with everything
from everyone's favorite Thai dish, pad Thai,
to the most expensive item on the menu at $15.95,
seafood special noodles. She also recommended
all of the curries (there are six different
ones).
The best way to enjoy Siri Thai is with a group
of people. Order several different dishes and
eat family style, trying a little of each.
For dinner, I had the sesame noodle, which was
delicious. This was a generous serving of noodles
with big chunks of crabmeat, shrimp and squid,
as well as carrots and cabbage, in a great sauce
with sesame seeds. I heartily recommend it.
Squid, for those who don't eat it every day,
looks kind of funky, but it is similar in taste
and texture to calamari. It's a little chewy,
but good. If you're not that adventurous, the
kitchen is very accommodating and can omit certain
ingredients at your request. In fact, they are
glad to make whatever you request.
"We have customers who have been coming
to our restaurants for 10 years, and they have
tried everything on the menu, so they ask us
to make something special for them, and that's
what we do," Soramuk said. "Or they
say, 'Pam, just make me what you think I will
like.' " In Hanover Park, about 80 percent
of the customers are regulars, she said, and
in Palatine, it's about 60 percent.
Soramuk and her husband are the head chefs.
Soramuk is a native of Thailand who came to
this country to get her MBA at Loyola. After
several years as a corporate financial analyst,
she decided to do something she loved: cook.
And she does it very well.
My husband ordered the garlic shrimp Bangkok
style, which is milder than the restaurant's
hot chili garlic shrimp. Bangkok style features
a rich brown garlic sauce, and we ordered it
medium, so it was flavorful, but not too spicy.
The shrimp is mixed with plenty of veggies,
including bell peppers, broccoli and baby corn.
It's very good.
I've had carry out from Siri Thai in the past,
and the pad Thai and ginger chicken are also
terrific.
The service at Siri Thai was excellent. Our
waiter was there when we needed him, but didn't
hover. We didn't have to wait long for anything,
and he was very helpful.
Overall, I recommend Siri Thai, either for carry-out
or for a nice dinner out at a reasonable price.
- Entrees under $10 is published the third Friday
of every month and features a restaurant at
which most entrees cost $10 or less. Reviews
are based on one anonymous visit. Our aim is
to describe the overall dining experience while
guiding the reader toward the menu's strengths.
The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of
restaurants it cannot recommend.
Cuisine: Thai
Setting: Cozy dining room decorated with Thai
artwork
Price range: Appetizers, $5.95 to $8.95; salads
$6.95 to $8.95; soups $5.95 to $10.95; entrees
$5.95 to $15.95; dessert $3.95 to $4.95
Hours: 11:30 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday;
11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; noon
to 9 p.m. Sunday
Accepts: Major credit cards for $15 minimum;
reservations
Also: Restaurant is entirely non-smoking. Siri
Thai does catering, and entire menu is available
for carry-out or dine-in Chu-Chee Catfish, or
catfish in coconut milk, Catfish in Chili Sauce
and Ho-Mok or Seafood Medley, from left, are
special dishes of the house at Siri Thai. Bill
Zars/Daily Herald GRAPHIC/MAP: Siri Thai II/Palatine
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