For a lot of people their go-to comfort food might be pizza or pasta, but for me it's Thai food. When I lived in Park Slope, I used to religiously get Thai food for take-out but once I moved to Williamsburg there hasn't been as many good mom and pop take out places. So it's been a while since I have had a non-frills Thai experience, so when Deanna asked what I wanted to eat while I was in Chicago, I strangely was craving a standard pad thai dish. Silom 12 was within walking distance from her apartment which was perfect.
The place is a bit bizarre in that the decor is totally mod - it's all white and it's got a large communal table in the middle of the restaurant. It's a definite departure from your usual local Thai place that usually tries to replicate the feel of the Old World. The menu here is pretty basic and standard - stir fry, noodles dishes, fried rice and curries - this was exactly what I was in the mood for. Despite craving pad thai, there's actually nothing I love more than a fried mussel dish in a Thai place so I was excited to see that they offered this dish here. Sadly when I tried to order it, they were conveniently out of it, despite there be no one in the restaurant besides us. So I guess they made my decision pretty easy: chicken pad thai ($9) it is! Deanna and I also split the Gui Chai ($7) to start while she got the green basil curry with veggies ($10).
They start your meal with these shrimp chips which aren't particularly tasty but yet were addictive for no real good reason - so don't fill up on them. The Gui Chai came out quickly and it was 3 pan fried chive "dumplings" (I use quotes because they were more like flat baos then dumplings) served with a sweet soy sauce. It was mostly pan friend dough-y goodness and it was really a vehicle to sop up the sweet soy sauce into your mouth. I didn't feel super healthy after eating this so I'm glad I split it with Deanna as I probably could have eaten the whole thing myself and then felt completely terrible afterwards. In true Thai style, my pad thai came out about 5 mins after we got our appetizer. The pad thai was pretty standard - nice mix of noodles with peanut sauce, tamarind and chicken. I wouldn't say it was the best pad thai of my life but it did hit the spot.
I can totally see why this would be a solid go-to take out spot for those living in Bucktown. There's really nothing special about it but there's nothing terribly wrong with it either. It's probably similar to most other neighborhood mom and pop Thai places near you. Total bill: $40 for 2 people with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment