Before a night at the theater I decided to check out a Thai restaurant in the hip Lakeview neighborhood. I decided to try Thai Bistro Sura (btw "Sura" means liquor in Thai...hmm) This place has daily drink specials (they seem to like Jack here) and a good wine list. The table next to us had their share of beer and sake! Their beer was presented in a cool, foot-long glass dispenser.
It was a beautiful sunny day today in the Chi so we decided to sit outside and check out all the activity on Broadway. The inside of the restaurant looked really funky and modern...very minimalist...lots of white with splashes of bright colors and trendy furniture with clean lines and funky shapes.
The service was excellent; our waitress was extremely friendly; quick, and helpful with my order. We started the meal with two appetizers: Heaven Beef and Lotus Special. The Heaven Beef (beef marinated in Thai whiskey, coriander, and Thai chili sauce) was tasty but a little chewy. The Lotus Special was excellent...lots of mango, fried vegetable and creamy cheese (not so much authentic Thai but it tasted good). Sura's menu was extensive and looked like they were trying to be creative with Thai fusion/tapas type dishes. I ordered the Tom Yum soup which I usually love for its fresh flavors. This one is actually made with coconut milk (so really it should really be called Tom Kha because of the coconut milk but they also had a Tom Kha soup on the menu that really sounded like Tom Yum...are you following me?) so I didn't love it but I did enjoy the large juicy blue-Prawns in the soup. The soup also had cherry tomatoes and enoki mushrooms. I thought the tomatoes in this Thai soup were strange and did not fit with the other flavors so much. For my entree I ordered the Basil Dish with Beef (beef stir-fried with basil, spinach, bell pepper, and toasted chili paste.) The dish was tasty and semi-spicy but I could hardly taste the basil because it was overwhelmed by the spinach. I also like my Thai food really spicy and none of these dishes were spicy enough. The rice was served in a cool pyramid shape with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds on the top, in a separate plate. The rice was delicious and all the food looked wonderful - good presentation.
I decided to rate the Thai Restaurants I review with baht (Thai currency) instead of stars. I need to figure out how to find the symbol for baht for my blog. :P
Thai Bistro Sura in Lakeview: 2 out of 4 baht
Mai Thai in Milwaukee: 3.5 out of 4 baht
Ruby of Siam in Evanston: 3 out of 4 baht
Siam Pasta in Evanston: 2 out of 4 baht
Sawadee ka!
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