First Taste: Sticky Rice Chiang Mai
For years, Sticky Rice has reigned as one of the most popular Thai restaurants in Chicago. For its authenticity and regional focus on Northern Thai fare (occasionally horrifyingly authentic, as with foreign items like ant egg omelettes), the North Center restaurant has been a consistent player in Chicago's Thai gamut, even amongst newcomers such as Andy's Thai Kitchen and Rainbow Cuisine. So when Sticky Rice announced it was opening a spin-off location in Bucktown, the city eagerly awaited with baited breath. We can now all breathe a sigh of relief, with Sticky Rice Chiang Mai having been open for a few months now in a former Dunkin Donuts along Western Avenue. The results are an eclectic adventure that won't require a passport, but may require a few daring bites.
(Bamee noodles at Sticky Rice Chiang Mai)
The Food
As with the original Sticky Rice, the focus at Chiang Mai is Northern Thai cuisine. The restaurant is named after the largest city in Northern Thailand, after all, just to drive that point home. Being a colder, more mountainous region, Northern Thailand favors heartier fare with more rice-based dishes, sausages, stews, and the like. As biblical as the menu seems, it's actually a pared down version of some of the staples from the original location, so think about that as your overwhelmed mind spirals out of control. Start with Thai curry puffs, samosa-like dumplings stuffed with curried potatoes, onions, and carrots. Perfectly flaky and none too greasy, they're an apt precursor to a feast of pungent Northern Thai sausage made with ground pork, pork skin, and red curry paste; and Nam Tok, a stellar salad of char-broiled pork, mint, cilantro, onions, and roasted rice powder in zesty lime dressing. I could see myself doing a "salad cleanse" on just this dish alone. Actually, I would like that very much. One of the biggest surprises of the menu here is off the curry section, specifically the rote gang kare, a hollowed out gourd filled with chicken, kare curry paste, coconut milk, and onion, with a side of curried rice. Rich, aromatic, and creamy, the silken curry serves as a vivid blanket enrobing succulent strands of chicken. Conversely, the barbecue pork bamee rice noodles was a tad lackluster, per the dry pork and tangled, gnarly noodles.
The Service
Too often, service at ethnic restaurants gets stigmatized as distant, surly, and difficult. Here, that couldn't be further from the case. Service at Sticky Rice Chiang Mai is charming, friendly, and helpful, if a bit adorably aloof at times. For instance, the restaurant is BYOB so when we asked for a bottle opener for beers, she obligingly ran off to receive one before immediately forgetting and disappearing. But when a waitress is as lovely as she was, all is good. The staff is adept at making informed recommendations, suggesting amounts of food to order for various group sizes, and even chasing customers out of the restaurant to ensure they receive their 15% discount coupons. I'm pretty sure she would have leaped into traffic if that's what it took.
The Space
Unlike the original Sticky Rice, which is bright and vibrant like some sort of Thai comic book, Sticky Rice Chiang Mai feels like a rustic countryside lodge; a lodge that just so happens to abut a gas station. The exterior is somewhat tiki bar-esque, with lots of dark, imprecise wood paneling. Inside, tables are scattered about the ample space comfortably. It tends to fill up pretty quickly, but noise or crowds are not an issue. The slightly dark, cozy motif curates a leisurely, adventurous vibe that serves to transport guests out of Chicago and into a Northern Thai resort.
- Matt Kirouac