Everyone’s happy when the chance to eat pad thai arrives close to home. The West Lakeview folks around Irving Park Road must be especially delighted at the opportunity to eat the famous Thai noodle dish, because Always Thai, a new restaurant here, is always packed.
You can see the appeal. The dining room is comfortable to sit in and nicely decorated. White and pale green tablecloths give a cool air to the dozen tables in a space that seats about 40. Plants and folk-art woodcuts enliven the empty spaces, but nothing is prettier than the wall-length mural of a floating market. The vibrant color renditions of produce vendors in their long, narrow boats brighten the whole room.
It’s the food that needs a little sparkle. Not that the ingredients aren’t fresh; most dishes we tried had a clean, crisp flavor. The problem is that many were very bland.
The menu’s assortment of curries, noodles, soups and Thai salads is typical fare, with a few exceptions. The kitchen definitely knows how to appeal to mainstream tastes, but it would be nice to see more complex flavors in the dishes, more herbs, more liveliness altogether.
Get the meal going with the wonderful moo ping appetizer ($5.25) instead of the traditional satay skewers. Moo ping is skewers of tender marinated pork, brushed with a sweet-spicy sauce and grilled into a heavenly combination of crisp and moist meat. We’ve tried it three times and it has been good on every visit.
Also nice are the chive dumplings ($3.75). The little sticky cakes are filled with sauteed chopped garlic chives, nicely glossy and bright green. Topped with fried garlic and served with a spiced soy dipping sauce, the dumplings make a filling and interesting start to the meal.
But soups can be a letdown, if that’s the next course. Both versions we tried, tom yum (hot and sour lemongrass soup with chicken, $2.50) and tom kar (coconut milk soup, $2.50), lacked any distinguishing flavor except sourness.
The same problem comes up with the larb chicken ($5.50), a salad of ground chicken spiced with peppers, onions, herbs and a lime-and-fish-sauce dressing. All we tasted was lime.
The pad thai ($5.25 with meat or tofu; add $1 for shrimp) is certainly a reliable rendition, and everyone at the table enjoyed the slippery noodles with tamarind, peanuts and crunchy bean sprouts.
But two entrees, the beef in green curry sauce ($5.75) and shrimp with chili peppers ($6.95), again faded away in the mouth for a lack of balanced sweet, hot, sour and salty seasonings.
A final dish, the ho-moke salmon ($6.50), is another traditional dish of steamed salmon with red curry and coconut milk; it was bland as custard.
Speaking of which, one of two dessert menu items is a custard made from taro root ($1.50); the other is lychee or rambutan fruit in syrup ($1.75). Drinks are Thai coffee or iced tea ($1.75), juices ($1.95) and soft drinks (95 cents each). The restaurant does not have a liquor license but diners can bring their own alcoholic beverages.
The service at Always Thai is extremely pleasant and efficient, and the restaurant makes a nice place to stop after work or on the weekend.
The kitchen just needs to trust the diners a little more and turn up the flavors. We can take it.
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Always Thai
(2 forks)
825 W. Irving Park Rd.
773-929-0100
Hours: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; until 10 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Closed Sunday.
Credit cards: A, D, M, V ($10 minimum order)
Noise rating: Conversation-friendly
Ratings key:
4 forks: Don’t miss it
3 forks: One of the best
2 forks: Very good
1 fork: Good
Reviews are based on anonymous visits by Tribune staff members. The meals are paid for by the Tribune.
