While it’s true that local diplomats spend a lot of time dining at official functions or eating the food cooked by their personal chefs, another part of their job–community outreach–requires them to get to know the local ethnic restaurant scene too.
This makes them wonderfully suited to pass on restaurant advice to curious reporters. Except for one little snag: singling out one restaurant for praise is a decidedly undiplomatic thing to do.
There’s a reason these folks are called diplomats.
“When our diplomats are stationed in another country, they try to enjoy the local culture,” explained Olivia Moore, a representative of the British Consulate in Chicago.
“But don’t they ever go out for high tea? Some scones?” I asked.
“The best scones,” she said, correcting my pronunciation (rhymes with “Fonz”) “are made at home.”
Other diplomats expressed similar hesitation. Still, after using a little diplomacy and charm of our own, we persuaded select foreign service representatives to open up and chow down with us. All we asked is that the restaurant be authentic and that they order what they would normally order for themselves. Here are the choices of diplomats representing Thailand, Taiwan and Turkey. We will visit with others in future Friday sections.
Thailand
When we first reached Deputy Thai Consul General Khantong Unakul, she initially demurred, saying, “There are more than 200 Thai restaurants in the Chicago area. How, as a diplomat, can I choose one?”
I assured her that we would not characterize the place as the best, but simply a place where you could get authentic food. We had to decline her first suggestion of the award-winning Arun, because it was so familiar to our readers already. So we were delighted when Unakul looked beyond the city and chose a place in Wheaton called Pad Thai Etc.
“The restaurant serves authentic food from the northeast region of Thailand called Isaan,” she told us.
Opened about a year ago, Pad Thai Etc. (563 W. Liberty Drive, Wheaton; 630-653-5337) is tucked in an unassuming strip mall near the train tracks. In a lovely dining room decorated with bamboo, teak, soft track lighting and elegant pale green banquettes, Chounphit Hatsady whips up Isaan specialties.
Things we learned: Although many Thai restaurants have given in, chopsticks are not used by Thai people. The proper way to eat Thai food, Unakul demonstrated, is to use the back of your fork to push your food onto a tablespoon.
Most Thai restaurants in Chicago feature the food of central Thailand–curries, seafood, jasmine rice and tom yum soup.
Unakul’s other Thai faves in the Chicago are Taste of Siam (312-939-1179), Manee Thai (773-725-0911), Star of Siam (312-670-0100) and My Thai (312-345-1234).
The diplomat’s picks: While Pad Thai Etc. features many central Thai dishes on its menu, Unakul chose to focus her ordering on the sticky rice, hot chilies and sour tamarind flavors of the northeast region of Isaan. Some of these dishes are not on the menu, but customers can either call in advance or ask their server what Isaan specialties are available. Here’s the menu lineup:
Tiger cry: grilled tenderloin of beef with an incendiary side sauce of lime, roasted rice, fish sauce and dried chiles. Fabulous. Just don’t let the sauce touch your lips as I did.
“Are you crying now?” asked Unakul as I applied rice to my mouth.
Chicken laab: cold, ground bits of chicken in a sour, spicy chili and roasted rice sauce with flecks of cilantro.
Som tom: a cold, green spicy papaya salad with chilled tail-on shrimp that is an Isaan specialty.
Pad Thai: “I like this because they use special noodles that have just the right amount of texture and resistance,” Unakul noted.
Tom yum koong: tart, hot lemongrass spiked soup with shrimp.
Isaan-style sticky rice: wonderfully chewy long grain rice served in an adorable cloth and bamboo basket, which is the national symbol of the entire region.
Kai yang: grilled chicken breast marinated in coconut milk and spices.
Thai Hom Mali: a famous, ultra-fragrant and nutty bright white jasmine rice that is the pride of Thailand and comes from the central delta region. “We got the 2004 rice in early and here is a preview,” said Hatsady. I didn’t even know there were rice vintages.
Dessert: a coconuty Thai custard and a pillow of sticky rice steeped in sweet coconut milk and topped with fresh mango chunks. Rose petals were strewn about the plate. “Usually we would use very ripe mango, but they are not in season right now,” Hatsady said.
What to order next time: round, garlicky Isaan sausages that you can order in advance.
Taiwan
When we called upon Ben Shao and Benjamin T. Chi of the Information Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago to choose their restaurant, they also suggested that we head west. The trip was just as rewarding. This time the destination was Old Peking Restaurant (1563 S. Naper Rd., Naperville; 630-420-1388), where owner Debbie Wu has been serving authentic Mandarin, Szechuan and Taiwanese specialties for 20 years to loyal customers, including Nobel Prize winners and a prominent local TV personality who was just finishing up as we arrived. The dining room is simple with Chinese art on the walls, a large fish tank and big windows that overlook a parking lot.
Things we learned: While Shao’s main concern at a restaurant is the food, Chi puts a high premium on atmosphere.
For Taiwanese food, the two Bens also really like Mei Shung (773-728-5778). Their favorite dishes there are beef noodle soup (niu zo mien). They also like Szechuan Restaurant (312-642-3900), Lao Sze Chuan (312-326-5040) and Phoenix in Chinatown (312-328-0848).
The diplomats’ picks: In ordering, the gentlemen chose what they consider to be Peking’s best dishes but also foods that reflect the emphasis on seafood, pork, basil and sweetness in Taiwanese cuisine, including classic pot stickers and salt and pepper squid with a Taiwanese touch of a little sugar. Here’s the menu lineup:
Vegetarian chicken: cold, sweet, meaty pieces of rolled tofu sheets stuffed with black mushrooms.
Beef and scallion pancake roll: like the traditional scallion pancake but with a layer of roast beef tucked in. The whole thing is rolled up like a skinny burrito and then sliced. “My chef saw it in Toronto recently and decided to try it,” Wu said.
Pot stickers crunchy: potstickers called gwar tieh with their crunchy, thick noodly skin and porky gingery insides.
Shredded pig ear: spicy chewy strips of pig ears that the Bens told me are popular among the Hakka in Canton, where my ancestors are from. “Maybe you are really a Hakka,” they joked.
Hakka fast fry: a dish that reflects the cuisine of Taiwan’s minority Hakka population–tender beef, strips of dried tofu and grassy cilantro stems.
Pork and bamboo shoots: spicy bamboo shoots and shredded pork–a signature ingredient of Taiwanese cooking, Shao and Chi noted.
Salt and pepper squid: a deep-fried squid dish with large chunks of tender squid in a slightly sweet Taiwanese style sauce.
Taiwanese-style scallops: fabulous scallops that get their Taiwanese pedigree from the addition of a licorice-y shower of basil and a bath in a sweet spicy sauce that caramelizes beautifully around them.
Taiwanese style rice noodles with seafood: thin rice noodles with scallops, shrimp, imitation crab cilantro and carrot. “We have the noodles at the end of dinner so that our guests never walk away from the table hungry,” Chi said. “But in Taiwan we have noodles anytime, even right before we go to bed. We say that we can go on a diet tomorrow.”
Seafood sizzling rice soup: a clear broth with an array of seafood, white pepper and crispy crackling rice.
What to try next time: When I go to their other pick Mei Shung, I want to try the famous order-ahead stew (made with squid, green onion, meat, taro, tofu and more) called fo tiao chang, which translates as “Buddah would jump over the world for it.”
Turkey
In the last few years, Chicago’s pool of Turkish restaurants has blossomed–even if several notables have gone. So when we called up Consul General Naci Koru, we were super interested to hear which he might choose. Of course, the Consul General was quick to point out that our city has several fine restaurants and he can’t choose favorites. Still, we discovered that he would not mind lunching with us at A La Turka restaurant (3134 N. Lincoln Ave.; 773-935-6101), where we were also joined by Mehmet Celebi, president of the Turkish American Cultural Alliance of Chicago. At this Lakeview eatery, husband and wife team Coskun (“Josh”) and Rosaria Eskeranli serve up traditional Turkish specialties in a warm atmosphere full of Turkish carpets art and artifacts. The couple bought the restaurant from the previous owner in 2001, modified the menu and added waterpipes with scented tobacco to the offerings.
Things we learned: There are 10,000 to 15,000 Turks in the Chicago area. Like many North American guys who man the Weber every summer, the Consul General’s cooking specialty is grilling, in his case kofta kebab.
When the Eskeranlis bought the restaurant in 2001, they tried to do away with the belly dancers. But soon they learned that there was an episode of WTTW-Ch. 11’s “Wild Chicago” that featured the restaurant complete with belly dancers.
Every time the episode is replayed, people come in looking for the belly dancers “and they love them,” Eskeranli said. “So now we have them four times a week.”
The diplomat’s picks: In choosing our menu, Koru selected dishes that he believed the restaurant did well and reflected the range of Turkish cuisine from grilled meats and lentil soup to eggplant dips and tiny dumplings called manti. Here’s the menu lineup:
Mercimek corbasi: a red lentil soup with a cayenne bite and lemon on the side. It is a soup that starts nearly every Turkish meal.
Cacik: a minty, garlicky cucumber and yogurt dip, here is served much more like a cold cucumber soup.
Patlican ezme: a creamy grilled and ground eggplant dip. “This is just one of over 120 eggplant dishes in Turkish cuisine,” Celebi said.
Shepherd’s salad: a refreshing chopped salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, green pepper, herbs, olive oil and vinegar and feta. “It’s like our national salad,” said Eskeranli.
Pide and pita: warm focaccia-like, sesame seed-flecked pide and pita bread. “Pide is mostly a bread you see served during Ramazan in Turkey,” said Koru, who had recently observed the Ramazan (or Ramadan) fast.
Manti: tiny tortellini-like ground beef dumplings topped with a garlic yogurt, hot butter and tomato sauce.
Lavash kebab: a spiced ground beef kebab wrapped like a burrito in thin lavash bread with tomato sauce and yogurt on the side.
Iskander kabab: slices of doner–grilled gyros-like beef and lamb–layered over pita and then topped with tomato sauce and yogurt . “This is one of my favorite dishes to get in Turkey,” explained Celebi, who regularly visits friends in Istanbul.
Mixed grill plate: Kofta kebabs, chicken kebab, lamb kebab and doner with rice and pine nuts. Eskeranalis says this is the house specialty and it was the Consul General’s entree. “This is really very good, you must try the lamb,” Koru said, placing a large piece of the tender grilled meat on my plate.
Kazandibi: a rich, silky rice pudding-like custard. “This is like our Turkish flan,” Celebi said. “It means the bottom of the pot because of the burned sugar on the bottom.” It was served with warm heavenly baklava baked on the premises.
Black and apple tea: Black tea was a nice balance to the sweet desserts, but we have to admit a fondness for the hot apple cider-like tea, that sadly is actually made with a powder. “I am not sure when apple tea came to Turkey, but the tourists love it,” said Celebi.
Ayran: a salty refreshing yogurt drink that tastes a like buttermilk and is the national drink.
What to order next time: sheep innard soup called iskembe corbasi that is supposed to serve as a hangover prophylactic before you go to bed. A La Turka only makes special orders for large parties. The Consul General says it is not one of his favorites.
