Anna's Asian Bistro

We went to dinner at Anna's Asian Bistro in the West Loop of Chicago.  We found out about it from Chicago's Best.  Otherwise we probably would have walked right by it because it doesn't stand out too much from the street; and it is on Lake street so the facade kind of gets covered up by the El trains.

Stuffed Fried Avocado

When the title says Asian they are correct - the menu is huge and covers pretty much all Asian fare: including Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and even Filipino.

We went there specifically to try the Stuffed Fried Avocado - avocado stuffed with spicy tuna and tempura fried.  This was the item featured on Chicago's Best.  It was really good and we could have easily had more of it. It was warm and spicy and crunch all at the same time. Kind of like having sushi, except with avocado instead (which we love).

Lumpia

Since we saw some Filipino items on the menu we couldn't resist because we don't find them that often.  We had lumpia which are small egg rolls/spring rolls with chicken and vegetables. They were nice and crunchy but pretty standard Filipino fare.

For an entree we had Panang Curry - chicken with green peppers and basil in a peanut coconut curry sauce. The sauce was great.  The only disappointment is that there wasn't quite enough rice for all the sauce - but that seems to be the case with all curry dishes at any restaurant - there is only a small scoop of rice included with the entree.

Pancit Noodles

Unagi roll

Filipino Pancit noodles - we had to try another Filipino dish.  Pancit is thin noodles and in this case it was served with eggs, vegetables and shrimp.  Nick thought it wasn't quite up to the ultimate Filipino standard (something about how the noodles stuck together), but Natalie enjoyed it.

Panang Curry

We also had a black maki roll with unagi.  Don't know what the "black" in the title meant but Natalie loves unagi (eel).  Nick thought it was pretty standard/nothing special.  We've had better sushi elsewhere.

Final thoughts on Anna's Asian Bistro:
Food - the avocado and tuna was amazing.  The entrees were good. The other appetizers were just okay.  What was interesting was having the variety of Asian options in one restaurant. But since they were trying to do every type of cuisine they weren't outstanding in one category.
Service - pretty good but there weren't that many people on a Tuesday night when we went
Atmosphere - it is easy to miss it from the outside, kind of non-descript, but looks nice inside

Siam Marina

Chicken Satay

We went to dinner at Siam Marina in Calumet City.  It is halfway between where both of us work so it was a good place to meet.  We have seen it featured both on Check Please and Chicago's Best.  Also Natalie had been there for lunch a couple of years ago. Right now the restaurant is located in Calumet City by the River Oaks Mall but will be closing this location at the end of February 2013 and moving to Tinley Park in the future.  Another interesting fact is that the owner formerly worked at Arun's Thai - the super fancy Thai restaurant we went to last summer and loved.

Tom kha kai shrimp soup

We purposefully ordered a lot of food knowing we would take a lot home and knowing how much we had loved the food at Aruns.

Chicken Satay - chicken marinated in coconut milk and curry, served with peanut sauce and cucumber salad.  This is one of Nick's favorites -  nice large strips of chicken draped in warm sweet peanut sauce.  The sauce was a little creamier than peanut butter but not as sweet.

Tom kha kai shrimp soup - spicy savory broth of coconut milk, galanga, lemongrass, bell peppers and mushrooms. One of Nick's sisters' favorite dishes from when she was in Thailand so she told Nick to order it whenever he found it on a menu. This was a very large portion, much bigger than we thought.  The coconut and lemongrass was great, sweet and tangy.

Ceramic duck for duck curry

Thai banana curry duck - red curry duck thickened in coconut milk, tomatoes, Thai greenery and basil.  We heard about this dish from the bit on Check Please and it looked fun. The presentation is amazing - it is served at the table in a ceramic duck.  The curry was a bit spicier than we anticipated but this was cut by the sweet components and the slices of banana.  

Thai banana curry duck

Chicken pad thai - stir fried rice noodles with bean sprouts, scrambled eggs, cabbage, and peanuts in a light sweet and sour tamarind sauce.  We had to try the Thai food main stay.  It was presented almost like a cobb salad would be with all the components in their own little sections. It was our least favorite dish of the night - but that was only because everything else was so exceptional.

Mussaman curry with beef, potatoes, red onions, pineapple and roasted nuts.  This was Natalie's favorite - not too much spice and all of the flavors worked very nicely together.

Now this was a lot of food we ordered.  We hadn't had Thai food in a while and wanted to sample a bunch of different things.  Don't worry we took a lot home to be consumed over several more meals


Mussaman Curry with beef

Final thoughts on Siam Marina:
Food - great Thai food. We ordered the Tom kha kai soup because it is not found on all Thai restaurant menus.  We are sad that we it won't be at this location very much longer because we would totally go back to meet after work again.

Chicken Pad Thai

Service - well we both met each other here right after work so the dinner rush really hadn't started yet.  They were friendly and the food came out very quickly.

Atmosphere - definitely a bit more refined than a neighborhood Thai restaurant.  Nice decore and tablecloths on all of the tables.

Arun's

We went to dinner at Arun's Thai in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. We had heard about it from it having been nominated for James Beard Awards in the past. Arun's serves a 12 course prix fix menu.  Before we started the meal the waiter asked if we had any allergies and how much spiciness we wanted.

Course 1 - salad wrap

The 12 courses consisted of 6 appetizers, 4 entrees served all at the same time (sort of family style) and 2 desserts.  We don't know the Thai names for all of this because there were no printed menus.  So we will do our best with the descriptions.  Since there are so many courses we won't elaborate too much on any one course - just our brief thoughts.

Appetizers - we each got one of our own served in front of us

close up on the neat butterfly carrot

1. Salad wrap of sorts - filled inside with ginger, toasted coconut, peanut and tamarind sauce.  It was refreshing and crunchy.  We've never had anything like this at a Thai restaurant before.  It was more refined and elegant than a traditional lettuce wrap.

Course 2 - crab filled ravioli with salad

2. Dungeness crab filled golden fried ravioli with salad.  The presentation was beautiful - the carrot in the salad was cut into the wonderful shape of a butterfly.  The crust on the ravioli was warm and flaky.  The dressing on the salad was good and had a little bit of a kick to it.

Course 3 - rice dumpling with chicken and shrimp

3. Rice dumpling filled with chicken, shrimp, sweet turnip and jicama, served over a tomato sauce.  The sauce was sort of like a sweet chili sauce but tomato based.  The dumpling was very pillowy, but Nick thought the dumpling was a little too gooey.

Course 4 - prawn, noodles and veggies

Course 5 - beef sirloin over salad

4. Lots going on in this dish - there was a Prawn wrapped in noodles (instead of a heavy breading), coconut vermicelli noodles, tofu on top of an omelet, chives, lemon, red pepers and cucumbers.  The entire dish very colorful.  We were told to mix everything together to eat it.  It all tasted good on its own and together.

5. Beef sirloin over salad. Beautiful knife work with the carrot and cucumber.  The dressing had a kick to it.  Only minor point was that we had salad in the 2nd course, did we need it again?


Course 6 - Green curry with chicken and egg

6. Green curry with bamboo shoots, chicken, boiled egg, Thai eggplant, mint leaves and hot peppers, served over thai rice noodles.  The curry was spicy and even hotter overall if you ate it with the hot peppers.  Natalie didn't eat any of the hot peppers and Nick ate one. It was a good curry combination.

#1 and #3 were smaller, but overall these dishes were bigger portions than we would have figured for a 12 course meal.

Entrees 7-10, served family style all together, (although #8 was served separately for us because we had indicated different spice tolerances at the beginning of the meal.  Nick had a spicier dish presented to him.)

Course 7 (Entree) - Massaman Curry with beef tenderloin

7.  Massaman curry with beef tenderloin, squash, carrots and thai basil.  The meat was super tender it fell apart easily.  We learned that it is cooked for a full day.

8. Basil chicken stirfry with veggies and chiles.  Reminded us of a filling used for traditional lettuce wraps. Natalie was happy to get the less spicy version.

Course 8 (Entree) - Basil chicken stir fry 

9. Pan seared scallops with asparagus, brussel sprouts and stir fry vegetables in a lobster sauce. The  scallops were peppered and the asparagus was presented as a lattice structure to the whole dish.  Once again a beautiful presentaion and the scallops were delicious.

Course 9 (Entree) - Scallops and vegetables

10. Red Snapper with sweet, sour and spicy 3 flavor sauce over eggplant with a celery heart stalk.  We didn't enjoy this as much as the beef and the scallops.  But to be fair, by this point in the meal, even Nick was getting really full.  We took the rest of the snapper home and he was able to enjoy the snapper better the next day.

Desserts 11-12

11. Sticky rice in a crepe with mango slices, mango sauce, whip cream and mint leaves. The sauce made it slippery to cut into the mango slices themselves.  Very light and tasty, especially since we really like mangoes.

Course 10 (Entree) - Red Snapper

12. Lychee sorbet in a sesame seed shell and ginger baked pear.  The sauce on the pear was really good.

The desserts weren't overly complicated but that is not necessary for such a large meal.  It was a good clean way to finish off the 12 course meal.

We don't think we've ever had a 12 course meal before so that was fun.  We were definitely full by the end and had to take some of the entree portion home.

     

Course 11 - sticky rice filed crepe, mango and mango sauce

Course 12 - lychee sorbet and ginger baked pear

Final thoughts on Aruns: Food - Superb, like nothing we've ever had before, but beware it is pricey.  We're not sure how often the menu is changed around, so you could end up having a very different experience based on the courses.
Service - very personalized and amazing service.  We were presented with new utensils and plates for every course.  They were very attentive to details.  A couple seated next to us didn't really enjoy the green curry dish so they really didn't eat much of it.  The waiter felt bad and had another appetizer made for them.

Atmosphere - small, there were only 4 tables being served while we were there; because it was a weekday probably. Because of all of the courses we were there for 2 hours. For being such a fancy restaurant it is in a bit of a strange neighborhood.  It's not a bad neighborhood, just an unexpected place to find this level of fine dining.







Course 11 (Entree) - Scallops and vegetables