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Isn't tom yam that hot and sour soup with shrimp, lime leaves and lemongrass, you might ask? Well, yeah, it is that too. Literally translated, "tom" means "to boil," and a "yam" is, essentially, a 'salad.' In Thailand, there is a very popular rice noodle dish called kũay tĩaw tom yam which--while differing greatly in its composite ingredients--has a hot and sour flavour profile that is similar to the shrimp, lime, and lemongrass soup with which you are likely familar. This dish is most often found in shops that specialize in noodles with pork, and it usu. includes a mixture of bean sprouts, minced pork, pork offal and herbs, in a hot, sweet and sour broth. The broth itself is assertively seasoned with dried chile, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar. At TAC, Andy puts a bit of a twist on the traditional formula, adding Chinese broccoli, a fried pork wonton, and slices of BBQ pork. [No pork offal is used, at all.]

As the dish is not found on either menu, you are actually free to choose whichever type of noodles you want, but s?n l?k noodles, the rice noodles generally used for ph?t thai, are most popular. [That is what is shown in the photo, above.] Other options include, s?n y?i noodles, the rice noodles generally used for r?at n?a, or no noodles whatsoever, should you prefer that. If he has them on hand, I am sure that he would also be willing to make it with b?-m?i, or thin egg vermicelli noodles, as I'd mentioned before.


Regards,
Erik M.

Dear god that looks appetizing! I see a trip to TAC in the next week.

BTW Erik, I made a fantastic beef curry using your powder with carrots potatoes and rice, it was the perfect thing for a couple cold days. Thanks again.

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I used to think the brain was the most important part of the body. Then I realized who was telling me that.

When the Condiment Queen and I traveled to Thailand many years ago, we noted very much that the dishes often had a ramped up sweetness component that is less seen in the USA. Boat noodles, for instance, would get a huge handful of sugar--after all you could see the "cook" make them. In addition to noodles and such having a sweet intensity, sweets themselves were everwhere. All sorts of stuff you rarely if ever see around here, like little crisp pancakes folded over something like marshmellow fluff, and soft custards with bits of fried garlic.

I think, to a certain extent, people just do not expect, here, for Thai food to be sweet or have too many sweets.

Rob

PIGMON and I had another great lunch at TAC Quick. I almost wish I had something bad to say about TAC, just to end the monotonous but well deserving threads of praise and accolades. But I don’t , so I’ll just append my love onto the chain.

We went to TAC yesterday, promising to order only things that we had never had before. Expecting to be nonplussed by at least one dish, I’m happy to report that we loved everything. Even PIGMON, who is a reluctant to eat Thai due to scars inflicted by years of eating at the wrong Thai restaurants, was in love with our lunch. We had our order written out in Thai (thanks Eric M!) which the waitress found hilarious. And maybe this was in my imagination and entirely unrelated to the fact that I had crib notes, but the food tasted better yesterday that it ever had there. This is what we had:

They were still out of the Hoy Tod, so we had the crispy calamari – I am a sucker for fried calamari of all kinds, and I couldn’t stop myself from ordering it –but I’m glad that I have no self-control because it was awesome. Big onion ring size squid bodies, coated with a spicy tempura like batter and deep fried to perfection. You could hear them being bitten into from across the room they were so crispy. The inside, however, was soft and sea-sweet, with just a little bit of chew. Great. Note: PIGMON thinks fried calamari is a lame thing to order at any restaurant. This has established somewhat of a rift in our relationship, but despite his aversion to fried squid, he loved this version, saying that if this was what calamari was all about he’d have to change his somewhat firm anti-squid stance.

Neua Naam Tok

As Erik pointed out, the difference between this and the laap/larp/laab is that the meat is grilled before going into the salad. As if the salad needed another flavor component, but the addition of “smoky” to the long list of intense flavors going on really works.

Kuay Tiaw Tom Yam (as seen above)
This was a ridiculously good soup. The broth, being a little on the sweet side, went so well with the slices of bbq’d pork. I had some rice noodles in mine, but if I went back I might order it noodleless. I thought ordering something that wasn't on either menu was going to pose some sort of issue--but our waitress took one look at it on my list and just smiled and nodded her head.

Phat phet plaa duk “phi itti” or Catfish stir-fried with green curry past, chile, Thai eggplant.
The only dish of the day that didn’t blow us away. It was still good, don’t get me wrong, but perhaps just not our favorite. If everything else we had today was an A, this was an A-. I found myself using some rice to soak up the green curry, while somewhat disregarding the chewy fried catfish.

trixie-pea

Where is TAC's? After seeing those pictures I'm starving!

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Theresa Carter, tlc@thelocaltourist.com
The Local Tourist: Online Guide to Downtown Chicago
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TAC Quick is at 3930 N Sheridan Rd.
(773) 327-5253