Thai Sookdee

Sometimes, I am scared to go to Thai restaurants because of the whole “I can’t eat peanuts” issue. However, I have never had a problem at the restaurant Thai Sookdee, and I think everyone needs to go eat there immediately. Although the service is occasionally slow, the waitresses are generally friendly. For an appetizer, I would strongly recommend any of the soups, but my personal favorite is the Tom Kha. Tom Kha is like Tom Yum soup, but instead of a clear broth, the broth is white and made from coconut milk. However, I have not been impressed with their other appetizers such as the Thai style potstickers. I found them to be over-fried, and generally not good. Their fruit smoothies (mango, pineapple, banana, strawberry, watermelon and leeche) are delicious, but I suggest splitting one among two or three people. Usually, I end up with a Thai iced coffee which is iced coffee and sweetened condensed milk. For my entrées, I tend to rotate between the yellow curry (slightly spicy), garlic chicken, ginger chicken, pad see eiw, pad woon sen, or BBQ pork bamee. For dessert, you need to order the rice and mango. It completes me. You may have noticed that I eat here a lot… I really don’t think you can go wrong at this place. I couldn’t say whether the food is authentic or not because I have never been to or lived in Thailand. Also, the customers are mostly Northwestern students, so this makes me think it might not be entirely traditional Thai food. Nonetheless, it’s good enough for me. The location is also perfect because it is about 1 block away from the Century Movie Theatre in Evanston. Warning – Do not go to Carmen’s Pizzeria next store. The pizza is disgusting and the service is horrible. Our waiter ignored us and read a book in the corner of the restaurant. I was considering doing an entire post about it, but I didn’t want to be a bigger jerk than I had to be. Sorry.
Thai Sookdee
1016 Church Street
Evanston, IL 60201-3623
(847) 866-8012

Periyali Greek Taverna

With school wrapping up, I haven’t had much time to try out new places. Although this might seem like tragic news for this blog, don’t worry. Instead of reviewing new places, I want to highlight some of my favorite restaurants that I have grown up with. Number 1 on the list is Periyali Greek Taverna in Glenview. It is always a good sign when you go to a Greek restaurant and a fair number of customers are actually Greek. One of the things I like about Periyali is that they aren’t trying to be modern or innovative with their food. They serve simple Greek classics. My absolute favorite appetizer is called melitzanosalta which is an intensely garlicky eggplant spread. I could consume their avgolemeno soup by the gallon, and who wouldn’t want a piece of flaming cheese or saganaki? When I go, I normally order the combination plate. It is basically Heaven. The combo plate includes gyros, mousaka, pastitsio, dolmades and potatoes. My other favorite entrée is kota spanaki. Kota spanaki is a grilled chicken breast stuffed with feta cheese and spinach, and it comes with potatoes and rice with a delicious tomato based sauce. The waiters are generally friendly and the restaurant has pretty murals of, you guessed it, Greece! If you don’t feel like going all the way to Greek Town, Glenview is your best bet. Opa! (sorry, I had to).

Periyali Greek Taverna
847-296-2232
9860 Milwuakee Avenue
Glenview, Illinois 60016