Tub Tim Thai Satisfies the Adventurous Diner

Yes, you could order pad thai and curry at , but you’d be doing yourself a disservice. The restaurant rewards the adventurous with excellent takes on authentic Thai dishes that you’re not likely to find anywhere else in the area.

Since opening in 2005, this Skokie spot has built up an impressive resume. Tub Tim Thai received three forks in a Chicago Tribune review and was recommended by the 2011 Michelin Guide.

The atmosphere inside 4927 Oakton St. is mellow and casual. When my boyfriend and I visited Saturday night, the restaurant was decked out for Valentine’s Day. There were candles with floral decorations on every table and pink satin wall hangings ornamented by dangling silver hearts. A golden Thai tapestry and landscape photographs, which are for sale, are also part of the decor.

At 7 p.m., couples and small groups nearly packed the place as they sat around the dark wood tables and cushioned half booths. There seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm about the food, with people at two other tables taking pictures of the beautifully presented dishes.

Tub Tim Thai serves wine and Thai beer, but diners are welcome to bring their own bottle for a $3 a person corkage fee. We brought in a bottle of Kaleidoscope, a $10 Californian white table wine that goes particularly well with spicy dishes, as we planned on ordering our food hot. A server quickly took our bottle and brought it out in a chiller with a pair of glasses. The cork had been removed and then stuck back in the lip of the bottle--a nice touch that gave us the satisfaction of opening the bottle without the hassle.

Our server didn’t speak much English, but she understood enough to make recommendations. She suggested we start with the satay ($7), which I originally dismissed because I wanted to try the meang kum ($6). Tub Tim Thai’s specialty appetizer features roasted coconut, sun-dried shrimp, diced ginger, shallots, lime and pepper served on top of Chapoo leaves.

Unfortunately the restaurant was out. The table next to us had gotten the last order and I could only look at it with a bit of envy and ask for the satay after all. I was skeptical as I’ve been disappointed by the dish many times before, finding that many restaurants' satay features bland chicken with even more flavorless peanut sauce. But Tub Tim Thai’s version was the best I’ve had.

The dish included five small skewers of thin, tender chicken that had a strong char flavor from the grill, which meshed perfectly with the mild but rich peanut sauce. It’s served with small pieces of soft, buttery garlic bread and a bowl of cucumber salad that made for a light palette cleanser.

For entrees, we again took our server’s advice and tried the pad prik ($9) and pad kee maw ($9), both ordered very spicy. The pad prik featured juicy pork with a solid after-burn, served with thick slices of jalapeno and steamed broccoli and carrots. The dish was good, but got blown out of the water by the truly excellent pad kee maw. The stir-fried thick rice noodles soaked up the spice, making the dish even hotter, but pleasantly so. The noodles were layered with a generous portion of tender sliced steak, jalapeno slices and basil. The crunchy Chinese broccoli and sweet sautéed onions added to the wonderful blend of flavors and textures.

A different server came over to ask for our dessert orders. After going over the menu with us, he said we should definitely try the sweet rice banana ($2.50). When he brought it out, he apologized that the kitchen had been running slow, but the dish was worth any wait. A slice of banana is covered in sticky rice and then cooked in a banana leaf. Just peeling back the leaf released a beautiful aroma and the taste was fantastic, sweet but not overwhelmingly so and like nothing I’ve had before. It was the perfect end to the night out at a restaurant where I plan to become a regular.