Sweet Willie

excellent

u2fan

I am out of town now but plan on being back this afternoon: should see you there.

goodeats21

Looking forward to dinner tonight.

After dining on Thai the past 2 nights ("In On Thai" and "Rainbow Thai Cuisine"), I have to say that Chicago is spoiled with delicious, authentic Thai food.

Fingers crossed that tonight is another sterling example.

goodeats21

What a great night.

Fun to get together with the Chicago group and great to meet some new members as well. Flyertalkers have to be some of the friendliest and welcoming people around.

IMMM Rice and Beyond is a legit star in the Thai restaurant scene. Different setup from the other standouts. They are bringing the Thai street food experience and doing it very, very well. I will try to upload some photos later.

Cheers to all.

Sweet Willie

excellent!

Sorry I couldn't make it. Good news is I was able to salvage some great business, so working last night paid off.

Looking forward to seeing the photos

smitty06

I also had a great time last night. The food was delicious and the company was excellent

cranky1K

+1

goodeats21

OK, so had some time to upload the pics.

The unique part about IMMM is the "steam table" setup. This is really a Western interpretation of a standard Thai Roadside stall. Many dishes are made up and in big pots, ready to be placed into plastic bags for quick carry-out. They are everywhere in Thailand.

Random pic from web (I never thought to take my own picture of these places. They are literally everywhere.)
http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/q...ThaiFood_2.jpg

So IMMM will have a dozen or so Thai dishes made up and waiting for you upon arrival. Here is some of the selection on our night:





The staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. They took the time to explain the dishes and answer any questions. And the best part - we were able to sample many of the items while making our selections. Just something you cannot do when all the food is cooked to order. 3 of us hung out at the steam table to make the selections and samples were readily offered of anything we wanted to try.

Some great options here and we were easily able to select 6 or 7 dishes to share family style. Each of us were served our own plate of white rice and the dishes were piled on the table for us to attack.



The food was very good and spot on when compared to being in Thailand, including some rather unique-to-Thailand herbs and vegetables. It was incredibly reminiscent of many, many dinners in Thailand where we would hit a similar-style restaurant late at night and just devour the cheap, delicious dishes. Though in Thailand the portions are usually smaller, which allows for even more variety.

A pic of the table from a late-night "soak-up-the-booze" smorgasbord in Thailand.



Some other notes:

One of our group was vegetarian and they were very accommodating in that regard.

For those that prefer a more traditional setup, they do have a full menu of "cooked to order" dishes.

Chef/Owner was visible in dining area and visited the table. He is from Chaing Mai but also indicated he had cooks from the Southern Thailand area (near Krabi) and Central Thailand (Ubon Ratchathani maybe?), so they have dishes from all areas of Thailand.

We had one appetizer, 7 shared dishes, and one made-to-order vegetarian dish, which we also all shared, as well as a couple of Thai Iced Teas...which were reported very good as well. For the group of 6, bill came to $22 each, which included tip. Probably a bit more pricey then some of the other Thai places, but we had food left over and this was some very authentic stuff. To me, worth every penny.

Sweet Willie

wow that looks great, guess I'll just have to plan another dinner there.

Anything in particular that you really liked, besides everything

goodeats21

I thought the Kua Kling was very good. Very spicy ground meat (Dry Meat Cury). Strong flavors and great heat level.

The kaeng kee lek was also a standout for me. This one had pork added (Mhoo Yang). Very tasty. I haven't noticed this dish in the US before, so was great to have it.

Many different curry dishes on the steam table. We sampled a couple others and they were great.

Oh, who am I kidding. It was all awesome.

Of course, as the menu changes daily, it is the luck of the draw if any of these would be available on a particular visit. While they do have a standard menu, I think some of the steam table dishes require some significant time to make....sort of like a beef stew or a braise. So they might not be available in any rate either.

I would definitely be up for subsequent visits!

Sweet Willie

but can I wait until your next visit to Chicago????

Seeing as we both didn't make it, dr88 & I have discussed going to dinner in the near future so if anyone wants a repeat or to try this restaurant, let us know.

--

polkacat

Oooo yes please!!!

goodeats21

Maybe too cruel to make you wait until my next business trip...but if it happens to be plotted on a weekend, I might make the trip up just for fun.
50% chance, so don't schedule it just for that reason.

Based on projected workload, I will not be a stranger to Chicago this year, so plenty of chance for me to re-visit all these great Thai places.

tableplant518

Thanks for organizing. I thought this dinner was great