Indie Cafe
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It may be wrong to celebrate a restaurant’s closing, but when its replacement is as good as INDIE CAFE, there’s reason to rejoice. Indie just took over the tiny space previously occupied by Lily of Thai, a comfy but mediocre neighborhood Thai place. The new restaurant serves Thai food too, along with Japanese, but it’s way above average in terms of quality, presentation, and value. The Andaman Salad, for instance, a substantial melange of steamed shrimp, succulent scallops, and calamari tossed with red onion, shredded carrots, and a sauce made with lemongrass, lime, and hot peppers, perfectly balances sweet, salty, spicy, and crunchy. And it’s a bargain at $8. The richness of the red curry and the subtle sweetness of the coconut milk in the Indie Signature Curry are likewise exquisitely counterpoised–it’s tempting to slurp the leftover sauce straight from the bowl when you’re done with the tender chunks of beef and potato. The sushi, made by chef and owner Montra Kaenkumjorn, is delicious too. The Volcano Roll is nori rolled tight around thick slices of smoked salmon, yellowtail, crab, and octopus, with a luscious spicy mayo and speckles of bright red sriracha hot sauce on top. The individual nigiri, two to an order ($3-$6), are fresh, generous cuts of fish on delicately seasoned rice pillows. Everything is arranged beautifully: maki slices stand in a circle next to tiny mountains of ginger and wasabi and swirls of spicy mayo dotted with black sesame seeds; curries have sprigs of greens jutting out at acute angles and frilly herb garnishes. Ouddy Puncharean and Iggy Waranon (a co-owner) make the Thai food; Waranon learned from her mother in Bangkok. “My mom is very good cook,” she says. “Most of what she taught me is very authentic Thai. I try not to change very much to cook here, but Thai people like to eat very spicy food. Americans don’t like spicy food usually.” If you ask for your food Thai hot, she’ll accommodate you. Arun Sampanthavivat might want to take note of this place, as the food here comes closer to his exquisite cuisine than anything else in town, and at a fraction of the prices at Arun’s. “We want to make the restaurant where the neighbor can walk and eat out every day,” says Waranon. “If it’s too pricey the neighbor can’t come every day.” Indie Cafe is BYO; bring a crisp sparkling wine, Prosecco, champagne, cava, or a rounded acidic white from Alsace or Austria’s Wachau Valley.
Hot Spot, 2824 W. Armitage, 773-770-3838. Logan Square breakfast joint.
Usagi Ya, 1178 N. Milwaukee, 773-292-5885. East Ukrainian Village pan-Asian with two tearooms and a sushi bar.
