No. 1. Thai Eatery.

This place was recommended by some friends of mine. I checked out the reviews and all in all they were pretty favorable. Adventure No. 1 begins.

Restaurant: Thai Eatery, 2234 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL

Who I went with: My friend Bill

Cost: Cheap eating here. Entrees were $6-$7 dollars.

When you first arrive, the place is somewhat small. It has about 10-12 tables and really looks like a take out place but much cleaner. The positive side of it was that it's BYOB and there is a liquor store across the street. SCORE!!! This is off to a booming start. After getting a six pack of Bell's Stout, we order.

For apps, Bill ordered the chicken toast and I ordered a bowl of tom kha gai. The chicken toast is a take on a traditional Thai appetizer, pork toast. where you make a ball of the food, place it on a piece of bread and fry it. They served it with a cucumber salad in a sweet and sour sauce. Good, not great. To start, I love tom kha gai. The basics behind this is sweet Thai coconut milk with chicken and lemon grass, some mushrooms. The soup was excellent almost frothy.

For entrees, I ordered the pad kee mao with beef. It was really good. I enjoy the fat, flat noodle, the spicy basil, the Thai chilies, sauteed tomatoes and bell peppers and the slight soy sauce flavor. Yummy. It didn't disappoint. Bill order pad Thai, which was pretty basic but good. As a special request, I brought home something for Roy who couldn't make it. It wasn't on the menu but I explained it to the waitress and she had them make the steamed broccoli, satay style chicken with the peanut sauce. I love the fact they they were willing to make something off menu.

As for the real reason behind the blog, Bill and I had a great time. Catching up and chatting. That's what it is all about, good food, good conversation and some laughs.