Stingray Curry@Sticky Rice(chi)

There's a Thai restaurant in Chicago called Sticky Rice located on the corner of Irving Park Road and Western Ave.  Get off the Brownline on Irving Park Road and take the bus West for about half a mile or take the Western Brownline and take the bus south for half a mile.  Funny as it may sound the name of the place caught my attention as I drove by, I found it kinda hilarious they named it Sticky Rice, but there's nothing funny about the menu.  It's a small establishment but it has a big  and serious menu for those who love to explore new foods. There's so many to offer I had to narrow it down to three dishes that originated from northern Thailand.  



bamboo worms

Feeling like a kid in a candy store, I started out with the deep fried bamboo worms as my appetizer.  It was accompanied with shreds of carrots and variety of green herbs. At first I was reluctant to order it but the presentation made it more appealing.  Easily can be picked up with a chopsticks I anxiously dug in.  Deep frying gave these tinted brown capsule size delicacy a very crunchy texture, inside was hollow so your left with the outer layer which was nutty in flavor and high in protein.

My next victim was ant larvae omelet presented with again shredded stringly carrots and herbs for garnishing. The omelet itself consist of ant larvae, green onions, tomatoes, parsley and other ingredients I couldn't point out.  As I took my first bite I wasn't shocked at all about the texture because i had eaten ant eggs before.  The egg itself will burst into your mouth with each bite leaving a creamy texture.  Occasionally you'll find baby ants already developed and if you're lucky like me you'll get a queen bee.  The flavor itself taste like how an omelet should taste, it was more of a texture thing but it was delicious.

sting ray curry

For the main event, the sting ray curry which I was lucky because they had it for a special that day, only $12.95 for a whole sting ray, cooked in curry with bell Peppers, broccoli and carrots.  It's kinda of scary looking if you ask me, but nonetheless I dove in.  It taste and  felt like eating  blue crab with a sweet rich flavor to it, the skeletal support is made of cartilage with flesh on both side of the fish. Very flaky in texture which goes very well with the spicy masaman coconut curry.  

I did finish every bite of every dish I ordered, my favorite dish surprisingly was the ant larvae omelet, I didn't like the bamboo worms too much but was a good experience to try and if you love blue crabs you'll like the sting ray curry.

      http://chicago.menupages.com/restaurants/sticky-rice/