The Roomier Tuk Tuk Is Still the Same Kitchen. That's the Point.

My mother was born and raised in Bangkok but her family comes from Isan, the northeastern region of Thailand that shares its culinary DNA with Laos. She speaks Laotian. When we visited her family, this is the food they cooked for us. Sticky rice, grilled meats, fermented flavors, chiles, lime, fish sauce, toasted rice powder, papaya salads heavy with anchovy and funk. Not the Thai food most Chicagoans know from the menus of American-friendly restaurants. The real one.

Tuk Tuk is the real one, and the Wicker Park location brings the same kitchen sensibility to a larger and more composed space. Newer, roomier, easier to get into on a busy night than the original Lakeview location. The energy is a little more settled. The cooking is not.

The papaya salad is where to start because Isan is where papaya salad comes from, and Tuk Tuk's version uses anchovy and fish sauce without apology. The deep umami funk that fermentation brings to the dish is present and accounted for. The balance of sour, salty, spicy, and sweet is what it should be. Order sticky rice alongside it. Sop up the som tam juice with the rice as you eat. This is how it is meant to be eaten.

The Wicker Park menu runs a little broader than the original. There is a larger specialty seafood selection and more regional Thai range, including a khao soi that is done well. Khao soi is technically a northern Thai specialty from Chiang Mai rather than an Isan dish, but its presence here is welcome and the execution is honest. The menu does not get defensive about expanding its range when the kitchen can back it up.

The plaa rad prik is crispy, flaky, and has every flavor it is supposed to have. The curries are rich, full of complexity, spiced with intention rather than heat for its own sake. Tuk Tuk understands that balance is what makes Thai food work. For the classics alongside the regional specialties, the pad thai tastes like it came straight from a Bangkok street cart. The kra pow and moo krob are spicy, sweet, and full of basil with the right char underneath and are among my favorite versions in the city.

If the mangoes are in season, get the mango sticky rice. The rice is cooked correctly, the coconut milk is not too sweet, and the fried rice crunch on top puts this among the best versions in Chicago. If the mangoes are out, Allen orders the kanom tuay: a steamed coconut custard served warm, slightly sweet, coconutty, with a texture that earns its spot on the dessert list.

For anyone who wants the full Tuk Tuk experience with a little more room to breathe, this is the location. For the louder, scrappier version that feels most like eating in Thailand, go to Lakeview.