Tac Quick, take 2: "secret" menu edition

This should be considered an addendum to my previous Tac Quick post.  A few of my wine folks gathered to explore the menu & pair it against many older Rieslings.  This made for a great night.

The Food
From multiple sources, I have seen mention of Tac Quick’s “secret Thai menu,” but never took the opportunity to explore it (somehow, even when taking a date of Thai descent).  We changed that on this trip, ordering many items from the “secret” menu that is actually posted and available on the front page of Tac Quick’s website.  Our group ordered several dishes, feeding 5 of us family style.  Nothing disappointed.  Crispy fried pork was a highlight, and river snails (pictured) provided chewy enjoyment to those of us who enjoy eating odd things.  Duck with noodles (Kuay Teaw Pet) was also excellent.  Once all said & done, I owed only $20 after tax and hearty tip.  For my wine group, this low tariff is unheard of--another reason that I am thankful to have Tac Quick within walking distance.

The Wine
Thai food and Riesling is a no-brainer; it‘s like milk & cookies or cheese & crackers--they just work.  Find a Riesling with a hint of sweetness & a Thai dish with a little heat and the results will be good.  This night brought many older (10+ year old) bottles, most with significant residual sugar, and all were great with the food.  I prefer my Riesling a bit on the leaner (less sweet) side and found the Austrian bottlings a bit more enjoyable than the German offerings, but there were no losers on this night.  If I began to think a wine was too sweet, I need only to add a bit more sauce to the food & the extra sugar then made perfect sense (yes, wine can give us permission to play with our food). 
Ask your local wine salesman for a Riesling with a touch of residual sugar.  They will most likely point you to a German bottle with a lot of strange words on it, but just trust it--especially if it says Spatlese (slightly sweet) or Auslese (a bit more sweet).  In Chicagoland the best place to start is Wine Discount Center on Elston.  There's a good German selection, and over the past 6 months they have had a glut of outstanding Austrian Rieslings at closeout prices (Prager & Hirtzberger being two fantastic producers).  Fear not the $11 bottle that was once $45--it’s legitimate and will give a peek into serious Riesling at a price where many wines are seriously lackluster.

The Whole
Go to Tac Quick and take a Riesling.  I’ll throw a bone & say that a nice beer (Half Acre Gossamer, Anchor Liberty) would be good too, but I hope you experience the balance between Thai food & Riesling.  Tac Quick remains the best Asian cuisine I’ve had in Chicago and I hope you get a chance to explore the “secret” menu alongside a nicely chilled Riesling, as I believe that anyone who does this will have a great dining experience.

2000 Franz Hirtzberger Riesling Smaragd Hochrain - Austria, Niederösterreich, Wachau (2/26/2010)
Opened cold, drank over several hours while it warmed & opened.
Nose of soft white peach, apricot, white floral tones, a hint of tangerine, and just a little underlying peach pit & a mineral tone. Up front this brings great, pure white tropical fruits that juicily transition to a finish that fans out with medium acid, full fruit flavors, medium acid, and a thin bit of stoniness. (91 pts.)


Posted from CellarTracker