Sabai Dee: Chicago's Laotian Restaurant

As far as I know the only Laotian restaurant in Chicago is the recently opened Sabai-Dee on Broadway. I enjoy Thai food a bit more than Vietnamese and find Laotian food to be a good mix of the two for my tastes. It seems a bit more Thai-leaning and the fish sauces are pretty light. the upside is that they still integrate tons of fresh herbs and use rice in terrific ways.

There is a trick to Sabai Dee and here it is: Order off the menu and not the buffet. The menu items are terrific. The Laotian dishes are all there and not really on the buffet anyway. Kevin, the owner is really nice and will answer any questions you have. They serve good sticky rice and after eating dinner by hand at Ras Dashen I thought it was interesting to do the same thing with the beef salad the next day.

A good site that explains sticky rice is Blazing Hot Wok. Check it out.
The other dish was also good, a shredded chicken curry noodle soup. The previous trip allowed for a sampling of their homemade sausages which are rice based with pork, lemongrass, and many other herbs. Everything has been pretty tasty. The buffet was average but the reason to go is on the menu. It's a really welcome addition to the North side food community.

Sabai Dee
5359 N. Broadway
773-506-0880