Fourth Street queen

After following a curry craving into Siam House, its Thai food earned a top spot in the mind and stomach of senior Alex Gerlach. Gerlach said Siam House was the first restaurant on Fourth Street he ever tried, and he has been back nearly 20 times since then.

“I don’t eat that much, but my plate’s pretty clear after a meal at Siam,” he said.

The authentic Thai restaurant has been wafting aromas of Asian spices down Fourth Street for almost 19 years. Wim Pok, a native of Thailand, heard about Bloomington’s open market for ethnic food from a friend. She opened Siam House in February 1990, and it became not only the first authentic Thai restaurant in Bloomington, but also the first in the state of Indiana.

Ben Graves, senior waiter and IU alumnus, said all Siam House’s recipes are true to Thailand because they are Pok’s originals. He said the menu contains about 100 dishes, and the owner and cook have even more personal recipes.

“Wim Pok would just be back there (in the kitchen), whipping stuff up for herself that’s nowhere on the menu.”

Alex Antilla, another senior waiter and a family friend of Pok’s, said small things are what make Siam House stand out. The attention to detail that goes into each dish was spawned from food markets of Thailand, where little differences are pivotal in telling one vendor’s food from another’s.

“So at Siam House we have a little Thai lady in the kitchen who spends hours carving roses out of carrots,” he said.

Whether students visit Siam House for the rose-shaped carrots or the Mus-sa-mon curry, Graves and Antilla said the restaurant has a loyal customer base. Antilla said when some customers come in, he hands them a menu and they hand it right back because they are so familiar with the dishes.

Graves said pad Thai is Siam House’s most popular dish, but he wishes people would “mix it up.” He said curry and stir-fry are two other popular dishes, but there are many entrees buried in those two categories that people don’t think to order.

In Thailand, fried rice is the most popular dish, but the country has a culture where families share different dishes, Graves said. If customers come with a group, they should get food from every category.

The menu includes appetizers, barbecue, seafood, vegetarian items and a variety of fried rice, curry, stir-fried and pan-fried noodles. Graves suggests trying the pad Emperors, a combination dish with chicken, beef, seafood and vegetables.

Some students stray from the basic pad Thai. Gerlach’s favorite is a rice-and-curry dish named gang garee. It has yellow curry and coconut milk, and he always adds beef.
“It has some kind of potato and maybe onion in it too, and it’s one of the less expensive items on the menu,” he said.

Although menu prices are a bit higher than most restaurants that appeal to students, Siam House is packed on the weekends. Filling the cozy restaurant are students, their parents, Bloomington residents and people who have been coming since the restaurant opened.

Antilla said he hears people say Siam House is better than any top-notch Thai restaurant in New York.

“We get customers who say, ‘We’re just in town to come eat.”