It turns out Chili Cha Cha 2 has only been around for about six years. For some reason I thought it was more of a neighborhood fixture, perhaps because its signage, for the longest time, was in quite a dingy state.
However, the night we decided to eat here, I noticed that they’d gotten a fancy new neon sign, and had taken out the extra “L” in “chili.” I’d never been inside, but it looked like the interior might have had a face lift as well. So, they’re apparently doing well! Another family run, non-corporate-owned business in the Mission! Yay, let’s all go support it! Our server was a sweet, rather shy, young lady, who couldn’t really elaborate on whether, where or when Chili Cha Cha 1 existed.
The interior has a lovely mural on one wall, depicting scenes of the daily life in a Thai village, including dancers and what appears to be an amorous couple peeping through a window….
A dish I’ve come to use as a litmus test over the years to determine if a Thai kitchen knows what it’s doing is tom kha kai – a creamy coconut soup. I was first introduced to this dish in the early 80s in L.A. – a mecca for great Thai food. That soup was a total revelation to me – at once spicy, sweet, salty and tart, exotic in its contrasting flavors and textures, silken, lemony, coco-nutty. It was a sexy soup, with its love bites of slippery mushrooms, chicken or shrimp, piquant ginger, grassy cilantro, the errant bit of woody lemongrass permeating all. In sum, it was truly like an aphrodisiac to me.
Chili Cha Cha’s version was excellent. While it was the sweetest rendition I’ve ever had, which actually put me off initially, it somehow balanced that sweetness with enough heat. We slurped the small bowls clean.
Next, we ordered a pork larb salad to share….
Larb is a preparation by which minced pork, chicken, duck or beef is cooked with typical Thai ingredients – chilis, mint, fish sauce, etc. – and toasted ground rice, served with slivers of red onion, cabbage and lettuce. It’s a hot, limey, funky dish. I loved it, but the BF found it a little too funky for his taste, and only had a bit of it. For me, its only flaw was that it was mostly meat and did not feel like a salad. While “mostly meat” is not usually a deal breaker for me, I like a lighter version of this dish and would have preferred more vegetation.
For many years, Pad Thai was my go-to order in Thai restaurants – another dish that I would measure a restaurant by. But after having had so many other Thai dishes from all different regions in the ensuing years, I almost never ordered the noodle dish anymore. Believe me, I still love it – here too, there’s something endearingly funky in it, and I love anything with egg in it – but there is just so much more to try.
But, I went for it on this, our first night. It came with shrimp and fried pillows of tofu, and looked wonderful. Unfortunately, it was nothing special, bland yet, again, oddly sweeter than most pad thais I’ve had. The shrimp were perfectly cooked, and the fried tofu was nice. And, as with most things, it was infinitely better when I added some heat; in this case, their hot chili sauce and pickled jalapenos, served up from the good old Silver Caddy of Hotness.
You have to ask for it. Please do.
The BF ordered off the Chef’s Recommendations menu.
Described as being marinated in “Thai herbs and garlic” with a dipping sauce alongside, sliced steak, cooked in a wok, came with broccoli (listed as cauliflower on the menu) and string beans. The meat turned out to be really deliciously flavored, but incredibly tough. I asked the BF what had even possessed him to order steak in a Thai restaurant? “I panicked.” Sigh. Give a guy too many choices…. Not a dish we’d order again, but not a complete failure either.
All in all, our first dinner here was a bit of a disappointment. We have a favorite Thai place near our house – Osha Thai – which is a small chain, and the food there is consistently much better, even though we’d enjoyed elements here.
One thing I noticed when we were at Chili Cha Cha was that there was a lot of take-out and delivery happening. Now, it’s been nigh on 20 years since I’ve had food delivered to my home, and I suddenly thought, what a great idea! I can have their food in the comfort of my home, and see how it withstands the delivery process. Since a lot of people in the neighborhood seem to go that way, it seemed a brilliant plan.
Surprise, surprise, the food was much, much better via delivery! I don’t know if we just ordered better this time, but it arrived exactly on time and nice and hot.
Even the veggie fried crispy rolls were still warm and not all wilted.
These were wonderful – probably my favorite non-meat roll of any sort. Crispy and chewy at the same time, I just love the combination of the veggies and silver noodles. I liked their homemade sweet and sour plum sauce, too.
We plated everything, cuz we like to be fancy that way. Our chicken satay was good, standard. Standard is ok by me, though – there’s not much wrong with a decent satay.
We ordered green curry with beef, which has become a usual Thai place order for us. Although the beef was a little tough, the curry itself was delicious, full of little Japanese eggplants and green beans. And, yet again, it was much sweeter than most curries we’ve had! Somehow that wasn’t terrible, and I think it’s because the heat level here, even before you doctor up your food with the contents of the silver caddy, is pretty damned good. There was a depth of flavor beyond the sweetness. I’d definitely get this dish again.
I decided to venture into the Chef’s Recommendation this time, and ordered the pork spare ribs in a ginger/lemongrass/coriander marinade. Ding Ding Ding! Winner Winner, Porky Dinner! So good! The meat was tender, with nice grill flavors, and utterly satisfying, as only hunks of charred pork can be. It came with a fresh-tasting salad in a creamy ginger/sesame dressing and a serving of very sticky rice. I mean, really sticky. See that white thing at the top of the plate, that looks like it might be a bao? That’s the sticky rice. It was good, though no discernible coconut flavor was found.
There are various duck items on the menu I’d like to try, and now that I know they can deliver a quality meal with no deterioration of the food, I’d go that route again on a rainy day. You order through www.grubhub.com. I don’t know if it was a first time user thing, but they only charged us $.10 for delivery!
Chili Cha Cha 2
3166 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Phone: 415-820-2960
http://www.chilichacha2.com/
The first Chili Cha Cha was in the lower Haight for a really long time, currently closed.
What a great review! I will definitely try this spot. But you know, your review really left me craving the Thai food of L.A. 😉
They were around forever on near Haight and Fillmore. They must have been at the new location for only 6 years