OP_021518

24 | February 15, 2018 | The orland park prairie Dining Out
opprairie.com
The Dish
A culinary adventure comes to New Lenox
Oy’s Thai Cuisine
offers classic Thai
staples at affordable
prices
Nuria Mathog
Contributing Editor
Long before they launched
their new restaurant, coowners
Bryan and Churairut
“Oy” Hunsaker had a single
goal in mind: to bring the
flavors of Thai food to the
southwest suburbs in a convenient,
accessible way.
For the New Lenox couple,
the opening of Oy’s Thai
Cuisine in January was the
culmination of a longtime
dream.
“Oy has been cooking
her whole life,” Bryan said.
“She’s been cooking for
friends and neighbors for
the past 27 years, and everybody
always tells me she
should start a restaurant. ...
We’ve talked about it for a
long time, but we realized it
was very demanding, so we
didn’t want to do it until our
kids were older.”
Now that the couple’s
youngest child is to graduate
from Lincoln-Way West in
the spring, the Hunsakers are
investing their time and effort
into their new business.
“We want it to be a destination
where you’d be comfortable
bringing a friend or
family member, but we want
to have the convenience, as
well,” Bryan said. “And I
would say it’s authentic. It’s
fresh food — we’re not pulling
it out of the freezer and
putting in the microwave.
The preparation process is
quite detailed.”
The restaurant’s top-selling
dish is Oy’s Famous Pad
Thai (prices vary by protein),
which features rice noodles
stir-fried with green onion,
Oy’s Thai Cuisine
1880 E. Lincoln Highway, New Lenox
Hours
• 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday
• 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Closed Sunday
For more information ...
Phone: (815) 462-9000
Web: www.oysthaicuisine.com
Happy hour for Lincoln-Way students
From 3-4 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, Lincoln-Way
students can pay $5.99 and get an entrée (choice of
chicken pad thai, chicken fried rice, egg rolls or crab
rangoon) and a soft drink in a can.
bean sprouts, egg, crushed
peanuts and Oy’s special
sauce, which contains six
different ingredients.
“Her sauce is different,”
Bryan said. “You won’t find
her pad thai anywhere else.
It is a different flavor, and
people seem to like that.”
Another popular dish is
the stir-fried cashew plate,
which comes with stir-fried
meat, cashew nuts, white
onion, green onion, water
chestnuts, bell pepper and
chili peppers, and is served
with a side of white rice.
“It’s really a lot better
when you make it hot,” Bryan
said. “You tell us you’re
Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3.
... We might put in one more
pepper Level 2 or 3, and the
sky’s the limit for the rest.”
He also recommends
the tom yum soup — a hot
and sour soup that contains
mushroom, tomato, white
onion, green tomato, cilantro,
lemongrass and lime
juice — can be served with
either a clear broth or a
creamy coconut milk broth.
As far as appetizers are
concerned, the fresh spring
rolls ($5.95) — which can
come with or without shrimp
— are another top item on
the menu. The rolls — made
with rice noodles, carrots,
lettuce, bean sprouts and cilantro
wrapped in rice paper
— are served with a sweet
and sour dipping sauce made
in house and filled crushed
peanuts.
Hunsaker said he enjoys
all of the dishes served at
the restaurant, but he is particularly
fond of the pad ped
— a “reasonably spicy” dish
involving meat marinated in
a curry paste and fresh green
beans — as well as the red
and green curries. He said he
also would like to add a Thai
version of a dish similar to
pho, a Vietnamese noodle
dish, to the menu someday.
“The Thai [version] has
a larger variance of vegetables,”
Bryan said. “You have
bean sprouts, sometimes
carrots, a lot of cilantro,
chopped onions.”
For diners looking to pick
up a quick meal during their
lunch breaks, the restaurant
offers a $7.99 lunch special,
served daily until 3 p.m. The
specials, served daily until 3
p.m., come with an entrée,
steamed rice, two fried wontons
and the soup of the day.
Customers can choose to
substitute beef for chicken
for an additional $1, or add
$2 for shrimp.
The stir-fried cashew chicken ($10.95) dish at Oy’s Thai Cuisine contains stir-fried chicken,
cashew nuts, white onion, green onion, water chestnuts, bell pepper and chili pepper, and
comes with a side of white rice. Photos by Nuria Mathog/22nd Century Media
The tom yum soup includes mushroom, tomato, white onion, green tomato, cilantro,
lemongrass and lime juice, and can be served with a clear or creamy broth.
Lincoln-Way students can
take advantage of a special
happy hour offer, available
from 3-4 p.m. Monday
through Wednesday that includes
an entrée and a soft
drink for $5.99.
Ultimately, Bryan said he
hopes customers will get a
quality introduction to Thai
cuisine — and keep coming
back for more.
“We’re here for at least
five years — we’re on a fiveyear
lease — and beyond
that we just hope that people
will come and that we serve
food that they like,” he said.