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mokenamessenger.com dining out
the Mokena Messenger | February 15, 2018 | 19
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,
co-owners 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 topselling
dish is Oy’s Famous
Pad Thai (prices vary by
protein), which features
rice noodles stir-fried with
green onion, 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.
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: oysthaicuisine.com
Happy hour for
Lincoln-Way students
From 3-4 p.m. Monday-
Wednesday, Lincoln-Way
students can pay $5.99
and get and entrée
(choice of chicken
pad thai, chicken fried
rice, egg rolls or crab
rangoon) and a soft
drink in a can.
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.
Lincoln-Way students can
take advantage of a special
happy hour offer, available
from 3-4 p.m. Monday
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.
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
five-year lease — and beyond
that we just hope that
people will come and that
we serve food that they
like,” he said.