Montira Thai Restaurant, Glenview

Waiters adorn tables with steaming plates of familiar Thai fare in Montira Thai Restaurant’s sunny brick eatery. Tamarind or peanut sauce dominates stir-fried rice or egg noodles, whereas spices such as basil and lemongrass steep in coconut curries to balance their colorful chili powder blends. The cooks take a particular interest in seafood, frying up salmon, catfish, tilapia, and soft-shell crab, and dressing prawns in a special kind of homemade red curry. Drinks such as Thai iced tea and coffee accompany weekday lunch specials to quell taste bud fires set to keep those at lunch meetings alert.