Rarely do I find myself in the pleasant situation of being urged to put more food on my plate. At the newly opened Tamarind, a self-described "eclectic Asian café", the friendly servers don't blanch at my immodest appetite.

And, so, I comply, adding even more to my make-your-own stir fry, and have quite a filling meal. The veggies, the sauces, and so on make for a familiar style of eating these days, but here you pay based on the type of protein you add, from a base of $8.00 or veggies only up to $11.00 for shrimp.

The stir fry is a fairly reasonable choice for a restaurant housed in the new SRO on South Wabash. What Tamarind offers in exchange, however, is different than Taste of Siam a few blocks away, or the newly reopened Thai Spoon right across the street. Here, the atmosphere is more hushed, the lighting is more subdued. You are less likely to run into a gaggle of art students from nearby Columbia College, and more likely to run into that sweet young couple who just bought that $795,000 starter condo a few blocks away.

For them, the $31.00 prix fix dinner option might be just another night out, but for the rest of us, the standard menu offers many choices. Divided easily into sections, the menu focuses on China, and Vietnam.