Family-run restaurant relies on recipes from Thai homeland
Phayathai Cuisine brings new meaning to the expression "When you're good, people will beat a path to your door."
Phayathai (pronounced "pay-a-tie") opened at the difficult-to-find location of 8917 Lake City Way N.E. last May and has sustained itself solely from word-of-mouth (and favorable blogs) about their authentic Thai food and warm ambience.
In fact, Phayathai recently received the "Best of CitySearch Award" of 2007-08 for its specialty in Romantic Dining. CitySearch also praised it for its fresh and exciting ingredients in its authentic Thai recipes.
A traditional family
The location, on the first floor of a multi-story apartment building, has been home to many failed restaurants, but Tom Vanichwattana, the 30-ish co-owner of Phayathai, said their family-owned and -operated Thai restaurant sees this location as a challenge.
"It's our opportunity," he said. "Plus, our parking right in front of the restaurant is good. And we also deliver to the 10,000 [residents] in this area who can't come in."
And the name "Phayathai" has an interesting origin, according to the other co-owner, Golf Vanichwattana, 31. "Phayathai was chosen after the street name in front of my house in Bangkok, Thailand," he said.
It is also the tradition of Thai people to have both a formal first name and a nickname. All members of the family share the surname of Vanichwattana, but they prefer to be identified by their first names or nicknames only, according to brother Tom.
"The nickname can be any name or word," Golf said. "My father gave me the name "Golf" because he's a golfer. I play golf, too, but I'm not any good!"
Special ingredients
In one of Phayathai's newspaper advertisements, Golf's son, Putter, 1, says, "Please come try our authentic Thai cuisine from my Grandma's Recipe."
The grandmother mentioned in the ad is Putter's grandmother and Golf's mother-in-law, Toon. She is the sole cook of Phayathai and the one who carries the secret of the special Thai ingredients from Thailand that have made Phayathai's cuisine so authentic.
"Toon had her own restaurant in Thailand, where she learned to cook from her mother," Tom related. "Her mother taught her how to make the sauces from special-ingredient recipes that she learned from her mother and many generations back. But these special ingredients need to be kept secret, of course!"
Another reason that Phayathai is so renowned is its fresh food. "We buy everything fresh and order small amounts of meat to be used in two days' time," Tom explained.
Phayathai also offers a mixture of Thai cuisine and Chinese food, but with a Thai taste, according to Tom. Some of the favorite dishes at Phayathai, according to Tom, include the Green Wok appetizer, Seafood Duck and the "Tsunami," a seafood and vegetable dish.
Terk explained that the reason Phayathai offers more authentic Thai food is also due to the cooking methods: "We cook the food in a pan-stir fry style - Thai style, not Americanized style of cooking Thai food."
The importance of friendship
Phayathai's interior features colorful paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, lush plants, gargoyles and many Thai artifacts, pottery and paintings.
The family spent two months working on this interior décor, buying furniture and artifacts from both Thailand and San Francisco, according to Tom: "We bought items that represented both Chinese and Thai cultures.
And, Terk said, young Putter acts as like an owner: "He's here all day, so he runs around talking to the customers, and he can even take orders!"
Joe Pan, a Thai friend of the family, helps out in the dining room. "The Thai community are close to each other, where helping each other in friendship is important," he said.
The food and ambience have brought customers through the door. "We have really nice customers," Tom explained. "We have over 10 couples who come in two times a week.
[[In-content Ad]]