According to the Zagat magazine, Thai cuisine is the most exciting, trendiest dining experience in the Big Apple, with restaurants such as SEA, Spice and Peep becoming the talk of the town.
“When our customers feel good, we feel good,” says Juttana Limlertvate, 40, the manager of Spice Group, which owns a string of restaurants in the New York area. “The dining experience is important for New Yorkers, they want something new all the time.” Juttana has spent half his adult life there. He knows the pulse of the city, especially the “eating habits” of New Yorkers. Listening to him talk about the Thai food scene there is like listening to an encyclopaedia. The entrepreneur, who has been involved in almost every aspect of the food industry for at least two decades, found that opening a restaurant in New York was a breeze. He knows how to raise the capital, talk to the right people and exactly what he needs to operate a successful eatery. Famous personalities such as Senator Hilary Clinton and others have dined at his restaurants. At SEA restaurant, the flagship of the Spice Group, Thai food is given fancy names, but the tastes aren’t lost in the translation. Going through the menu, one can see that New Yorkers like fusion. “We try to keep the flavours as close to Thai as possible,” says Kitti Lirtpanaruk, SEA’s CEO. Kitti, who started as a delivery boy, and Juttana, who started out as a dishwasher, now oversee 12 restaurants in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Juttana was voted one of the top 50 Asian-American businessmen last year. Both say that Thai cuisine is unique because it can easily be adjusted to blend with other cuisines. “Take Japanese cuisine, for instance, it’s difficult to fuse it with something else,” says Juttana. “With sushi, everything has to be precise.” It is no surprise, therefore, that the Spice Group restaurants offer lots of Thai fusion dishes, like their sa-med pad Thai, which is pad Thai without the noodles. Their Red Sea duck – which is half a duck in vinaigrette tomato sauce with stir-fried mixed vegetables – was inspired by kaeng ped phed yang (hot curry with roasted duck). And you can also order chicken masaman curry with avocado. Restaurants like SEA and Blue Chili don’t follow the standards and demands set by the Krua Thai Su Kura Lok (Thai Kitchen to the World) campaign of the previous Thai government because they are designed and funded independently. The previous administration encouraged Thai entrepreneurs to use Thai products as much as possible and urged them to promote Thai culture. But these young entrepreneurs (especially those in the US and Europe) consider themselves the third generation of expatriate Thais, and they are not like their predecessors who remain firmly attached to tradition and culture. The younger generation has a more international outlook. Still, these young people are smart when it comes to food. For them, Thai cuisine can mean anything as long as it’s innovative and attracts customers. “The first to challenge the New Yorker will make lots of money,” quips Juttana. Each Spice restaurant has a different look and a different menu, reflecting the variation in clients and their incomes. Against this trendy style, Wondee and Sripraphai are two ordinary Thai restaurants in New York that deserve a mention. Wondee is a small, one-room operation with a limited menu. Still there are long queues outside for its appetisers such as tod man, spring rolls and chicken satay. Sripraphai in Flushing is bigger and the food is excellent. Thais living in New York frequent both the restaurants because they are authentic and inexpensive. Dining choices in New York has set the trend for Thai cuisine around the US as a whole, and there are now at least 7,200 Thai restaurants throughout the country. Washington DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Austin are the other main centres where Thai restaurants are flourishing.
