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NAC: Your biography on your website talks about how you were determined to popularize Thai cuisine in the United States. Why was this important to you?
SIRIYARN: I was raised in the food business so I thought it was what I could do best. I wanted to promote Thai cuisine to the world, and also promote the recipes that were passed on from my grandmother to my mom and my mom to me.
NAC:Tell us about your experiences as a young man, working in the kitchen with your mother. What are some of your early memories of lessons that she taught you?
SIRIYARN: When I was 12 years old, my dad passed away. I was the oldest child in the family, so I had to help my mom do preparation for the food. I had to help her after school every day with cooking. I didn't cook yet, but I was helping her prepare the food that she'd be cooking for that day. One of the best dishes that I remember (that's also on the front cover of my book) is steamed red snapper fillet. My grandmother sold that dish in the market for over 30 years. That dish only. It was considered the best in the whole town. That recipe was passed on to my mother, my mother passed it on to me. It was one of the very classic dishes that Thailand has to offer. I serve it in my restaurant on the weekends as a special.
NAC: Will your sons also enter the restaurant business?
SIRIYARN: My older son graduated from college last year and he wants to take over Marnee Thai, so I'm now teaching him how to make all the sauces. He has started learning how to cook. He's doing well so far. The younger son is 17, and he started working as a bus boy at the restaurant when he was 14. Right now he's busy preparing for college, but in the future he also wants to take over a restaurant. I have two locations of Marnee Thai, and I plan to let them each take over one.
NAC: Thai New Year is celebrated in April. Are there any food traditions associated with the New Year? Do you do anything at your restaurant?
SIRIYARN: There's no specific food for the New Year. We have so many kinds of desserts—for special occasions we have some kind of special dessert that symbolizes good luck for that special occasion.
In Thailand they have a water blessing ceremony for New Year. It's to pay respect to the elders and put some perfumed water over their palms, bless them, give them good wishes, and in return they will give you good wishes and blessings. That is our custom.
NAC: What can new customers expect from a dining experience at Marnee Thai?
SIRIYARN: Mostly we recommend something that will best represent Thai cuisine; a couple of appetizers, a salad, maybe a curry. If you try Thai cuisine, you should try at least one curry. And a vegetable. I try to teach my staff to recommend dishes that will balance the flavors for customers, some things spicy, some not. And try one noodle dish, like pad thai. I have won 2 competitions with my pad thai, so it's some of the best pad thai you can get outside of Thailand. I even have some customers who have been to Thailand and they say that my food is better than what they have there! Even Thai people--last year a tour company sent a group of retired Thai people who came to San Francisco and we had a lunch reception for them. All of the Thai people who came thought that the food was better than what they could have in Thailand, which made me very happy.
I try to encourage my customers to go through our whole menu. We have quite a few customers who have been coming to the restaurant for a long time and they know that whatever we recommend, they will love it. Some customers will come in and let our servers order the food for them. That's how we do it here. When we recommend or suggest a food to a customer, we try to encourage them to do "family style" [order several dishes that are split between the diners]. Then you can enjoy a variety of flavors, and balance those flavors with textures. That's the best way to enjoy Thai cuisine.
Chai Siriyarn's Favorite Restaurants & Grocery Stores
| Favorite
Restaurants |
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| Grocery
Store |
Sunset Supermarket
2425 Irving Street
San Francisco, CA 94122
415.682.3738 |
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