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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Three businesswomen find Bloomington Thai food niche

Providing authentic ethnic cuisine experience a goal for all restaurant owners

Thai restaurants are neither new nor rare in the United States. There are more than 229 Thai restaurants located in Florida alone. But in Bloomington, where the Thai community comprises less than 100 people, it might come as a surprise that there are three Thai restaurants: Siam House, Esan Thai and Red Sea. Three Thai ladies, Wemonrat Pok, Ruangthong Schoonover and Kanokkan Kongcharoen, are behind the growing Thai scene in Bloomington. Though their paths were different, their common goal now is to serve authentic Thai food to a diverse community.

Siam House\nThe faded yellow house with a beautifully crafted gable at the corner of Fourth and Dunn streets houses to the oldest Thai restaurant in town, Siam House. The owner, Wemonrat Pok, a former teacher and bank officer, greets customers with a smile.\nSiam House is the biggest of the three resturants,with more than 50 tables -- indoor and outdoor -- ready to serve more than 150 customers at a time. The numerous decoration items -- photographs, small statues of mythological fairies and much more -- represent Thai culture and create a genuine ambiance.\nSitting comfortably in a white metal chair, Pok, 54, proudly said her restaurant is the oldest operating Thai restaurant in Indiana. Prior to Siam House, she owned a Cambodian restaurant in San Francisco, where she first arrived in the United States in 1975. \n"My restaurant was the first Cambodian dining place in San Francisco," Pok said. \nA divorce from her husband changed her life. At that time, a friend from IU suggested she consider opening a Thai restaurant in Bloomington. \n"She said there was no Thai restaurant in Bloomington and that I should give it a try," Pok said.\nWanting to leave the past and her painful memories behind, Pok flew to Bloomington to look at several locations for a new restaurant. \n"Back then Bloomington was very quiet," she said. "Fourth Street was dark and full of trees. There were only a few buildings around."\nWith her mother and friends to help her to renovate the new restaurant, she opened Siam House in 1980. Pok remembers her restaurant was a big hit when it first opened.\n"Siam House was among the classiest restaurants at that time," she said. "We were the first to have fresh flower decoration. We did everything by ourselves, and we had a full house everyday. It was a great success." \nPok's pride does not come solely from the fact she has been interviewed by many newspapers and national magazines, including Bon Appetit last year, or that some customers came all the way from San Francisco to dine at her place. She's proud that Siam House has initiated the trend of Thai restaurants in the Midwest. \n"Many Thais who want to open a restaurant came to me and asked for advice," she said. "Sometimes my old customers told (me) that they might not visit me that often anymore because there are Thai restaurants in their cities, like Indianapolis and Columbus, (Ohio). It's certainly delightful to hear that." \nIt has been 14 years since Siam House opened to Bloomington residents, and Pok said she is still happy about how the business is going. She said she strongly believes as long as she serves authentic food, her restaurant will remain on the top list of must dine-out places in Bloomington.

Esan Thai\nRuangthong Schoonover, 37, never thought she would own a restaurant. In her red flower-patterned shirt and black pants, Schoonover said she had owned her own business when she was in Thailand -- supplying her own brand of knitted clothing called "Schoonover" to several department stores in Bangkok. But her path changed when she moved to Chicago in 1997 with her American husband, Don Schoonover.\nThe couple then decided to move somewhere else in the Midwest, and Ruangthong Schoonover chose Bloomington for their new home.\n"I just fell in love with the diversity that Bloomington has," she said.\nSettling in Bloomington in 1998, Schoonover began her life as a housewife. While raising her kids, she threw parties at home to avoid loneliness and boredom, she said. Compliments from her friends about the food she cooked gave her confidence in opening her own restaurant. \nOriginally from Nongkhai, Thailand, Schoonover is most familiar with the northeastern Esan Thai cuisine. Being the eldest daughter among eight siblings, Schoonover had to help her mother in the kitchen from a young age. With her specialty in Esan food, including "Som Tam," or papaya salad, and "Larb," or minced chicken in hot sauce, Schoonover believed she could offer a different cuisine to Bloomingtonians. \n"I only know how to cook the kind of food that I cook at home," she said. "Thus, my customers get exactly the same food that I would cook for myself."\nAfter a year of preparation, Esan Thai opened Oct. 22, 2003. Having no experience in running a restaurant, Schoonover admits the first few months were very stressful for her. \n"I never knew how a restaurant functions, how much fresh food and other ingredients I need to store and so on. Had I known that it would be this hectic, I would have abandoned this plan," she said with a laugh. \nNow that everything runs pretty smoothly, Schoonover feels satisfied. \n"So far the response has been great," she said. "People here accept authentic food and are willing to try new things. We have regular customers dining here even though we haven't had a grand opening."\nWhen asked if she's worried about the increasing number of Thai restaurants in town, Schoonover said she sees it as a promotion of Thai cuisine. \n"Having more Thai restaurants means that the locals get to know more about Thai food and Thailand," she said. "Besides, our specialties are different. Hence, customers will be exposed to different types of Thai food. I'm not worried about the competition at all because my job is to offer the best quality and most authentic food to my customers."

Red Sea Inter (Bangkok Cuisine)\nA white wood-siding house on Fourth Street is home of the newest Thai restaurant, Red Sea Inter (Bangkok Cuisine). The owner, Kankokan Kongcharoen, 55, is a former businesswoman who owned a marble export company in Thailand. Her business was severely affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which forced Kongcharoen to move to the United States for a new beginning. \nShe met Pok in 2002 and worked at Siam House as a chef for a year before her entrepreneurial spirit motivated her to start her own restaurant. Kongcharoen said her initial plan was to lease a small restaurant. \n"I just wanted a small place where my husband could have a sushi bar and do some catering service," she said. "You know, something small that could be run by two old people." \nBut a legal problem led her to lease a bigger place, a former Eritrean restaurant. After a speedy renovation, Kongcharoen opened her restaurant within two months of settling the lease. \nShe added the food at Red Sea Inter is central Thai cuisine. Kongcharoen strongly believes she will succeed within no time. She explained her confidence comes from previously running a restaurant in Thailand called Starlight Café. \n"I used to cook for hundreds of people. Why would I have a problem in running a small restaurant like this," she said, laughing.\n \nMore Thai Scenes\nBesides the three Thai restaurants in town, a few other places offer a number of Thai dishes, particularly Anyetsang's Little Tibet, which is also located on Fourth Street. Lhamo Anyetsang, the restaurant's chef, said she worked at Siam House for six years before opening her own restaurant in 1998. \nDuring her nearly three decades in the United States, Pok said she's seen an increased interest in Thai food during the past 10 to 15 years. The popularity can also be seen on television in entertainment shows. \n"Twenty years ago, characters in TV or a movie would mention Chinese food, but now you would hear them mention Thai food more often," she said.\nThai food's popularity in Bloomington could be attributed to the fact Bloomington is home to a lot of international students. \n"Because Bloomington is a campus town, it brings diversity to the community," Schoonover said. "People are more exposed to different cultures and are willing to try new things."\nBut Pok does not think there will be any ethnic food that could beat the popularity of Thai cuisine.\n"Thai food is very tasty and healthy, which is a major concern to Americans," Pok said. "It's certainly among the best choices available." \nThe only challenge in Pok's opinion would be the new innovation of combining different ethnic foods. She added that the food business has become increasingly diverse, resulting in a wider and better selection of food -- a direct benefit to customers.\nFrom their experiences, the three chefs agree there are not many differences in cooking for Thais or Americans. The level of spice in these restaurants runs from one to five; one being mild and five being Thai hot. \n"Thai people would think that Americans are not be able to take spicy food, but that's not true anymore. Level four seems to be normal for many of my customers," Schoonover said. \nThe three agree the most crucial thing for surviving in the food business is to be authentic. \n"Customers come to ethnic restaurants because they want to try authentic food, and that is what we are offering," Schoonover said.\n-- Contact staff writer Sopaporn Saeung at ssaeung@indiana.edu.

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