"Peter Dy" > wrote in message
. com...
>
>
> I became "friends" with the owners of two Thai restaurants, one in
Berkeley,
> CA, and one in Seattle. I never thought to ask if they were not Thai
after
> all, but rather Laotian. They said they were from Bangkok, and one took a
> trip back to Bangkok when I knew her. I suppose that doesn't mean she
> wasn't Laotian though. Waitstaff have greated me in Thai at Thai
> restaurants too. What makes you think most restaurants are cooked by
> Laotian chefs?
>

I was grossly exagerating my claim by including all of North America, just
for impact :-). I only know for certain that all but one of the Thai
restaurants in Winnipeg (there are roughly 10+ for a population of around
700 000) are owned and operated by Laotian families. Granted, one of them
lived in Thailand with his family as an adult, and passes himself off as
Thai (tells everyone he's Thai) but he's definitely Laotian. He's also the
one who advertises that his chef is from a hotel in Thailand, but my father
spoke to the chef and found he worked as a busboy at that hotel. I also
know the Thai restaurants in Keene, NH and Brattleboro, VT are owned and
operated by Laotians (I talked with the owners of both) and at least one of
the restaurants I visited in Portland, OR was Laotian owned and operated
(the others just had bad food, I think). In smaller restaurants we always
talk to the owners, waitstaff, or whomever and ask questions, including
where they're from. We used to ask if they knew about the Yuthasastrkosol
family but now there are Thais who don't even know the name so that test
doesn't work anymore :-). In larger restaurants, it's much more difficult
to learn about the ethnicities of the owners and chefs, though.

One reason Laotians easily pass themselves off as Thai is because Laotian
and Thai languages are mutually intelligible. Another is that many Laotians
lived in Thailand, often as refugees from what I understand. And, of
course, there's always the "most people can't tell the difference" reason.
I would guess that in places like the San Francisco-area and Los Angeles,
which have fairly large populations of Thais, more restaurants would be
owned and operated by Thais than in other places (but that does not mean all
would be Thai). However, in smaller areas the likelihood of finding Thai as
opposed to Laotian food becomes much smaller.

> The food I've had at my favorite Thai restaurants in the US tasted
basically
> just like that I had in Bangkok. Of course, now I hold a less favorable
> view of Thai restaurants in the US: They've gone downhill, but more in a
> "bad" sense and not necessarily in an inauthentic sense. I haven't eaten
in
> a Thai restaurant in years.
>

Have you ever been to Lotus of Siam (??) in Las Vegas? I've always wanted
to go to LV, just to try it. I've read so many good things about it.
However, I also read that Thai-phoon in Portland was one of the best Thai
restaurants in the US, and if that's the case, Thai restaurants in the US
must really suck.

rona
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