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If you go, try their Pad Thai

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By STEVE OTTO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 30, 2009

The first time I went into Thailand Restaurant, it was Chinese.

That was 30 years ago this month. "Nobody knew anything about Thai food around here in those days," says Amnuay Thambundit, who owns the South Tampa - 5252 S. Dale Mabry Highway - restaurant with his wife, Pornrut.

"We would slip a Thai dish into the back of the menu," Mrs. Thambundit says.

"As time went on, we kept adding in a few more Thai dishes - until the customers knew they weren't getting Chinese - and we changed the name of the restaurant to Thailand."

Go into any nonchain restaurant these days and you know there is a recession. It's a tough business.

I've always thought that running your own restaurant is one of the toughest jobs around. You always have to be there, and you have to compete against the big guys.

To be successful is no easy accomplishment. The Thambundits have been doing it for three decades now, and last year they added a new dining room to their place.

Daughters A, B and C

OK, about those names.

Everyone calls Mrs. Thambundit "Moo."

I had her husband's name wrong for years. I kept calling him "Adenoid," which he never bothered to correct.

The Thambundits have three daughters: A, B, and C.

I don't make these things up. Those are their names.

The three also have Thai names: Apisadaporn, Pornampa and Ampaporn.

The daughters, by the way, work in the restaurant when they are available, My guess is they won't be available much longer.

Apisadaporn (A) has just graduated from Tufts University, where she studied biomedical engineering and apparently is brilliant.

Pornampa (B) is at Florida International University, and Ampaporn (C) is in high school.

All of them have grade point averages that would destroy any curve.

The Thambundits found their separate ways to America, looking to go to school. They came to Tampa because of relatives. They met. They got married, and they decided to open the restaurant.

Home cooking

"We were lucky in many ways," Moo says. "Our restaurant is near MacDill Air Force Base, and many of the military people have been to Thailand and they want to have Thai food, just like we made it back home."

That's a fact. Go into the place at lunchtime and the dress of the day is fatigues.

I first went into the restaurant to meet a doctor who was trying to get me to write about a proposed hospital. Like two circling lions trying to establish dominance, we both ordered the hottest stuff on the menu. When he asked for more hot sauce, I couldn't back down.

The two of us sat there sweating away, unwilling to drink the iced tea until the other guy folded.

We've both been hooked ever since, although these days we hold the heat down just a tad and let Moo do the cooking.

One tip: If you stop by, be sure to sample the Pad Thai.

Keyword: Otto Graphs, for more of Steve Otto's musings.

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