This chef ran restaurants in Thailand, now she has a spot near Fresno State. Peek inside

Thai Taste has been open for just about a month and already it has its fans.

Jeremy Rosete and his parents come to the restaurant at least once a week, sometimes more.

“The most we’ve been here is three time in one week,” he says.

The Clovis family loves Thai food and has tried plenty of places around Fresno. Thai Taste has become the favorite because of the hospitality of the staff and the quality of the food.

Both of those are thanks to Natcha Passa and her mother Muanfan Shoatnaon.

Passa works the register along with her six year-old son (he’s the real boss, she says). She also helps her mother run the kitchen, cranking out a collection of grab-and-go Thai cuisine done street-food style.

That’s Shoatnaon’s influence as a chef.

She’s a restaurateur from Sukhothai, an historic city north of Bangok in the northern part of Thailand. She has operated several popular spots in Thailand, as she traveled back and forth between countries.

This is her first restaurant in the United States.

Here, one can find the standard Thai fare. Pad Se Ew is a popular dish, along with Tom Yum, a spicy orange-red soup with shrimp, squid and fish balls.

There are also the Thai Taste specialties, like Nam Tok, a beef salad made with New York steak, and barbecue red pork with gravy, which carries a sweet flavor that’s is akin some Chinese dishes.

There’s also a Thai-style papaya salad. It’s sweeter than what other restaurants might serve. That’s because many Thai restaurants in Fresno are run by Laotians, Passa says, and while the food, culture and languages are similar, there are differences.

Like, fish sauce for one.

Thai food, the kind that Shoatnaon makes in her other restaurants, isn’t heavy on the fish sauce, Passa says. There are plenty of peanuts, though.

“This is how they do it,” says John Ounesavath, who is a partner in the business and helped the mother and daughter open the restaurant.

Ounesavath is from Laos and didn’t grow up eating Thai food. For him, it was always considered a treat. His favorite is the Thai egg noodles, which he orders dry style.

It comes out like a kind of deconstructed soup, the ingredients parceled out in the dish, minus any sauce.

The menu at Thai Taste is heavy with vegan and vegetarian options, but everything is made to order, so Shoatnaon is also able to create things that aren’t on the menu, custom orders for people from, or who have been to, Thailand and are looking for specific dishes.

The restaurant is inside the Bulldog Plaza shopping center on Barstow and Cedar Avenues near Fresno State, which has become a bit of a hub for food spots (Sushi N Pop, Halal Bros., Tacos Marquitos, Boba Pub, Cream and others).

Thai Taste is small, with just just a few tables inside (and out on the walkway) and some counter space that runs along the kitchen. A cart in the middle of the spot carries a variety of snack foods (spicy, savory cookies, peanut brittle) imported from Thailand.

Because of the location, Thai Taste caters to college students and those looking for a quick on-the-go meal, Ounesavath says. This isn’t a full service restaurant, yet (there’s no public bathrooms for example).

But the hope, he says, is to eventually expand.

This story was originally published June 24, 2024 at 5:30 AM.