Marty Rosen celebrates two decades of Mai’s Thai.
For many of us of a certain age, Thai food was a gateway cuisine. We’d grown up with the familiar Americanized versions of Italian, Mexican, and Chinese food. But here in the heartland even as late as the 1980s ingredients like fish sauce, lemongrass, and rice noodles were just whispered rumors spread by people returning from far-flung places like California. I still remember many of my Thai firsts: a serving of pad thai at a vegetarian spot in Urbana, Illinois in grad school; a green curry in Berkeley; an amazing pad kee mow that my wife ordered in Chicago, wide noodles garnished with fragrant, fresh basil leaves.
And I remember when Thai first showed up in my Old Louisville neighborhood. It was around 2001. By then you didn’t have to drive to Lexington for Thai food — we had Thai Café in Holiday ...
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