At Prik Hom, A Personal Journey Through Thailand’s Varied Cuisines
Tucked into a small space in the quiet Laurel Heights neighborhood, just south of the Presidio on the edges of the Richmond, Prik Hom isn’t outwardly distinct from any of the thousands of green curry joints in cities across the U.S. When plates leave Jim Suwanpanya’s kitchen and appear on your table, however, it becomes obvious that Prik Hom belongs on a growing list of addresses — restaurants that are writing the next chapter of how Thai cooking has become a part of America’s culinary fabric — specifically by adding a personal interpretation of Thai flavors, rather than relying on known standards.
Hence, there’s nary a noodle to be found. Instead, you might find a single seared scallop with delicately shredded lemongrass and a dollop of chile jam, or what appears to be a dolma on a wafer-thin rice cracker but is actually a miang-style olive wrapped in pickled mustard greens, or a quartet of head-on shrimp on a bed of crispy fried kale topped with green mango, shallots, and thinly sliced almond. The flavors are as nuanced as these presentations, emphasizing the complexity of Suwanpanya’s cooking.
Over the past few decades, Thai food in the U.S. has grown to better reflect the wide diversity of cooking across Thailand. This manifested itself early on in the legendary punchy Southern Thai preparations at Jitlada in Los Angeles, and grew with additions like the regionally focused tasting menus at Langbaan in Portland, Ore., or Pim Techamuanvivit’s stylings at San Francisco’s Kin Khao and Nari. These allowed Thai American chefs to garner Michelin stars and Beard Awards.
Prik Hom is the culmination of Suwanpanya’s journey through the fine dining kitchens of San Francisco and Bangkok, applied to both regional and historic Thai dishes. The next step, as his cooking demonstrates, is not just to expand the repertoire but to riff on it through a unique, ever-changing menu.
Suwanpanya, who co-owns Prik Hom with his sister, Tanya, didn’t set out to be a chef. He originally came to the U.S. to study graphic design before deciding to pursue cooking. He ended up attending Le Cordon Bleu and working at acclaimed Bay Area restaurants such as Lazy Bear. His time in fine dining kitchens brought him to a realization.
“I thought, I need to learn more Thai food,” he remembers. “Around the U.S., [chefs] learn Japanese technique, French technique, and I think Thai technique has something unique. So I decided to go back to Thailand to learn deeply.”
In Bangkok, he cooked at Michelin-starred restaurants Bo.lan, which serves classic Thai food with a focus on seasonal ingredients, and 80/20, which offers a modern Thai tasting menu. At Bo.lan, he picked up traditional techniques such as hand-pounding the ingredients for curry paste rather than using a blender, and making fresh coconut milk from scratch, while at 80/20, he learned ways to present dishes in more progressive ways.
In early 2023, Tanya, who had stayed stateside while Jim was abroad, alerted him that she had found the space in Laurel Heights, which was previously occupied by another contemporary Thai restaurant, Derm. Since opening that February, they have sought to introduce diners to the samrub style of Thai dining — what the chef defines as “a balanced spread of curry, stir-fry, salad, chile dip, and sides, all served together, which is how Thais traditionally enjoy meals.”
The menu spans regions: On any given evening, highlights might include kang om, a thick, intensely pungent coconut milk-free curry with slow-cooked beef shank that the Suwanpanyas grew up eating in their native Chiang Rai, the country’s northernmost province; a grilled oyster mushroom “waterfall” salad from the northeastern province of Isaan; hat yai fried chicken from the south, near the Malaysian border; and the Bangkok street food staple curried black cod wrapped in banana leaves. “We try to present all parts of Thailand,” Jim says.
We want to showcase the diversity and depth of Thai culinary wisdom.— Jim Suwanpanya
The breadth of Thai cooking can’t be explored without acknowledging the history of royal palace cuisine, which often incorporates non-endemic ingredients introduced to Southeast Asia by Western visitors. At Prik Hom, the use of Western ingredients suits Jim’s fidelity to seasonality. When corn is in season, he might skewer and grill corn on the cob and serve it with aromatic panang curry for a fun riff on chicken satay. The aforementioned dolma-like “miang olive” is a menu mainstay inspired by a dish that Jim found in a book by Jib Bunnag, the granddaughter of Lady Plian Phasakorawong, a royal palace chef and the author of the first cookbook published in Thailand, “Mae Khrua Hua Pa.”
More Coverage of Dining Trends
This style isn’t unheard of in America — at Brooklyn’s Kru, for instance, chef Ohm Suansilphong serves dishes, inspired by 100-year-old recipes, that feature heirloom tomatoes, ricotta cheese, and porchetta. Royal chefs benefitted from access to Western ingredients, and now chefs like Ohm and Jim are bringing these dishes to the U.S. and introducing a different sort of Eastern flavor to American diners. It’s a case of things coming full circle.
“We want to showcase the diversity and depth of Thai culinary wisdom for our guests,” Jim says. “By changing the menu with each season, we use that as a creative challenge to craft new dishes that reflect the weather and mood of the time.”
One of the biggest crowd-pleasers is a dessert: smoked coconut ice cream with poached and candied palm seeds and sweet rice. When Jim returned to San Francisco, he brought along a case of incense candles, which he uses to impart a smoky, floral aroma to the ice cream just before it’s served.
“In [Thailand], we smoke many things with candles to make dessert,” he explains.
The Suwanpanyas import the candles from Thailand, along with a few other key ingredients, such as shrimp paste and coconut sugar. (“Our coconut sugar is pure, with no cane sugar mixed in,” Tanya says. “Even in Thailand, it’s rare to find 100 percent pure coconut sugar.”) The ice cream, on the other hand, is from longtime San Francisco favorite Mitchell’s, which illustrates how small their operation remains. “We planned to make our own ice cream,” Jim says, “but our kitchen’s small, and we don’t have space for an ice cream machine right now.”
In a way, that popular dessert also sums up Prik Hom’s ethos. It’s a combination of a signature Thai technique with a beloved local San Francisco product. The complexity and presentation make it seem like a product of fine dining, yet it’s being prepared served by a tiny staff in a modest space.
While the cuisine might be worthy of royalty, the operation at Prik Hom has been pure bootstraps — to this day, they only have four employees, including the owners. That didn’t stop the restaurant from quickly catching attention, though: It made The New York Times’ list of top San Francisco restaurants and got a nod in the local Michelin guide.
“It brought people in and opened their minds to explore whatever we have,” says Tanya, adding that they hope to move to a bigger space eventually. “This is, like, 30 percent less than what we could do.”
In a way, Prik Hom is an embodiment of its chef’s story — and Jim is hardly done writing the book. “I think the next chapter,” he says, “is we try to make the page bigger.”
