The owner of Thai Kitchen, which since 1999 has been in the Southdowns Village Shopping Center on Perkins Road, has a purchase agreement on a vacant building at 4564 Bennington Ave. and plans to relocate his popular restaurant and sushi bar to the new site later this year.
Sam Sanguanruang says he plans to spend $740,000 on the building and another $500,000 or so renovating the 5,600-square-foot space, which is slightly smaller than the space where the restaurant has been located for the last 16 years.
Sanguanruang says he decided to move because he long has wanted to own his own restaurant building, rather than to lease space, and when the property became available late last year he decided the time was right to buy. His plans for the new location include an expanded menu with a Cajun-Asian fusion flair.
The Bennington Avenue building, which is adjacent to Gino’s Restaurant, has not been successful as a restaurant location for recent tenants. It was last occupied by a Honduran eatery, Katrachos, which closed last fall after just one year in business. It previously was home to failed Chinese and Mexican restaurants.
Sanguanruang is not worried, however. This will be his fourth location since opening Thai Kitchen in 1989 in Sherwood Forest. He later moved to Florida Boulevard before moving to Southdowns Village.
“I made it on Sherwood Forest, I made it on Florida and I made it here,” he says. “We will make it in the new location, too.” —Stephanie Riegel
