Serving sushi in the high desert
Sushi Siam enters the seemingly unlikely business of fresh fish in Taos
New Mexico is far removed from the sea. Around 1,000 miles lie between Taos and the nearest ocean. This would seemingly make fresh, raw seafood an impossibility here in the high desert. However, through a network of vendors and an eye for quality, Sushi Siam, which opened just before the COVID-19 pandemic in Taos, has managed to bring some of the freshest possible seafood to the area to serve alongside an array of Thai dishes.
Bringing ‘Siam’ to Taos
Located at 106 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, the restaurant opened at perhaps the least convenient time, several months before COVID swept through the state and the country. But despite the extreme pressures the pandemic put on local businesses, Sushi Siam seems to have catered to the right crowd at the right time.
The business is owned by Pim Wipan, her brother Soranai Srasom and her father Patcharin Khangrang, who has been cooking Thai food in the U.S. for the past 30 years. Wipan said she is glad to be able to finally open the restaurant for indoor dining after two years.
Wipan said her family ended up in Taos after a vacation led them through the town on Labor Day, several years before COVID hit. “I think ‘I love this town,’” she said after visiting. “[Eventually] I just tried to grab a spot to open the Thai and sushi restaurant. ‘I think ‘it’s going to be good, or not — who knows?’”
Wipan decided to trust her gut to “just grab [the spot] and go.”
By the time Wipan and her family had secured the building and began renovating it, a sewer line in town burst, setting them back a couple weeks in late 2020. By the time they were ready to open their doors to the public, COVID-19 had entered the country.
This didn’t mean Wipan and her family were giving up, though.
They opened their kitchen and began providing orders to go, and quickly found a loyal customer base. “I know almost everybody from the local people. They keep coming, that’s a good sign,” she said. “I’m so grateful.”
Sushi Siam operated like this for just over two years until opening their doors for in-person dining at the beginning of April, just after Wipan got back from a trip to Thailand.
Sushi in the high desert
Sushi in the middle of the high desert is still somewhat of a phenomenon. There are other establishments offering similar menu items in Taos County, like Sushi A La Hattori by Overland Sheepskin Company in El Prado, but Wipan and her family have still found their slice of the market in the area.
Wipan and her family’s relationship with their fish distributors is
just one of the reasons Sushi Siam has become a recent Northern New Mexico sushi destination. With three different fish suppliers on hand, they are able to pick the best of the batch from each one. “We get a whole fresh salmon from this one, whole fresh tuna from that one,” explained Wipan.
She also said having the freshest fish possible helps draw in more customers. “The most important thing is — the sushi has to be fresh,” she said. “There’s so many details about the temperature [and] how to keep it.” Wipan said this includes perfectly balancing the pH (the acidity level) of the sushi rice.
Wipan’s brother, Soranai Srasom, heads the sushi side of the restaurant. “He loved traveling, and he loved to travel to Japan,” she said. “He’s just like a sushi chef.”
Srasom said of sourcing fresh fish: “It’s kind of hard, but we’re lucky that we have good suppliers, so it’s not hard anymore.”
Wipan said she thinks sushi and Thai food do well together. “Sushi, I think, is a good fit,” she said.
While Srasom heads up the sushi side, Patcharin Khangrang takes charge in the kitchen, cooking up Thai favorites like pad see-ew, Siam crispy duck, drunken noodles and pineapple fried rice, among many other dishes.
With over 30 years of experience cooking Thai food professionally in Delray Beach, Fla., Khangrang knows his way around a kitchen, and operates it with just one other employee.
Next steps
Wipan said she and her family have already begun expanding. They plan to open a second location in Salida, Colo., “maybe in two weeks.” The restaurant will be called Sushi Thai Salida. It will feature the same menu Sushi Siam does in Taos.
As she progresses in business, Wipan said she is happy to see herself in her current position. In Thailand, living an hour outside of Bangkok, she worked for an import-export company, but said she wasn’t happy. While she didn’t plan to go into the restaurant business, she said it’s in her blood. “Since I was born, I was born with Thai food,” she joked, remembering her mother’s basil fried rice, coconut soup and Tom yum, all of which she learned to cook.
Wipan said she cooked quite a bit back in Thailand, but has since let her brother and father take over that side while she manages the restaurant. In fact, hardly a day goes by when she is not at the restaurant overseeing its operations. “I love to keep busy,” she said. “Work hard and play harder.
“The restaurant is my passion. I love to do this. I love to deal with the people, learn what each person likes,” she added. “When people have our food and they smile and they say like, ‘Thank you,’ my heart just grows bigger and bigger and bigger and I’m so happy.”