San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
New and familiar tastes at southern Thai restaurant
On the back wall of the new Thai Buri Restaurant on Loop 1604 near Blanco Road hangs a painting of rice paddies in Thailand, with colors to reflect the seasons of planting, growth and harvesting.
The painting resonates with Thai Buri co-owner MeeMee Buddhachati, whose family still cultivates rice in her native Thailand. She ran a restaurant in Bangkok, and she’s brought her love of Thailand and Thai cooking to Thai Buri, which she opened this month with her daughter and co-owner Jan K. Khiewyoi, and co-owner and co-chef Book Thiammeechao, whose parents own the celebrated San Antonio restaurant Thai Dee.
The menu includes familiar Thai dishes such as papaya salad, tom yum soup and pad Thai, but Thai Buri specializes in more robust southern Thai cooking, Khiewyoi said.
“We opened the restaurant so we could cook southern Thai food,” she said. “We want to be unique, we want to show that Thai food is not just pad Thai.”
Southern specialties at Thai Buri — “buri” means town or city — include a blazing hot pork stir-fry called Kua Kling, a fried chicken and eggplant dish called Buri Golden Green and a spicy whole fried Buri Snapper with chile sauce.
Along with traditional rice and noodle dishes, spring rolls and dumplings, Thai Buri offers spicy pork ribs, chicken turmeric soup and chicken curry puffs with a flaky shell like French pastry. The restaurant also serves beer, wine and sake.
The serene, country-style setting, with wood floors and white molding, belies the nine months of work that went into shepherding a former brunch spot with a limited kitchen through COVID-19 construction nightmares and February’s ice storm to become Thai Buri.
“We wanted a home-style decor,” Khiewyoi said. “Like mom cooking for you. And it is, but it’s my mom.”
Thai Buri, 1160 N. Loop 1604 W., Suite 110, 210-476-5072, Facebook: @thaiburirestaurantsa. Open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Dine-in and takeout available.