Thai House owner Patt Suwansupa is planning a challenge for lovers of ‘ridiculously spicy’ food.
The son of two Thai restaurateurs, Pat Suwansupa tried branching out in his twenties. He enrolled at San Diego State to study criminal justice, and then later at a school in Monterey for radiology. “I always got pulled back into the restaurant,” he says. “I like being in the kitchen.”
SCW: How spicy do you like your Thai food?
PATT SUWANSUPA: I grew up eating really spicy food. My dad’s from Southern Thailand. When you go to a Thai restaurant and ask for Thai spicy, they usually grade that by the Southern Thai people. They eat ridiculously crazy stuff. Some of my favorites are the spicy noodles or the drunken noodles or the basil fried rice, but I like mine pretty darn insanely spicy. We have regulars that come down and grew a relationship with me, and when they ask for super spicy, we give them super spicy. We’re going to start this spicy papaya challenge in January. If you finishv this challenge, you can win a T-shirt and get your picture on the wall.
Tell me more about the challenge.
If I can get 15 or 20 people to line up, everybody will get a nice big plate of something ridiculously spicy—two or three ghost chilies, five or six habaneros. Ghost chilies are the second spiciest chili in the world. I might do the challenge too, because I don’t want people to think I made it, but I wouldn’t it eat.
Then you’ll go away crying?
I’ll probably go away crying. I’m not gonna lie. That thing’s pretty hot.
How did you discover the plum wine sake?
Tomodachi. When I wasn’t working at my parents’ restaurant, I was working as a server or a sous chef for a Japanese restaurant. I was doing that for the last 10 years. One of my favorite drinks was tomodachi —it’s delicious. Sweet plum wine mixed with hot sake is one of the better mixed drinks you could do yourself.
Do you have a favorite decoration?
There’s a very traditional hardwood that’s one piece carved, by the women’s bathroom. And it’s probably six feet tall and two-and-a-half feet wide. It’s the scenery of an old myth with two Thai gods battling each other—couple thousand hours of carving.
Pad Thai or Pad See Ew?
You know what’s funny: Pad Thai’s probably the most popular Thai dish, but I haven’t had it in 10 years. But Pad See Ew is one of my favorite dishes on the not-spicy side.
