Pat Tharachai, owner of Satay Bar in Greenwood (8317 Greenwood Ave. N.), took to cooking for other people when he was young, spending much of his time in the family kitchen preparing meals with his mother. He’s made a life of running restaurants, and after opening Satay Bar in Greenwood, Tharachai has a new lease on an old passion.
Satay Bar offers Thai cuisine and specializes in satay, a dish consisting of seasoned, skewered meats. The meats are grilled and typically served with a served with a sauce such a peanut sauce.
Tharachai, now 65, moved to America in 1970 from Bangkok, Thailand at a very young. He went to high school in Walla Walla and fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. In 1980 he moved to LA and started out in the restaurant industry by taking over a sandwich shop and from there he ran a string of shops. Then in 2000 he moved to Seattle and started out as a painter and handyman, but soon he went back to his roots and opened another restaurant. Eventually he opened a noodle shop on Stone Way and was there for a few years.
“I love the region and just fell in live weather here and like many people doing the same thing that I am and moved here. And so I came and had my eye on starting a restaurant,” said Tharachai.
Being of Chinese descent, Tharachai said he identified with the entrepreneur tradition of the culture. He has owned other businesses and at a young age he owned apartment buildings. Satay Bar is his sixth restaurant he has opened.
“Restaurants, throughout my career, have been a main staple for me as a business. Throughout the history of my family we have never worked for anybody. Every single one of us has had our own thing to do…and restaurants was what I wanted to do. I was the person who helped my mother the most, and I learned to cook by preparing things. I’m familiar with the kitchen and cooking since I was little.”
By cooking with his mother, Tharachai picked up many of his mother’s recipes and cooking techniques. One technique Tharachai learned was marinating his meats with coconut milk.
“When you marinate with oil eventually the oil separates from the meat while it’s cooking but the coconut milk becomes part of the meat. The meat tenderizes faster and lasts longer and it’s not dry.”
Most of the Tharachai’s satay is marinated with coconut milk. The brand he uses is from Thailand and he’s been buying it for decades. He swears by it.
“It’s the best brand because it’s the creamiest.”
For Tharachai coconut milk isn’t just a marinade, but a base for most of his recipes. Maintaining traditional Thai cuisine, Tharachai stays away from butter and uses coconut milk instead. He said that the coconut milk imparts a distinct flavor and works well with other ingredients like lime leaf and catfish – something that no other ingredient can provide.
“I feel like it makes my dishes a little different. Often times people ask me what I put in there. It makes it silky almost. … Coconut milk is a form of cooking as a base. You can use almost everything from the coconut. I jut love it.”
Tharachai said something that marries well with coconut milk is curry, and he specializes in making curries. His favorite curry to use is the green curry. Another favorite dish from his menus is the catfish curry and the manila clams. Something Tharachai likes to add to his dishes is Lime leaf.
“The lime leaf creates and amazing combination with the curries. It’s fresh. It freshens the dish. When you chew the leaf it adds a different flavor and then the aroma of it is herbal. It’s fresh. I love it. The combination with the catfish makes it taste better.”
Tharachai and his wife Shelley opened their new location two months ago. Tharachai said that like any business starting out there were a few things to get dialed in, but now he feels he’s streamlined his system and is launching a new menu with more noodle dishes and traditional fried rice.
“I wanted to make sure my marinating and my cooking systems were in place. Now I’m feeling confident and ready.”
Of course, Tharachai is going to keep his favorite dish, the pan-fried catfish with curry. Tharachai prefers the red and the green curries with the catfish.
“The curries have a different flavors, so when I’m cooking with each one I use different vegetables. I cook differently with each one.”
“I never get tired of catfish -- the texture, the flavor, the combination with spices in there. Just like you might have breakfast with toast or cereal, I could have catfish every morning as a meal. I never get tired of it. I love it.”
Tharachai said his favorite signature dish is the baby clam or manila clam in a clay pot.
“It's finger licking good (chuckles). I love to watch people eat this dish because you can see how they like it. I see people tip their head and say ‘Mmmm.’”
Tharachai said that by looking at the plates that come back to the kitchen once customers are through eating he discovers what works and what didn’t work – what the customers liked and what they didn't, and be bases his menu decisions on that.
“My food is different, but it’s good. I’ve been in the business long enough and I know it in my heart -- how to make dishes, the flavor, the vegetable, what ever it is I just have that instinct to tell me what it is. The feedback of the customer is always crucial. It’s a good feeling when people enjoy my food. I love to feed people.”
For more information visit http://sataybar.net/menu/
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