“I drove by the building and thought, ‘this is perfect,’ so I turned around,” remembers Dan Robinson, “I stood on the planters to look in the windows, peeked over the fence, and then got Cat and we sat across the street at Bink’s to talk about it.” “And I agreed, it was perfect!,” adds Pornsupak “Cat” Bunnag, a Bangkok native. Robinson and Bunnag had been searching for a space to share the Thai street food dishes Cat cooked at home, and in 2017 a cozy Midtown bungalow was transformed into Glai Baan.
“When we agreed on everything, Cat immediately flew to Thailand to buy antiques and plateware,” says Robinson, and the charming cottage was restyled as a labor of love. “We literally did every single thing ourselves. Every paint stroke, every piece of art, every café curtain and every table and chair. We found wood in a parking lot, bought furniture on OfferUp and Craig’s List, sanded and stained, and Cat drew the sign on a napkin.”
“I remember the night we took the paper off the windows,” he continues. “We had our lights on and our mascot Doraemon up, ran outside, looked up at the sign, and it was just so cool.” “We kept saying to ourselves, it’s just so cute, it’s the cutest restaurant ever,” adds Bunnag with a laugh. “We loved it so much and were just so excited to share it.”
The plans were to ease into the public opening—“the first night we invited our neighbors and the second night our friends in the industry,” says Cat—but by the third night the news had spread. “We were busy super-fast.” “I remember thinking, how do all these people know about us,” says Robinson, “but Cat knew that was going to happen.” “I did always say that we were going to be crazy busy,” admits Bunnag with a smile.
For fervid fans, Bunnag’s favorite street food dishes of Bangkok and northeastern Thailand fuel the draw. With just 50 seats, a small bar nook, and a lush fenced-in patio, reservations are a must to avoid the walk-in waits. Captivating the palate is a menu divided into small plates designed for sharing along with soups and noodle and rice dishes. Alongside is a just-as-stellar beverage program, which was recently announced as a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program. In addition to a thoughtfully curated wine list and Thai and local craft brews, the inventive cocktail list abounds with the essence of Thailand. One such example is the signature Laab-sided, created by former barkeep Maxwell Berlin, which was an immediate breakout hit. Inspired by the flavors of laab, a Thai salad, and a classic gin drink called a South Side, it artfully combines refreshing and savory by using cucumber-infused vodka, a green onion and shallot simple syrup, and a dash of fish sauce for a pop of salinity.
The cuisine’s celebrated hot-sour-salty-sweet counterbalance of flavors is seen in dishes like somtum. A vibrant salad of shredded green papaya, tomatoes and yardlong beans tossed with a tangy dressing of fish sauce, chiles, and lime, it can also be ordered with nuggets of crispy pork belly or umami-rich salted crab. Kanom jeeb, juicy pork and scallion dumplings, are another fan favorite. “I prep by making at least 139 orders of dumpling every single day,” says Cat. You can’t go wrong with Silom Road moo ping, skewers of grilled pork marinated in coconut milk, soy and garlic, and on my last visit with a group of friends, we unanimously agreed to order a second round of peek gai tod, fried marinated chicken wings accompanied by a ramekin of chile-spiked jaew sauce.
Don’t miss the chalkboard, which might list specials like crab curry, banana blossom salad with shrimp and lychee, or whole fried snapper with mango salad. In fact, dishes that were once specials have migrated to the menu due to popular demand such as the soul-satisfying Panang curry with tender braised beef, roasted peppers, and bamboo shoots. And if you order the smoked mackerel fried rice, you’ll see why this was recognized by PHOENIX magazine as one of the 101 Best Dishes in the Valley.
Glai Baan is roughly translated from Thai as “far from home” and it brings great joy for Cat to share her beloved food memories with its guests. “It’s the street-style food I miss, and I knew people would love it too,” says Cat, whose dream was “a neighborhood restaurant that would make people happy.” Mission accomplished.
Written by Christina Barrueta
Photography by Luke Irvin
2333 E Osborn Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016