Columbia’s Kao Thai joins developing list of restaurants set just for Main Street

2 September 2022

Sunlight Cobb, owner of Kao Thai Cuisine in the Windows vista, originally came to Columbia to flee the restaurant industry. That will didn’t quite go because planned. The Greenville-native was raised working in her mom’s cafe and came to the College of South Carolina in the mid-2000s with the goal of becoming the physician’s assistant. But in 2018, as she noticed Columbia‘s growth, she leaned on her behalf experience as a teenager within her mom’s restaurant within Greenville and decided to open up her own spot.

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“Back within 2018, I think, Columbia had been kind of growing, and at that period, I was like, ‘Yeah certain, we can look at a space right here, ‘ ” Cobb stated. Cobb’s spot — Kao Thai Cuisine — opened up in the Vista that exact same year and has since discovered success in Columbia, my numbers were so high that Cobb is getting ready to move the location to Major Street next year. “I simply feel like it’s time for all of us to move to a new place with more foot traffic, inch Cobb said. She stated her Vista location is frequently hard for people to find and he or she hopes the visibility upon Main Street will generate business.

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The restaurant, which usually sits at 1001 United states senate St in the Vista, may soon close and proceed to 1307 Main St . within the spring of next year, based on Cobb. Cobb has discovered that the Thai street foods she enjoyed from the girl mother’s restaurant as a child is popular in towns like Columbia and Greenville. “There’s so much variety within Thai street food and Thailänder food in general. Thai food is all about the balance of tastes. So there are the 5 flavors of salty, fairly sweet, spicy, sour, and rich and creamy. And I think that appeals to many people, ” Cobb said. The girl mother, Gai Wilson, relocated to the United States from Bangkok being a young adult and began working in the restaurant market when she arrived. Cobb followed in her actions, working at her mother’s restaurant while in high school within Greenville. That restaurant offers since been sold. The girl mother relocated her own cafe to Asheville in 2021, and while Cobb was influenced by her mother’s dining places, there are clear differences. The meals is similar but the concept is a lot different — with the Asheville location having a neighborhood as well as the Vista location creating a downtown/city vibe. Cobb will take that downtown feel of her Vista place to Main Street. The lady hopes to push the particular restaurant’s craft cocktail choices, led by head bartenders Baleigh Landreneau, on a road that has grown in its beverage offerings over the last decade. Places like Bourbon, Hendrix plus Lula Drake Wine Parlour, among others, have grown the district’s drinking scene. It also increases the growing number of Asian dining places opening in, or going to, the district. Just this season, TakoSushi opened in the Game building on Main Road. The Middletons, a notable Columbia family responsible for several restaurants on the street, will shortly open a hibachi place in the Main Course building. Plus MOA Korean BBQ through the owner of 929 Cooking area and Bar is set to spread out in the near future. “We’re really pumped up about (Kao Thai) and it’s amusing how things come due to the fact we had just said lately, about a year ago, ‘Well, what don’t we have upon Main Street? ‘ All of us used to have M Cafe… yet after they left we did not really have an Asian cafe for some time and there were many people, including me, that really skipped that, ” said He Kennell, president City Middle Partnership, which is responsible for financial development and advocacy associated with Main Street and the region surrounding it. The spot may open in the first one fourth of next year. Official hrs have not yet been introduced but Cobb said the lady hopes to eventually provide lunch, brunch and to likely be operational later at night.

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