The Bay Area is flush with Thai restaurants, but few, if any, serve Thai-Javanese lamb curry. A Southern Thai curry influenced by Indonesia’s Muslim population, it’s prepared with chiles, cardamom, clove and cumin, pounded by hand in a mortar into a smooth paste, then simmered in coconut milk with lamb. It’s served with roti on the side.
The dish will be on the menu at Saam, a new Thai restaurant at 415 Brannan St. debuting July 24 from Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn, one of Thailand’s most celebrated chefs. To open his first restaurant outside of Asia, he partnered with local Thai chefs Tee Atthapon, a longtime friend and chef-owner of Song Wat in San Francisco and Kan Kiin in Daly City, and Ty Choosuwan, who has worked at upscale San Francisco restaurants Prospect and Boulevard. Saam means three in Thai, a reference to the team: Tassanakajohn is the executive chef, Atthapon is general manager and Choosuwan the chef de cuisine.
Saam will serve regional Thai dishes using pristine Bay Area produce, such as a charred tomato relish and a curry made with foraged cauliflower mushrooms, a wild variety named for its frilly, cauliflower-like appearance. The restaurant will be casual, open eventually for both lunch and dinner, but Tassanakajohn pointed to San Francisco’s two Michelin-starred Thai restaurants, Kin Khao and Nari, as a reference of what diners can expect from Saam food-wise. “We want to do something, hopefully, close to that level,” Tassanakajohn said.
Saam joins a wave of modern, casual Thai restaurants opening throughout the Bay Area, including Tur, from the owners of breakout hit Khao Tiew in West Portal, and Glom Thai and Payakk in the East Bay…