Thai this

April 5, 2009

Thai This...
New café offers a taste of Thailand

By Nancy Krcek Allen


It may take a village to raise a child, but it takes an extended family, five kids and two cities to raise a restaurant. Not to mention talent, determination, nerves of steel and hard work. Myker Vang Hang has them all. Myker and her husband, Cheng Hang, are the owners of the newly opened Thai Café in Traverse City.
From managing cash flow and staff, to obtaining food and satisfying customers, running a restaurant is not for the weak-hearted. Despite the soaring failure rate and brutal hours, restaurants continue to open in Northern Michigan. Some, like the Hangs’ 30-seat eatery, are pure gifts from owner to diner. It’s the kind of “find” you might stumble into while adventuring through a big city.
The Hangs are not strangers to difficulty. In 2005, the youngest of the Hangs’ five offspring developed lymphoma at age three (she is recovered.) Last year the Hangs’ downstate contractor ran off with $74,000, leaving them with huge bills owed to area businesses. Their house in Charlevoix went to foreclosure.
All this would undo most people, but not Myker—she is Hmong: “I couldn’t give up. I was driven. Everyone in the (Charlevoix and Traverse City) community pulled together to help me. In my heart I knew Traverse City needed a Thai restaurant. I just want people to try my food.”

A NEW START
Family and friends counseled Myker to “forget about it.” Instead, she asked them for loans. Her brother, an aunt, an uncle and both sets of parents sent money. “My aunt took money from her 401K and sent me $5,000,” says Myker. “I was able to borrow $115,000 just from family. That’s being Hmong—when it comes to hardship they are the tightest family.”
In 1970, Myker was born Hmong in Laos. She is part of a family of 10 children. Her father was in the military and worked with the CIA during the Vietnam War. In 1975 her family fled to a refugee camp in northern Thailand. “My dad knew we had to get an education,” says Myker. So her parents sent six elder brothers to the U.S. “In 1983 we left Thailand to come to the U.S. We call this the ‘third country’. We used to say, ‘you go to the third country and it’s like you died—if there is destiny then you’ll see each other again.’ It’s amazing how we met up again and became a whole family.”
Cheng’s parents, Lue and Youa Hang, owned Charlevoix’s Chinese-Thai restaurant, Chee Peng. In 2002, Myker, a health care worker, and Cheng, a computer programmer, decided to move north from Illinois and take over the restaurant. “I started as a waitress for my in-laws,” says Myker. “I learned to cook mostly from my mom. My dad was chief in the camp and he always had guests and meetings. Mom used to host huge parties, she would cook her heart out, and I would help her. I started cooking (at Chee Peng) because I wanted to develop a relationship with my customers. If they wanted to taste the sesame sauce I’d make it for them. I’ve always loved to cook.”
FAMILY AFFAIR
Ohio Yang is Thai Café’s sous chef. The Hangs’ five children (ranging from ages seven to 18) work in both restaurants. “The restaurant is like home,” says chef Myker. “You’ve got to love it. The kids grew up there. They started in back cutting mushrooms with a fruit knife and peeling shrimp; by age 11 or 12 they were ready to wait tables.”
Thai Café’s menu is chef Myker’s creation—influenced by food she ate in Thailand. “I won’t cook anything that I don’t want to eat. My husband is big on soups and salads. I’m big on salads and curries. All of them you can eat with rice—Thais never eat salads by themselves. I want to teach Caucasians that there is a different way to eat: you can eat it all together.”
Myker recommends the Thai yum salads—grilled meat or seafood over vegetables ($8 to $11) and Lard ($8)—minced chicken or beef cooked with Thai seasonings like lemongrass, galangal, roasted rice powder, mint, basil and cilantro, served in lettuce leaves. Her favorite dishes include Gang Ped and Gang Kiew Warm—red or green coconut curries (from $6 to $16 depending on the protein choice: chicken, beef, pork, tofu, seafood or duck), Pad Bai Gai Plow—street-style stir-fry and the fish dish, Pla Chu Chee—white fish with ginger, onion and sweet brown sauce ($12).
Thai Café offers appetizers like house-made summer rolls ($5) filled with vegetables, pork and shrimp, and bound with fresh rice paper wrappers, satay ($5.50), egg rolls, soups, noodle dishes, fried rice dishes, coconut curries, stir-fries, fish dishes and, for those who don’t like spicy, Chinese dishes. Beverages include Thai ice tea and Thai ice coffee. Myker even makes her own classical Thai desserts like Sweet Rice with Mango and Banana Rice Cake.
“My husband has a sign (in the kitchen) that says ‘beware of dog’,” says Myker. “People say to me, ‘you gonna have dog in here?’ Vietnamese and Chinese eat dog. I said, ‘no, I’m the dog. I was born the year of the dog; plus when I’m in the kitchen I’m a b----.’ You don’t want to mess around in my kitchen.”

The Thai Café is located in the Campus Plaza, 1219 East Front Street, Traverse City. Ph.: 231-929-1303. Hours: Daily 11 a.m. until 9 p.m.