A restaurant to Thai for

This summer may very well be remembered as the year that Queen Street got a whole lot spicier.

This past Tuesday Lychee Thai, a new restaurant directly across the street from the Essar Centre, began serving Thai cuisine in the former Vincenzo's location.

Although it may be sad for some to see longstanding restaurants closing their doors, others are excited by the new choices to be had in this city for ethnic foods, such as Thai and Indian.

Tandoori Garden, which specialized in East Indian cuisine, opened last month in the old Mary's Lunch location farther East on Queen.

Lychee Thai is owned by a man who goes by the name Tan, who recently moved to Sault Ste Marie bringing along his family and his love for Thai cuisine.  

"Tan is my last name, people just call me Tan because it's easier," he says, smiling.

Tan owned and operated numerous Thai restaurants in Toronto after moving to Canada in the year 2000, and owned a restaurant in Belize for seven years before that.

While travelling through Sault Ste Marie recently, Tan saw a need in the community for Thai food and a great place to raise his young children.

"This town is very nice. I love it," he said in an interview after the busy lunch service at Lychee Thai.

There wasn't a free table during Thursday's lunch service and dinner service and takeout orders have been very brisk, with many coming in to pick up take-out menus.

During the interview a former patron of Vincenzo's stopped in to grab a menu.

"I used to eat here almost every day," he said to the server as he looked over their selection. He hadn't realized they opened so quickly after the former owners retired.

Thai food shares many ingredients and cooking styles as other Asian cuisines, but has its own unique flavours.

Many dishes have a balance of flavours, so even if a dish like Chicken Red Curry may have a spicy element to it, that will be balanced with the sweetness of the pineapple.

Although many of the specialized ingredients have to be sourced from Toronto, Tan sources much of the fresh produce locally.

He is using his years of experience cooking Thai food to source the very best ingredients he can find.

Their signature Thai dish is Pad Thai, which is a very mild but flavourful noodle dish with a sweet red sauce often served with chicken or shrimp and topped with chopped peanuts and bean sprouts.

Tan says that all of his hard work has been to create a better life for his family. He stressed the importance of preparing quality food and giving great service, and is bringing that work ethic with him to this new restaurant in the Sault.