alex owens

Cuando Saja Korean Kitchen opened on Fourth Avenue in Downtown San Diego this past June, it represented a homecoming for restaurateur Alex Thao.

A lifelong San Diegan who grew up in Mission Hills, Thao moved away five years ago to develop restaurants for various investors. In that time, he opened 13 restaurants, mostly in Los Angeles and New York.

“We’ve been bicoastal most of the last five years, but my wife and my 8-year-old daughter wanted to come back to San Diego,” he said. “To do that, I needed a project.”

That project turned out to be Saja Korean Kitchen, an upscale approach to Korean BBQ, one of the fastest growing food styles in the country.

Thao said that while San Diego has many all-you-can-eat Korean BBQs, most of them are in areas like Kearny Mesa, not Downtown.

“There are so many new places Downtown, but most are steaks or Italian or seafood,” he said. “There are no Korean BBQ [restaurants] Downtown; however, our research shows that there are lots of similarities between Chinese and Korean food — the same textures and ingredients.”

There may be a reason why the cuisine hasn’t made its way Downtown; most Korean BBQs have burners on the tables so that customers can cook the food themselves.

“Not everyone wants to smell like BBQ for the next three days,” he said.

Saja Korean Kitchen marks the third restaurant that Thao has opened Downtown. His first was Rama, a Thai restaurant at 327 Fourth Ave. and his second was the Chinese eatery, Lucky Liu’s at 332 J St.

Both were in keeping with his background, which is half-Thai, half-Chinese, but he’s quick to point out that most of the other restaurants he’s opened in the last five years are not Asian-themed at all.

“I’ve done French bistros, cocktail bars, and breakfast joints,” he said. “My next restaurant is going to be a modern Vietnamese place where the old Royal Thai restaurant used to be. There is so much more to that cuisine than Pho.”

For Thao, the restaurant business is almost a birthright. Back in 1980, his father started Celadon in Hillcrest, which was the city’s first Thai restaurant.

“Dad ran it for 21 years, but got burned out because he couldn’t be part of our lives,” Thao said. “He tried to keep us from working there as long as possible, but we did work there after school and weekends.

“He never allowed us on the floor. We’d be in the back cutting up chicken or cleaning toilets. It taught us responsibility,” he said.

Thao attended USC on a soccer scholarship and originally planned to become a lawyer.

“Dad wouldn’t pay for law school,” he said, laughing.

The restaurant business called and Thao was good at it. Rama is still considered one of the city’s best Thai spots and his investors have been happy with the other restaurants he’s opened.

He has enjoyed the bi-coastal life, but admits he has felt like “a high-end Navy family at times,” and said it’s nice to be home.

Now back in Mission Hills, Thao said he feels an affinity to Downtown.

“We lived in the Cityfront Terrace for five years before my daughter was born,” he said. “I think the recession hurt Downtown, but it taught a valuable lesson: You can’t depend on conventions. You have to take care of the neighbors.”

Saja Korean Kitchen opened just a few weeks before Comic-Con which forced the restaurant staff to work out kinks in a hurry. That was helpful, he said, but the real success will come as the place attracts regulars.

“You have to stay true to the roots,” he said. “Stay focused locally and the convention biz is gravy.”

Saja Korean Kitchen is located at 417 Fourth Ave., Downtown, across from the Horton Grand Theatre. For more information visit sajakitchen.com.

—Alex Owens is a San Diego-based freelance writer.