Alex Thao, who runs Rama and Lucky Lui\u2019s in Downtown, recently also opened Saja Korean Kitchen and has plans to open another.
(Courtesy Alex Thao)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThat project turned out to be Saja Korean Kitchen, an upscale approach to Korean BBQ, one of the fastest growing food styles in the country.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many new places Downtown, but most are steaks or Italian or seafood,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are no Korean BBQ [restaurants] Downtown; however, our research shows that there are lots of similarities between Chinese and Korean food \u2014 the same textures and ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n
There may be a reason why the cuisine hasn\u2019t made its way Downtown; most Korean BBQs have burners on the tables so that customers can cook the food themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everyone wants to smell like BBQ for the next three days,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s at 332 J St.<\/p>\n
Both were in keeping with his background, which is half-Thai, half-Chinese, but he\u2019s quick to point out that most of the other restaurants he\u2019s opened in the last five years are not Asian-themed at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve done French bistros, cocktail bars, and breakfast joints,\u201d he said. \u201cMy 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Thao, the restaurant business is almost a birthright. Back in 1980, his father started Celadon in Hillcrest, which was the city\u2019s first Thai restaurant.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad ran it for 21 years, but got burned out because he couldn\u2019t be part of our lives,\u201d Thao said. \u201cHe tried to keep us from working there as long as possible, but we did work there after school and weekends.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never allowed us on the floor. We\u2019d be in the back cutting up chicken or cleaning toilets. It taught us responsibility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Thao attended USC on a soccer scholarship and originally planned to become a lawyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad wouldn\u2019t pay for law school,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n
The restaurant business called and Thao was good at it. Rama is still considered one of the city\u2019s best Thai spots and his investors have been happy with the other restaurants he\u2019s opened.<\/p>\n
He has enjoyed the bi-coastal life, but admits he has felt like \u201ca high-end Navy family at times,\u201d and said it\u2019s nice to be home.<\/p>\n
Now back in Mission Hills, Thao said he feels an affinity to Downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lived in the Cityfront Terrace for five years before my daughter was born,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the recession hurt Downtown, but it taught a valuable lesson: You can\u2019t depend on conventions. You have to take care of the neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to stay true to the roots,\u201d he said. \u201cStay focused locally and the convention biz is gravy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saja Korean Kitchen is located at 417 Fourth Ave., Downtown, across from the Horton Grand Theatre. For more information visit sajakitchen.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u2014Alex Owens is a San Diego-based freelance writer.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alex Owens When 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 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Local restaurateur \u2018comes home\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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