OK, yes, there are a lot of Thai food options in Central Oregon. Too many? No way. The expression "too much of a good thing" is impossible to really prove, especially when it comes to Thai food. You could eat Thai seven days a week and not repeat restaurants or dishes for a hot minute, and as far as my own experience has taught me, it's impossible to get tired of Thai cuisine.
But the Thai food scene in Bend has had a serious hole in it since around 2021, which is right around when Chef Kaew Sumner sold A Taste of Thailand (aka Thai on the Fly) and retired. It's hard to overstate how much I missed pulling up to that drive-thru on Greenwood Avenue, and being greeted so warmly with "Hi, Honey!" and then being plied with delicious and piping hot samples from Chef Kaew. Thai on the Fly was a Bend institution (and the city's first food cart...ever).
The food was always so delicious and consistent that I used it as a gift to myself when I really needed it. Anytime I needed cheering up, I knew Chef Kaew's combination plate would be the remedy for whatever ailed me. It's impossible to feel bad when you have a massive to-go box of her red curry bamboo, pad thai and pumpkin curry to enjoy.
Well, now Chew Kaew is back with a new spot with Honie's Thai Food, located inside the Shell Station on Hwy 20 that was formerly The Growler Guys. The menu is expanded and quite different, but the flavor profiles are still firmly Chew Kaew's, and instantly filled me with nostalgia in realizing how important and comforting her food has been to me over the years.
"I was born in Thailand and at a young age I started cooking alongside my grandmother," says Kaew. "I found a love in cooking for others during that time. It started with family, then friends, then grew into a career in working at restaurants. I loved cooking so much that my dream became to have my own restaurant. I made that dream come true here with the first food truck in Bend with Taste of Thailand (Thai on the Fly) over 20 years ago."
I missed Chew Kaew's food so much that it was entirely too difficult to decide what to order off of the massively expanded new menu, so thankfully Chef Kaew's close friend and longtime manager Duan graciously gave me samples of each of the curries they had in stock. From the classic Red Curry Bamboo to the Panang Curry and back to my very favorite Massaman Curry in all of Central Oregon, it's impossible to overstate how much Chef Kaew's flavor profiles were missed. Her Massaman in particular is so perfectly calibrated that you can get the individual notes of chili peppers, lemongrass, garlic and coconut cream while still luxuriating in the tiniest hints of cinnamon, white pepper, tender chicken and whatever other magic Chew Kaew has up her sleeve.
The Red Curry Bamboo is also better than ever with a deep and complicated heat that breezes in and leaves before becoming overwhelming. Again, Chew Kaew's balance of flavors is exquisite. With a much larger kitchen, it seems like she's able to really approach some of these dishes in slightly different and subtler ways. The spice from the phrik chi fa red chilies, combined with the lemongrass, shallots, garlic, peppercorns and hints of cumin and coriander, make the red curry a genuinely incredible dish.
After selling Thai on the Fly, Chef Kaew realized after a few years that she missed cooking for her family and customers and opened Honie's.
Co-worker David explains what to expect from the new location: "Kaew cooks from her heart. Despite being older now, she still cooks with the same passion she has always had. Her menu is different now, as well as her cooking setup. Customers that have been a part of Kaew's family may realize that orders take a bit longer because Kaew is older now — but she still makes every order fresh, right then and there, for each customer. It does take a little bit longer, but it's how Kaew loves to cook."
I also tried Chef Kaew's Tom Kha soup and Pad Thai, which were both delicious and very different from any of the other variations of the recipes I've tried in Bend. The Tom Kha was packed with chicken, mushrooms, cabbage and onions with a sour coconut base that was really complex and fantastic. The Pad Thai was lovely, leaning much deeper into the sweetness of the peanut sauce than the sourness of the tamarind. It's different than any Pad Thai I've tasted locally and I'm here for it.
Finally, took some Drunken Noodles for the road and had them for lunch the next day. Deep, smokey black pepper spice, thick rice noodles, the savory hints of anise from the basil and the tang of the teriyaki makes this another bullseye on Honie's menu. Honestly, maybe it's because of the deep connection I feel to Chef Kaew's food, but there was not a single dish I tried that didn't completely work for me.
I'm not the only one. There isn't really much of a setup inside the Shell station for people to eat there, so Honie's packs all of their food to go. Judging from the non-stop customers flowing through the doors (with only Chef Kaew and Duan behind the counter, running around like crazy), the secret is out.
This community has obviously been missing Kaew's flavors as much as I had been. She's always treated us like we're all members of her family when we eat her cooking, and I don't think that's something Bend has ever taken for granted. While I was there, the number of people that just came inside to say hi to Chef Kaew and tell her how happy they were to get her food again, was lovely to witness. Even as Bend grows so much larger, it's people like Kaew and Duan who keep it feeling like home.
