Today we’d like to introduce you to Graham Painter.
Hi Graham, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My wife, Benchawan Jabthong Painter, has been cooking Thai food all of her life. Born into a family with a neighborhood restaurant in North Central Thailand—the city of Nakhon Sawan—she began making from scratch curries and other Thai staples with her grandma from the age of six. While working as an advertising creative director in Bangkok, I met her and the rest is history. After years of living together in Thailand—and later Myanmar—I got news that my father was not well, so we made the decision to move back to Houston to be closer to my family.
Benchawan carried on her career here in the kitchen and worked at Saltair, Clark Cooper Group’s former seafood restaurant—and later at Justin Yu’s celebrated restaurant Theodore Rex. While there, she became excited about his careful attention to detail and farm to table approach that reminded her of cooking with her grandma, where everything was sourced locally.
Intent on launching a tasting menu styled restaurant serving progressive Thai tastes, Benchawan branched out on her own. Shortly afterward, the COVID-19 pandemic showed up and disrupted everything.
I left an advertising agency I had started to combine forces with my wife and have a go of things with the birth of our first restaurant, Street to Kitchen, in August of 2020.
Our concept of unapologetically authentic—and elevated—handmade Thai street food has been an absolute blast! And we get to do it in our beloved East End neighborhood!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Being born in the midst of a global pandemic has been as challenging as we could have ever imagined. For the first half year, we could not even attempt dine in service. As a chef-driven restaurant, we never would have dreamed—pre-pandemic—of having served takeaway food. But, that’s exactly how we started, drive through window and all. As with all restaurants in the current economic reality, we have dealt with supply chain issues, sharp rises in food costs and labor shortages from the get go. But, our fans and guests have stood by us the whole time. We are so grateful for the massive foodie scene in Houston and our fellow industry colleagues who support us.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
To answer the question about my work, I really think it should be about both my wife and me. Together, we are Street to Kitchen—and gone from very different backgrounds. I have been working as a Writer/Creative Director in advertising for 25 years internationally. I started my career in Houston, worked for years in New York City and—after finishing Miami Ad School in South Beach—ended up in London for 10 years before accepting a job in Bangkok for the next 7 years. The final year I spent in Yangon, Myanmar, where I helped launch little known brands like Coca-Cola and Unilever. I know this sounds crazy, but, next to North Korea, Myanmar had been the most isolated country on earth for 60 years before opening up to the world.
As for Benchawan—as previously mentioned—she has been cooking Thai food her whole life—and has worked in restaurants in Nakhon Sawan, Bangkok and Houston before opening Street to Kitchen with me in August 2020. As a chef, she exercises extreme attention to detail, keeps a tight ship with her team in the kitchen and insists on making everything from scratch. She is also dedicated to using locally sourced ingredients and mentoring rising star talent in the kitchen.
Together, we are the perfect storm of super-talented innovative Thai native chef and wacky creative as guy who drives her crazy with weird ideas and big, insurmountable dreams.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I think the takeaway game is here to stay. We are even seeing upscale restaurants start to build locations with drive-through windows in them like us.
We are also noticing smaller restaurants like us that don’t compromise vision and taste do well. At least, in our case, the have-it-chef’s-way vs have-it-your-way is working well for us. We can only hope that trend continues to spread, giving chefs the opportunity to offer up their best efforts, rather than the fast food nation that has dominated for so long. Also, with the sharp rise in food costs and the price of sourcing locally—along with restaurant professionals needing to make a living wage—the trend of realistic restaurant costs to meet those demands needs to happen. I think we will see the price of full service restaurants go up, so those with an uncompromising quality stand the best chance of sticking around.
Contact Info:
- Email: street2kitchen@gmail.com
- Website: streettokitchen.com
- Instagram: streettokitchen
- Facebook: streettokitchen
Image Credits
Kirsten Gilliam Photography
Street to Kitchen
