Easy Thai Easy Go Brings Chiang Mai Cuisine to the KP

When opportunity knocked, a new Purdy restaurant was the answer.

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Owners Orachorn and Lucas Schultz. Photo: Lisa Bryan, KP News

Easy Thai Easy Go, located in the Purdy Shopping Center, has been going strong since its grand opening in May 2019. Although the restaurant is only eight months old, its history goes way back, starting with a whirlwind romance that spanned the globe.

Owners Lucas and Orachorn (or-a-shon) Schultz met in Chiang Mai in 2003 when Luke was on a tour of Orachorn’s hometown. Luke was taking the trip between jobs and when he met Orachorn, his whole life changed.

“I just never boarded the plane to go home,” Luke said. “It was about two or three years of going back and forth, like working three months and then going back for a month, until she decided to move here.”

Orachorn’s family ran a restaurant in their village in the north of Thailand, where her mother taught her how to cook when she was very young.

“When I moved here with Luke and I cooked for his family, my mother-in-law would tell me, ‘You should do a cooking class,’” Orachorn said. “That was 14 years ago.”

The couple offered Thai cooking classes for about 10 years before buying a food truck.

“We bought the truck and got everything ready,” Luke said. “Then we needed to find a commercial kitchen, so we came to this spot when it used to be teriyaki, just trying to see if we could use the kitchen, and they told us they were actually looking to sell.

“I want some more Thai tea and peanut noodles!”

“So, we decided let’s jump in rather than doing the food truck thing and just go for it.”

Their most popular dishes are pad thai, golden cashew nuts, spring rolls and panang curry. Other menu items include noodle and rice dishes, soups, salads and seasonal favorites such as sweet mango with sticky rice.

In January, panang curry wings were a snow day special. Another popular special is khao soi gai, a northern-style curry soup with noodles and a slow-cooked chicken drumstick.

With nearly 50 options to choose from, young locals, such as 4-year-old Aiden Smith of Lakebay, have the opportunity to discover a love for Thai specialties close to home.

“It’s delicious!” Aiden said. “I want some more Thai tea and peanut noodles!”

“My grandpa is Thai and makes some stuff but not pad thai,” said Aiden’s mom, Nichole. “So, Aiden figured out his love for the noodles and Thai tea there.”

Key Peninsula folks of all ages appreciate having the new restaurant nearby.

“It’s great to have more and more local restaurant options,” said Rocky Bay resident Sarah Wiyrick.

“It’s a great option to have a different type of cuisine close to the peninsula,” said Vanessa Lentrichia of Vaughn. “I like that you can choose your spiciness level. I like my food at a 5 whereas my husband likes his closer to a 1 or 0.”

Although it can be difficult to please everyone, the owners try their best to accommodate customer tastes. After receiving feedback about their pad thai, they adjusted the recipe.

“When we started, we did it traditional Thai style, which is dry and not as sweet,” Luke said. “Now we use more sauce to make it a little bit more wet and a bit sweeter.”

Providing high-quality service is important to Luke and Orachorn and their customers have noticed.

“They’re very fast,” said Home resident Jen Maynard. “I’ve been able to pick up on my way home from work with no wait.”

“They’re super nice,” said Lara Yelken of Gig Harbor. “I’m always impressed by their friendliness.”

As Easy Thai Easy Go approaches its first anniversary, Luke and Orachorn’s goals for the future include staying busy, seeing customers return and maintaining high quality food. “I want everybody (to) walk in my store and walk out with happiness,” Orachorn said.

Easy Thai Easy Go is located at 6707 Tyee Drive NW in Purdy.


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