These not only amp up texture and flavor, but provide a rich store of antioxidant, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties, including ginger, galanga (a cousin to ginger), lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, fresh mint, chilies, garlic, and turmeric, which are particularly welcome during this flu, cold, and COVID climate. Some customer favorites include a grilled Angus steak salad with an oomph from fish sauce, red chilies, and lime juice, a pan-fried salmon fillet on a bed of baby spinach and topped with sassy Thai mango salsa, and a crispy battered duck breast over an eye-popping blend of sliced tropical fruits.Ī health enthusiast, Jaroenlapnoparat shares this ethos with his customers by serving the freshest and highest quality, locally-sourced ingredients, especially a load of fresh fruits and vegetables, herbs, spices and roots. Many of his mom’s authentic creations have been transported over generations - and 8,300 miles across the Pacific - landing on his bountiful menu as long as mung bean glass noodles, “or my name,” he jokes, with a few SoCal tweaks. When jobs evaporated in his field, Jaroenlapnoparat decided to embrace his entrepreneurial spirit, and opened the doors at 4501 Mission Bay Drive 16 years ago.

His desire to operate and own a Thai restaurant solidified during his college years when he worked in the food service industry wearing various hats, from waitstaff and expediter to kitchen prepper and cook, while earning his MBA in finance. This credo is reflected in Thailand’s ubiquitous greeting, “ Gin khao reu yung?,” meaning, “Have you eaten rice yet?”īorn and raised in Bangkok, Jaroenlapnoparat garnered his art and passion for Thai cuisine at the tender age of 7 when he became sous chef for his busy mom, who ran a business by day, and cooked at night for her large family.

Jack Jaroenlapnoparat, owner of Lanna Thai, an eatery named after the region in his native land, which translates to “millions of rice fields,” hails from a culture steeped in hospitality, graciousness, and a desire to feed and nourish people. When you walk through the soothing entranceway of Lanna Thai Cuisine, a long-standing fixture of the Pacific Beach ethnic dining scene, you are welcomed by a rustic, iridescent sandstone etching of a pair of bejeweled Thai princesses bowing in gratitude.

Welcome to the ricefields