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Kearney’s Suwannee is a great place to Thai one on
by Betty Sayers, Pam Soreide and Phil Soreide

After a long day of slaving over a hot keyboard, the Rural Foodies like to relax with a little libation and a nosh to reflect on the day just past and discuss upcoming culinary adventures. As it happens, the restaurant we have in mind is not the ideal place for a saucy little Pinot Noir, a couple of dry martinis, and a hummus platter, so we agreed to meet at The Venue, an appealingly modern restaurant attached to Kearney’s Holiday Inn.

Because we have set our sights on a new Thai restaurant in Kearney, the conversation naturally turned to Thai restaurants — and Thai people — we have known. While we nibbled on a plate of fresh pita bread with creamy hummus, a nice selection of Greek olives, marinated cucumbers and mushroom, and red onion salad, we reminisced about lunches of Pad Thai, chicken satay, and stacks of crisp, fresh vegetables cut in fine julienne and laced with a savory-sweet vinegar dressing; marveled at the exotic, complex taste of Thai curries and Thai ice tea; and remembered the first time each of us learned that some Thai dishes are really, but really, hot – the kind of spicy that cleans out your sinuses.

Fear not strip malls

We’ve come to the Suwanee Thai Restaurant at the invitation of manager Kevin Farley who assured us the experience would be authentic, the servers knowledgeable and friendly, and the food excellent.

Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard that before.

As we turn into the parking lot, not far from the campus of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, we remind ourselves that good restaurants bloom where they’re planted, and just because a restaurant happens to be next to the Konica-Minolta copier store doesn’t mean they don’t make a great Pad Thai.

Although it’s a cold February Wednesday, the restaurant was buzzing with diners, the staff was hopping, and the air was redolent with exotic spices drifting from the kitchen. Kevin soon found us a table and brought out the traditional sweet, fruity Thai ice tea for us to try. To warm up from the cold winter night, we gratefully accepted hot tea, which was presented as a box of individual choices.

We study the menu

As Kevin left us to study the menu, he commented that when eating Thai cuisine, diners will encounter spices not in their spice drawer at home. Ah, truer words were never spoken.

We ordered an appetizer plate with shrimp  fried in wonton wrappers; silver bags (a seafood mélange inside crisp wontons not unlike Crab Rangoon); and spring rolls (fresh, crisp chicken and salad in a tender rice- wrap, served with a delightful dipping sauce).

The ideal Thai meal is a harmonious blend of the spicy, the subtle, the sweet and the sour, and is meant to be equally satisfying to eye, nose and palate. Although we recognize some old favorites on the menu, we are hardly Thai gourmets, so we ask Kevin to recommend the specialties of the house. One of our group remembered a curry dish featuring Thai red chilies that burned mercilessly. Kevin said that a curry was an important aspect of Thai cuisine, but said, “I will recommend a one-chili curry. Do not worry.” With Kevin’s aid we ordered Crispy Basil Duck, Drunken Noodles and Panang Curry, which Kevin assured us was a staff favorite.

We get the back-story

While we waited for the main course, Kevin told us some history of the Suwanee restaurant.

He said the owners, Pat and his wife Suwannee, for whom the restaurant is named, had been working in Thai restaurants all across America for more than 20 years. When we asked Kevin how they came to start a restaurant in the middle of Nebraska, his answer surprised us. He said, “They were driving from California east on Interstate 80, and they stopped in Kearney and discovered that Kearney didn’t have a Thai restaurant.” That simple.

They opened a restaurant with a partner, but when that didn’t work out, they started over on their own, opening Suwannee near the campus of UNK in the summer of 2010. That was a smart business move: the University of Nebraska at Kearney has a high percentage of foreign students in the student body, and many of them are Asians who enjoy eating Thai cuisine.

Because Pat and Suwannee are from different parts of Thailand, they characterize their cooking as Thai fusion. And because Thailand is where it is, Thai cuisine is already a fusion of Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Dutch, French and Japanese influences. The result is there’s a lot of variety to choose from at the Suwannee.

Little artworks

As with many Asian cuisines, the presentation of the food is an important aspect of the dining experience. The platters arrived ready for a photo shoot in Food and Wine magazine or Bon Appetit.  As is our habit, sometimes to our embarrassment and the amusement of those around us, we tasted some of each platter, trading bites and conversation about complex, deep flavors of galangal and lemon grass and kefir lime leaves. Kevin brought a small dish of crushed fresh chilies, which the brave among us tried – but cautiously.

The crispy duck skin was savory and crackly, and the vegetables and flavors were sublime. The curry was delightful, just as Kevin promised, with plump, fresh, tender shrimp. The Drunken Noodles — spicy rice noodles — seemed like a comfort food to us, and we talked, sipped our tea, and leisurely tasted the delicious foods until the platters were nearly polished and almost everyone else had left the restaurant.

We stay to the end

But the Rural Foodies don’t stop tasting until the end — all for you, dear reader — and that means dessert. We ordered the coconut ice cream. It arrived in a frosty white mound sprinkled with toasted almonds and dribbled with a raspberry sauce. A puff of whipped cream complemented the delicate dessert.  Coconut milk replaces cream in Thai cooking, creating a dessert full of flavor yet light.

At the very end of our meal, Suwannee herself came out of the kitchen to meet us. Although she was small and seemed delicate, she had a firm handshake and a big smile, accepting compliments almost shyly and encouraging us to come again soon.

As we gathered our coats, we asked Kevin about the future, and it looks bright for Suwannee. Although Pat had a heart attack in the fall, he is recovered and back in the kitchen. Business continues to improve, a wine and beer license is in the works, and they are hoping to expand both the menu and the seating.

And as we see it, that’s a good thing. Because this is a place we expect to return to again and again. It was all that Kevin claimed in his invitation, and more.

Who to Contact

Suwannee Thai Cuisine
1420 West 24th Street
Kearney, NE 68845
(308) 234-2289
Open Monday-Saturday 11-3 and 5-9, Closed Sunday
Also on Facebook at Suwannee Thai Cuisine

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