After five and a half years of business in Ann Arbor, the owners of No Thai! are excited to bring their business back to their former stomping grounds.
No Thai!, a quick-serve Thai food restaurant serving dishes such as pad thai, drunken noodles and curry, began in 2005 in Ann Arbor by co-owners Jeff Cho, Brian Kim, Victor Kim and Noerung Hang — most of whom attended MSU as undergraduates. They recently made the decision to open a No Thai! location in East Lansing.
“This is where we grew up in college — we’re familiar with campus,” Cho said. “Once we started looking at places up (here), it brought back nostalgia.”
The restaurant will be located at the former Señor Georgio’s location, 403 E. Grand River Ave.
Cho said extensive renovations will be completed on the building before No Thai! opens, and that new equipment for food is being implemented to better suit the Thai menu. He said the concept behind the restaurant stemmed from the desire to create a modern Thai restaurant along the same vein as food chains such as Chipotle.
“We wanted to open an Asian restaurant that didn’t have the mom-and-pop feel,” he said. “We wanted something more contemporary and relevant to this generation.”
Heather Pope, East Lansing’s community development specialist, said city officials have spoken with the owners of the restaurant and said the space likely will be open in about two months.
She said the opening of another eatery in East Lansing likely would be another good option for students and residents to eat at when choosing places to dine.
“It will be a nice addition to the variety of ethnic restaurants in downtown East Lansing,” Pope said.
A large variety of eateries in the area is beneficial, especially in a community such as East Lansing with a highly diverse population, said Pamela Yang, owner of family-owned Thai restaurant Thai 102 Degrees, 225 M.A.C. Ave.
“It’s always good to have a good amount of different cuisine for everyone,” Yang said. “It just gives everyone in the community more variety of food.”
Having another foreign food option in downtown East Lansing would be beneficial to students and residents looking for places to eat, nutritional sciences senior Celina Pajtas said.
“It’s always nice to have more diversity in food, as far as eating out goes,” Pajtas said.
Cho said he and the other co-owners of No Thai! are excited to expand to East Lansing, and said he hoped the new location would be successful in this area.
“It’s been a long time coming — we’re glad we’re finally at the point where we’re ready to do it,” he said.
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