SEATTLE - You may never have known her name but you have probably felt her influence - on your tongue, on your taste buds, way back in your throat where the really good spices linger and rise and spread the heat of Southeast Asia.
Lisa Suanpirintra Ruhl died last month in her native Thailand and was remembered in ceremonies this weekend in Seattle.
She was a pioneer. A pad Thai pioneer, if you will. Somebody who loved to cook and loved to feed people and loved to help spread the good word about Thailand and Thai food. Her brother Jack estimates she had some kind of connection with most of the Thai restaurants in the Puget Sound region.
About 75 percent, he estimates. I'm very proud of my sister. Thirty years ago she was the one who introduced Thai food to American people here in the Pacific Northwest.
More than just sharing her food she was always willing to share her secrets of success with former waiters and waitresses and chefs and managers who moved on to open their own places, with anybody who came to her asking for help and advice.
We can at least say for sure Lisa was one of the first. And certainly the first on the Eastside. Her Thai Kitchen, which opened in 1981, is still in operation in Bellevue, run by her daughters Tammy and Cindy.
She loved Thailand and she wanted everybody to love it, said Cindy.
The sisters, their brother and their uncles all run restaurants. There are five in the family now, many more that have been opened and sold over the years. As for the industry in general, the Washington Restaurant Association says there are 250 Thai restaurants in the state now. Hard to say exactly how much impact Lisa had on that number but it's safe to say she got to the scene early, worked hard, and promoted her cuisine and country as diligently as anybody.
A public memorial service this weekend in Seattle drew 300 people or so. It's gratifying proof for her family that all the meals she served, all the seven-day weeks she worked, all the smiles and handshakes and help added up to a lot of friendship.
