Sawaddee’s new location at 1630 30th Street offers a light-year’s improvement in available parking, and sunlight streams in from a bank of windows—something customers who dined at the former windowless location on Pearl Street Mall can appreciate.

Yet everything else about Sawaddee is the same, from owner Nimmaratee Neamthed’s delicious family recipes to her daughter, Gift, welcoming you at the door and guiding you to one of eight cozy tea rooms or a table to enjoy your meal. “We try to keep our foods as authentic as we can,” Gift says, noting that certain ingredients just can’t be found in the States. For example, kra pow leaves (for Pad Kra Pow) grow on trees native to Thailand. Here Nim substitutes basil, which has a similar flavor but is more readily available.

Although many traditional Thai ingredients are now easily found in Asian markets, when Nim and her husband first came to the States in 1980 they had to experiment with what was at hand. In those days, they’d point to their selection when dining out, and then try to remember which dishes they liked.

Nim’s journey to the U.S. reveals her adaptability. When she was in her 20s, accompanied by her husband and Gift, who was 2 at the time, she joined her three older sisters in moving from their native Thailand halfway around the world to Colorado. An accounting clerk in Thailand, Nim quickly found a job in Littleton at the State Compensation Insurance Authority. Although she spoke little English when she arrived, Nim worked her way up from the mailroom to claims handler.

She moved to Boulder in 1994 to work with her sister and brother-in-law at the restaurant they’d opened two years earlier. In 1997, when the couple decided to move to Fort Collins to open a new restaurant, Nim bought their business. Since then, with the help of daughters Gift and Tulli, she has operated Sawaddee.

Pleasing All Palates

Sawaddee’s most popular dish is pad Thai, stir-fried Thai rice noodles mixed with bean sprouts, onions, peanuts and egg. As with most menu items, diners can customize orders, opting to add chicken, pork, beef, tofu or shrimp, and personalizing the “temperature” of the dish.

Although many people think all Thai food is fiery hot and spicy, Gift maintains that Sawaddee strives to make flavorful food that’s not left on a plate because it’s too hot to eat. Dishes can be prepared mild, medium (the most common choice) or hot. A few insiders with asbestos palates request “Thai hot,” but it’s not listed on the menu.

Gift attributes Sawaddee’s success to “good food and loyal customers.” She and her mother work six days a week (Tuesday through Sunday) serving lunch and dinner. Nim directs the kitchen, while Gift (her real name, Mutjarin, means a type of tree that protects Buddha from the rain; Gift is an American nickname given to her by her parents) manages the floor. In addition to supervising a staff of 10 or 11 per shift, the 21-year-old handles the advertising, PR, bookkeeping, hosting, crisis management and construction of “kids’ chopsticks” for beginners. On her day off she and her boyfriend, who also works at Sawaddee, like to snowboard or rock climb, and dine at favorite Korean and Japanese restaurants.

Although she’s worked in restaurants since she was 9-years-old (she used to take a two-hour bus ride from Littleton to work at Sawaddee when she was in middle school), Gift isn’t hooked on the business. In January she plans to attend Red Rocks Community College part-time. Although she considered medicine, chemical engineering and massage therapy, she’s come back to her childhood dream of being a firefighter, initially a smoke jumper.
Nim, however, prefers to center her life around her kitchen, preparing fresh, delicious Thai cuisine that’s a favorite with vegetarians, meat eaters, travelers, locals, novice chopstick wielders, teens and pad Thai veterans everywhere.

Sawaddee is at 1630 30th St. The phone number is 303-447-3321.