Rice Thai Tapas Opens Off Arroyo Parkway

Thai restaurant Rice Thai Tapas is now open in Pasadena and is set to have its official grand opening either this week or the next.

Kunche Vorabuta, also the owner of Oba Sushi Izakaya restaurant, opened the Northern Thai-style eatery in mid-June with the help of chef Frankie Sawatdikiat and has been operating since then.

Vorabuta chose ‘Rice” as the restaurant’s name for its its significance in Thai cuisine, the Los Angeles Weekly reported.

“I just thought rice is a standard food in Thailand. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner, every single person all has rice,” she told the newspaper.

Vorabuta enlisted architect and friend Skyler Kogachi to create a modern aesthetic style in the restaurant, the LA Weekly said.

“Kogachi’s restaurants are always family friendly. We want to give visitors a beautiful dining experience, but not something where they feel like they’re going to break something or things are going to get dirty,” Vorabuta told the newspaper. “That’s why there’s the concrete floor and darker woods.”

Vorabuta told the newspaper that she sustains long hours everyday of the week to operate both Rice and Oba restaurants.

“It’s not work for me. It’s pure joy to create a dish that customers love. It’s worth working seven days a week,” Vorabuta told the LA Weekly.

Rice Thai Tapas is located at 181 E Glenarm St., a block away from Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena.