Longmont Thai eatery owner expands her empire

LONGMONT — Buoyed by the mostly word-of-mouth success of the Thai 303 restaurant she opened in northwest Longmont in March, Somying Fox is rapidly expanding her culinary empire.

Fox, who already had seen success with three restaurants in trendy areas of St. Louis and in the Colorado foothills town of Conifer before opening Thai 303, unveiled Malaysian Thai Kitchen on June 4 at 6760 N. Academy Blvd. in Colorado Springs. And on Monday, she and a partner opened Nomi Sushi & Thai in a leased space that formerly held a Godfather’s Pizza outlet at 9567 E. Iliff Ave., just east of Cherry Creek Country Club in southeast Denver.

“Nomi in Japanese means beautiful,” Fox said. “It’s the name of my cat, and the logo is a cat eating sushi. Everything there is beautiful. The location is beautiful. The food is beautiful. The presentation is beautiful.”

Her partner is a sushi chef with 20 years of experience, largely in Florida, who goes by the single name Virapong. When he brought her some of his sushi to try, Fox said, she was blown away. “I’ve tried sushi everywhere,” she said, “but when I tried his, I knew we had to open a restaurant together. His skill is amazing.”

The Cherry Creek area “has some sushi places,” Fox said, “but his cooking is very tasty.”

What makes it so special? “The flavor of the rice,” she said. “If you just eat the rice itself, it’s to die for. The way he makes it is so professional. He makes a good roll that doesn’t break apart.

“And the portions are huge. We want you to finish it until the last bite, but you’ll probably take some home.”

The partners “made the inside look cozy and comfortable,” she said, and added new furniture and new kitchen equipment. It will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, she said.

She hopes Virapong’s skills and her Thai cooking will combine as a recipe for success.

Fox’s path to a growing restaurant portfolio took a circuitous route — through Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri and the Front Range foothills before she opened Thai 303 in a 1,500-square-foot corner space at 1751 Hover St. in Longmont.

She came to the United States from Thailand in 2001 to work toward a master’s degree in finance and accounting at the University of Tulsa. “I was intending to go back and teach in Thailand, but instead I got married and had children.” Working at a Thai restaurant while in college sparked her love of cooking, so she planned to open a Thai restaurant in New Orleans, where her husband had gotten a job as a university professor. She found a location, signed a lease and prepared to open. But less than a month after they arrived in 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded and devastated the Crescent City.

When her husband’s contract was up, they opted to move to a city that was less prone to hurricanes and found it up the Mississippi River in St. Louis. There, Fox opened a succession of three restaurants, all in trendy areas of the city.

But like many Midwestern transplants, she came to Colorado for family connections and the mountains, turning over her St. Louis eateries to partners. Her oldest son was an engineering student at the University of Colorado’s Colorado Springs campus.

She and her husband moved to Conifer, where she spotted a space in nearby Evergreen to open Thai 101. She sold that restaurant after a year and opened Thai 202 closer to home in Conifer. Then came Thai 303 in Longmont, followed by the openings in Colorado Springs and Denver.

What’s next for Fox’s restaurant ventures?

“I’m trying to get my partner in St. Louis to open a restaurant here as well,” she said, “but he’s too busy.”