Chan Chao offers homestyle Thai cuisine staples, more

Family restaurant in the old Victorian on Petaluma Boulevard open since April

By JENNIFER SAWHNEY

PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER

As many locals know, the familiar Victorian home on Petaluma Boulevard North – the large white one with baby-blue trim surrounded by a wide green lawn, on the corner where Lakeville Street joins the Boulevard – isn’t really a home at all, it’s a Thai restaurant.

More specifically, it used to be Thai Cuisine restaurant, which closed three years ago, and now it’s Chan Chao.

Chan Chao opened its doors to patrons in April of this year, but the location had been under new ownership since late 2021, said Lita Chanmar, whose family owns and operates the Thai restaurant.

Thai Cuisine, one of Petaluma’s best-loved Thai places in town, was open from 2010 until December 2021, when the owners announced their retirement.

They asked Lita’s father, Long Chanmar, to take over and he gladly took up the offer. But after undergoing extensive interior renovations, the newly named Chan Chao Thai Restaurant faced a series of delays related to health inspections and permitting, Lita Chanmar said.

“Some people said they had been waiting for two years to finally eat here again,” she said.

Luckily that’s all behind them, and Chan Chao is open for business. These days, the flavorful and comforting Thai staples pumpkin curry ($18$22), panang curry ($18-$22) and pad Thai ($16-$24) are among the most popular dishes. But there’s one, khao soi ($18) – a northern Thai soup with egg noodles, chicken or tofu, pickled greens, onion and cilantro in a curry broth – that is not always found at other Thai restaurants, Chanmar said.

For that reason some customers specifically seek out Chan Chao for this dish, which Chanmar’s family ate in their hometown of Chiang Mai, one of northern Thailand’s largest cities.

“We make food how we eat it,” Chanmar said with a smile.

See Homestyle, B9

Chan Chao is located at 610 Petaluma Boulevard N.

DAVID TEMPLETON / PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER

Chan Chao serves a fragrant, flavorful bowl of red curry with tofu on Nov. 2.

JENNIFER SAWHNEY/PETALUMA ARGUS-COURIER