At Thai Food Truck by Chef Tom, regulars are known by their order

Thai food is on a roll in the Denver metro area, with the most recent addition coming from Arvada, where Thai Food Truck by Chef Tom is now offering carefully made takeout from a truck where regulars are already remembered by name and order.

That personal touch comes from Chef Tom (his given name is Jetwarut Suanboon), who brings decades of hospitality experience to his most humble venture yet.

The menu is posted outside the truck in laminated photos, and you’ll first recognize Thailand’s greatest hits. A lot of people order pad Thai and pad see ew, but Chef Tom recommends his drunken noodles, which are wide, flat rice noodles seasoned with a house blend of oyster sauce and soy sauces, plus egg, protein and mixed vegetables. What sets his version apart is a special dollop of thick chili paste before tossing everything together.

“Drunken noodles should have extra spice,” he says, explaining his recipe matches his hometown’s preference for a stronger flavor, which locals crave after a night of drinking.

But he knows how to cook a lot more than noodles. Chef Tom is from the Isan region of Thailand, where he pursued three years of formal culinary training before spending a decade in hospitality groups, actually cooking French and Italian cuisine. He even specialized in pizza making.

Then, he was offered a job at a private golf club in Reno, Nevada, and immigrated to the U.S. for the opportunity. He made his way to Denver after his older sister started Bangkok Avenue in 2022, a brick-and-mortar Thai restaurant on 104th Avenue that has found success with Broomfield diners. She encouraged Chef Tom to start his own truck, even allowing him to use some of her space as a commissary prep kitchen. He took her up on it, but wanted to serve his own take on Thai dishes.

“We have our own unique culinary style and flavors,” Chef Tom says. ”My challenge lies in having the courage to present flavors that reflect the authentic Isan style — the cuisine of my birthplace — because the Thai food most people are familiar with is predominantly Central Thai (Bangkok-style),” such as the food his sister opted to serve.

The Isan influence shows up in dishes like laab (minced meat salad), his pad cashew chicken (chicken breast slices stir-fried with seasonings and chile sauce) or the Thai basil fried chicken: crispy nuggets tossed in a tamarind glaze with whole basil leaves.

You’ll also find a few variations of Thai-style fried rice, pad kra pao, and other noodle stir fries like kua gai, which is just sauced noodles, egg, and chicken, foregoing added vegetables. For appetizer bites, he offers shrimp tempura skewers and large, deep-fried triangles of golden tofu.

The pineapple curry is a beginner-friendly dish with a sweet and sour flavor profile, but the coconut-enriched sauce might lean sweet for some. The red curry is a more classic, savory option.

In the truck, Chef Tom has a simple stove setup, a few fridges, and a single wok burner, which sounds like a jet engine when he fires it up. The powerful flame is essential for making orders quickly, but also for achieving ‘wok hei,’ the popularized term for the caramelized, smoky flavors achieved only through extremely high-heat stir-frying.

The prep spaces are piled with vegetables, scallions, shallots, and notably, fresh shiitake mushrooms, which will be sliced and added to the tom yum and tom kha soups.

Chef Tom already has regulars, and he’s learned their orders. “Red curry?” he asks when recognizing a customer getting out of her car. “Yep, you mind if I run over to the store while I wait?” Tom nods, fires up the stove, and has the order ready by the time she gets back. Another man swings by to put in a noodle order before heading to the car wash across the street. “You can pay when you get back,” Chef Tom says.

This sort of thoughtfulness extends to even the packaging. Each order is neatly boxed, bagged and knotted tightly (no worry of spills), with an ample supply of napkins, utensils and straws (for the Thai tea that you should definitely order) by the register.

Since opening, Chef Tom has been working seven days a week. He’s currently training his first employee so he can take days off. “What drove us to launch a food truck was the desire to prove myself by presenting food in my own unique style, and to test my concept before opening a full-scale restaurant,” he says.

For now, the experiment is working. If Chef Tom can build a team, the truck could become a business that runs on more than his own stamina.

Thai Food Truck by Chef Tom is located at 5190 West 65th Avenue and is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. It can also be found on Sunday mornings at the Arvada Farmers Market in Olde Town Square, 5702 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard. For more information, visit them on Facebook.