A New Thai Street Food Truck Recently Hit the Denver Streets

Originally from Thailand, Rachanan "Aey" Lonsiak moved around a lot growing up because her mother worked for the Thai embassy. Around twelve years ago, the family landed in Colorado. "I looked around and I liked it," Lonsiak says. "I have family here, and I have [my daughter], and my dream here is that I want to do a Thai restaurant." Starting with a food truck was a more budget-friendly option, however, and she is now the owner of KrazyCoconut Thai Street Food.

"I love to cook and we love to eat out, so we ate at each Thai place in the city, and then we decided we want to have our own," says Lonsiak. She decided to focus on Thai street food specifically because it's something she always enjoyed as a child. "At my house in Thailand, when you go out, you see a lot of food carts. You just step out and have food every single day. You go to another province, you have different Thai food. I just want to bring that here."

Even though Thai street food was always available growing up, she is quick to point out that her family did a lot of cooking at home. While Lonsiak doesn't have formal culinary training, she learned family recipes by watching her grandparents.
She bought the truck itself years ago, but built it out little by little as she had the money for various projects. On August 5, it finally hit the streets. Although it was a long process to finally make her dream a reality, Lonsiak loves running her own business.

In her first four months, she has encountered a few issues, such as dealing with a faulty truck battery, learning how to safely work the generator and propane, and cooking with limited help. Nevertheless, she has persevered, and to her surprise, she's formed an even closer bond with her daughter through the process. "I'm lucky. She helps me on Saturday and Sunday. Now, she has learned how to prep an egg roll. Everything we do, we hand roll. We don't buy frozen, we do homemade," says Lonsiak.

Using recipes that she adapted from her family, Lonsiak is quick to name her favorite dishes. "I like panang curry and pad Thai," she says, though her most popular item is pad kra praw, or Thai holy basil stir fry, which is made with garlic, fresh chile and meat, plus a fried egg on top.

KrazyCoconut also offers other street food staples, such as gyoza, crab cheese rolls and Fire Crackers, which are crispy tempura fried shrimp topped with a creamy aioli and a spicy sauce.
"We use fresh ingredients," Lonsiak emphasizes. "I believe that if you have a good recipe and you have good ingredients, like fresh chile, fresh meat, fresh vegetable, then it's going to come out so good."

KrazyCoconut operates at least five days a week. On Wednesday and Friday, it serves at Buckley Space Force Base and it recently started doing regular service at the newly opened Full Tank Food Park at 4200 West Colfax Avenue. Hours of operation vary, but it typically serves from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, follow the truck at @krazycoconutthaifood on Instagram.