Goodbye, Thai by Thai: you will be missed

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

With impending changes to the Palm Harbor Shopping Center, it has become common practice to read the signs in the windows of each individual business. When are they closing? Are they moving to a new location? Will they re-open when the construction is complete? Or worst of all, is this the end?

I was saddened when I walked into Thai by Thai a couple weeks ago and saw their sign declaring that their last day of business will be Thursday, Sept. 25. The white sheet of printer paper written on with black marker went on to say “Hope we will meet again one day;” the word “hope” with a double underline.

The final day of business for the Thai food restaurant will be nine years and eight months after it opened its doors and won the hearts of Flagler County.

Owner Sompong Banchanurat said that he is looking for a place to re-open his eatery, but that it is not easy to find a space with a large parking lot and good foot traffic.

The dealings with the purchase of the shopping center have made Banchanurat wary of signing a lease in another older building.

“Someone can buy it and knock it down,” he said Monday afternoon in between answering phone calls. There was a little bit of a break in between the lunch crowd and getting ready for the dinner shift, and Banchanurat was using it to take care of some closing business taken.

In the final days of business, the restaurant has been slammed with patrons getting in their final fix of their favorites.

Some patrons, like college student Stephen Wells, have even ordered extra meals to take home and freeze.

Wells froze about a half-dozen meals from Thai by Thai to bring back to college with him, saying that Thai by Thai is his favorite restaurant in Palm Coast and that he wanted a taste of home with him at college.

He isn’t the only one who will miss the place.

With the Palm Coast Observer office stationed so close to Palm Harbor, Thai by Thai has become one of the staff’s go-to lunch spots over the years. Many good memories have been made there, and I will miss the food, along with Mr. Thai by Thai (as we have begun calling Banchanurat) and his hospitality. I hope that Sept. 25 will not end up being the last day in Thai by Thai’s Palm Coast life.