Ginger Thai: A Tribute to Family, Diversifying Downtown Cedar Falls Cuisine

Wanida Thomas wants Ginger Thai to be about family.

Family, after all, is why she opened the small restaurant in downtown Cedar Falls in the first place.

"This is my dream," she said. "But it is also my mother's."

Her mother, Jarin Sriprasart, passed away earlier this year, just after Thomas first opened Ginger Thai's doors. Instead of sharing a triumphant restaurant opening with her mother, she found herself shuttering the doors to return to Thailand to mourn.

She's made her mother's memory an integral part of the restaurant. A picture of a smiling woman in a chef's hat beams down from the wall. Looking at it with tears in her eyes, Thomas said the restaurant's logo is her mother.

The Thai food eatery, at 111 W. Second Street - the former location of Scratch Cupcakery - is tiny, but Thomas said it stays busy despite the small space thanks to a booming delivery and take-out side of the business.

Thomas said she has felt welcomed by the community.

"I like Cedar Falls. Downtown is so nice, and the people are nice too," she said.

She is a third generation restauranteur - the difference between herself and her mother and grandmother, however, is that her eatery is in Iowa, not Thailand.

She moved to the United States from Bangkok, Thailand, in 2009 and married a Waterloo man. In 2011 she opened Sawatdee Asian Store in Waterloo, where she held weekly cooking demonstrations to teach new customers and the curious how to use the products in her store.

She quickly realized running the store was not her passion - but she looked forward to each Sunday's cooking demonstration. One day a customer asked why she didn't open a restaurant. And so that's exactly what she did.

"I love to eat. I love to cook," she said. "Every time I cook and see the customer smile, I feel good."