Thai Street Food Sets Up on 30th Street

Friends of Eater and the tipline have been asking us to check out SOI 30th, which recently opened in North Park in the space last held by Amorcito Corazon Mexican Bistro. The friendly new restaurant is virtually a one-woman show for chef/owner Khwanta Osanai. Learning to cook at age seven, Osanai arrived in San Diego a decade ago and previously owned a Thai eatery in Chula Vista.

The chef says her menu is made up of street food and authentic dishes from her native Northern Thailand. Everything is made from scratch, including the Northeastern Thai sausage to the barbecued pork and crispy pork belly that feature in the khao-moo krob-moo dang with rice and a boiled egg. Rather than a numbered scale for spiciness, each dish is spiced as it would be traditionally.

Menu specialities include braised beef massaman or panang curry and noodle soups, ranging from the crowd-pleasing khao soi with chicken and egg noodles to tom yum noodle soup, with a hot and sour soup base and thin rice noodles. There are also extensive vegan and vegetarian options; many of the dishes’ featured proteins are able to be swapped for tofu, mock chicken, mock duck or a bean mix made up of garbanzo beans, black beans, edamame and corn. This being 30th Street means there’s craft beer on tap, plus sake and bottled beer.

Now open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 pm and weekends from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Osanai told Eater that she plans to expand the menu with some street food creations, including a panang burger topped with papaya salad. SOI 30th will eventually add a 3 to 6 p.m. happy hour, offering half-price on beer and appetizers.