Chefs hope to share Thai culture through downtown Longmont restaurant

Feb. 5—For Noi Hoefer and Patchara Beck, the menu at Mana Thai Comfort Food is personal.

The take-out style restaurant opened Jan. 17 and features a variety of southeast Asian dishes the friends cooked growing up in Thailand — such as papaya salad made from green papaya, garlic, lime juice, fresh chili and tomatoes; and drunken noodles created from rice noodles stir-fried with vegetables and a signature sauce. Rounding out the menu are varieties of fried rice, curry, soup and desserts.

Gregory Hoefer, the general manager and Noi Hoefer's husband, is helping to run the restaurant, at 510 Third Ave.

Patchara Beck, who goes by the first name Annie, grew up in the countryside of northwest Thailand. Starting at the age of 7, she began helping her grandma in the kitchen.

Beck said her grandma, who had a particular knack for making desserts, taught her how to cook by taste, rather than measuring out ingredients.

"I had to make everything from scratch," Beck said. "We didn't have (pre)made sauces either."

In the new restaurant on Tuesday, thinking about her grandma, who has since passed away, made her eyes well with tears. Beck said she is grateful for everything she taught her.

"This always reminds me of her," Beck said of cooking Thai food.

Beck ran her own restaurant in Thailand for five years. She also was a sous chef at a restaurant in Shanghai, China, before moving to Colorado in 2009.

Beck, a Frederick resident, met Noi Hoefer through a friend. The two realized their shared love for cooking.

Stepping away from the Mana Thai kitchen for a moment on Tuesday afternoon, Noi Hoefer talked about how her parents ran an elephant camp in the mountains of northern Thailand. When her mom opened a restaurant to feed the people who visited the eco-tourism attraction, Noi Hoefer honed her skills by cooking for them.

When she immigrated to America in 2010, Noi Hoefer continued to create Thai dishes.

"I would cook for my husband's family and friends, and they loved it," Noi Hoefer said.

Gregory Hoefer went to visit Thailand in 2004, after he graduated college and lived there for a few months. He met Noi while he was in Thailand. The couple moved to South Korea with their son in 2008, before heading to Colorado. He said his friends and family described his wife's cooking skills as "beyond."

Her pad thai; papaya salad; and glass noodle dish with onions, tomato and lime juice were hits. Those dishes can be found on the menu at Mana Thai Comfort Food.

"It's not just your run-of-the-mill Thai food. All of her friends were encouraging of her taking her next step," Gregory Hoefer said about his wife. "Being able to share that with the community is a good feeling for her."

Before the Longmont operation, the couple ran a ghost kitchen in Denver called Vegan Thai Co. That operation helped to inspire Mana Thai's plant' based menu.

Gregory Hoefer noted that what he thinks makes the Mana Thai Comfort Food restaurant stand out is that the menu is all vegan, with the options to add meat if customers choose.

Gregory Hoefer said he is looking forward to "happy customers."

"We want them to want to come back," he said.

The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Monday. See a menu or learn more about the restaurant by visiting manathaicomfortfood.com.