“Quick and easy” is how Chef Tim Vimonnimit and his wife, Mai Mittrakul, above, explain their comforting Thai street food.
Chef Tim Vimonnimit has wrapped up Tuesday afternoon lunch in the downtown medical district when customer Janice Maddox raps on the window of his food truck. “She’s a regular, and I have Basil Chicken left — her favorite,” Vimonnimit explains, lifting the lid of a warming tray to stir a brew of ground chicken, fresh chili, Thai basil, and garlic. The inside of the truck smells warm and spirited, as Vimonnimit layers the chicken into a cardboard container with jasmine rice, a soft-fried egg sizzled in olive oil, and cilantro and cucumbers tumbled on top.
The truck’s name, Soi No. 9, combines the Thai word for street with a reference to Thailand’s ninth monarch. “The Thai people loved him,” Vimonnimit explains. “And he loved the people.”
“Quick and easy, so people can get back to work,” the chef says about his street food from Thailand, a simple but enticing mash-up of pork-filled potstickers and noodle bowls like Khao Soi, an aromatic chicken curry soup mixed with egg noodles, red onions, and wedges of lime.
Khao soi noodles — egg noodles in yellow curry soup.
Like many chefs, Vimonnimit — who grew up in Thailand near the Malaysian border — took a circuitous culinary path. He worked in Memphis restaurants while attending trade school, but he didn’t like welding. Instead, Vimonnimit went to culinary school in Bangkok. When he returned to Memphis, he worked at Rhodes College, where he supervised food service before assuming duties as the school’s catering chef.
Khao soi with tofu.
About a year ago, Vimonnimit and his wife, Mai Mittrakul started Soi No. 9. Business built quickly, and the truck earned praise from local food writers and Food Network personality Andrew Zimmern, who visited Memphis in July to shoot his new show, Big Food Truck Tip. One of three local trucks featured, Soi No. 9 impressed Zimmern with its authenticity, and the couple won the show’s $10,000 prize. (Like Maddox and me, Zimmern loved that spicy chicken.)
Spicy basil chicken.
Now a college fund for the couple’s 4-year-old daughter, Millie, the prize money ushers in more good news for the family: a permanent restaurant in the new food court at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Starting this month, the lunch-only restaurant will serve the truck’s affordably priced favorites along with newcomers like tofu bowls and vegetable fried rice. “More healthy, more vegetarian, more vegan,” Vimonnimit explains.
On weekends, look for the couple’s bright orange truck at special events and local breweries. For weekly schedules, follow on Instagram at soinumber9.
(Soi No. 9, 910 Madison Ave. inside UTHSC, $)
