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TASTE SECRETS OF SIAM New around here? Haven't been back in years? Take a minute to brush up on all things Lotus. Chef recommends. The Chef's Choice menu and nightly specials are where you'll find Saipin Chutima at her most ambitious. Look for marinated raw prawns, drowned in funky fish sauce and served with a fiery chili-tamarind dip— think aguachile from Baja or ceviche from Peru, but with Thai flavors. "The mountain we were on became easier to climb." —PENNY CHUTIMA continued from page 82 in Las Vegas for a few days," says Gold, "checking out new restaurants for Gourmet, and each was FROM TOP: If you're looking for stunning décor, you're in the wrong perhaps worse than the last." place, but the food here is heavenly; Desperate for something good, he owner Saipin Chutima. remembered that the couple who owned his favorite Thai spot in LA had opened here in Vegas, so he wandered in one day for lunch. "I think he was lost, trying to find another restaurant," jokes Saipin. Either way, everything was about to change. "When I asked for a menu and ordered a few of my favorites," Gold recalls, "I realized that the cooking was even better than it had been at Renu Nakorn." Soon after, he wrote in Gourmet magazine that Lotus of Siam was probably the best Thai restaurant in North America. "I suspect that's been the most quoted phrase I've ever written." "The next few weeks, we began to see an increase," says Penny. "One thing led to another, and the mountain we were on became easier to climb." The avalanche of national—and international—attention was stunning. Critics from far and wide, assigned to write about the more high-profile eateries less than a mile away on the Strip, were extolling the virtues of Saipin's not-so-secret Northern menu and her other out-of-the-ordinary Thai dishes. By 2010, the restaurant was expanding next door, and again in 2011, into the former location of Serge's Showgirl Wigs, while simultaneously making plans for a New York outpost, in Greenwich Village. The Vegas expansion—complete with a gorgeous wine wall on the north side of the room—was a success. Meanwhile, New Yorkers were excited to have something like the Lotus they remembered from giddy excursions down East Sahara. Just as quickly, though, things went wrong. A few short months after their big New York debut, the Chutimas departed the city. On a trip back to Vegas, Bill had come down with a nasty case of appendicitis; Saipin Go north. Share some of the many smaller plates from Saipin's once-secret Northern menu: Nam Prik Ong chili dip; the spicy beef tartare (Koi Soi); Nam Kao Tod, a crispy rice and fermented sausage salad; and Thum Ka Noon, shredded jackfruit and pork in a unique dry-style curry. Pair up. Lotus has earned major kudos for its nearly 1,000-bottle wine list. Penny Chutima's favorite pairing: a spicy bowl of beef Khao Soi alongside a delicate Johann Josef Prüm Riesling, made from highly coveted grapes grown at the Graacher Himmelreich vineyard in Germany's Middle Mosel region. Nam Kao Tod, a sausage salad with crispy rice. Those wings, though. The daily lunch buffet has been a stumbling block for many who wonder how the "best Thai restaurant in North America" could have, well, a lunch buffet. But don't turn up your nose—at least not until you've tried the sticky-spicy chicken wings. refused to leave his side. The New York restaurant closed in 2012. The news wasn't all bad, however. The previous May, Saipin had shared the title of best chef Southwest at the James Beard Foundation's annual awards ceremony. ("I finally feel like the bride and not the bridesmaid," she sweetly told the press at the time.) And now the Chutimas are tackling their next challenge: another expansion, this time to the west, into the storefront that was home to Namaste, a middling Indian restaurant. Lotus will increase to 15,000 square feet, a far cry from the original 3,500. If the previous expansion is any guide, there's little to worry about; the food is still tremendously good. Gold seems to share the sentiment, penning a paean to the restaurant in Saveur magazine last year. "The real astonishment in visiting and revisiting the restaurant over the years," he wrote, "is its purity: the authenticity of the cooking and the quality of the ingredients the Chutimas have managed to maintain." And the crowds haven't changed, either. On a typical evening, the restaurant hums with happy energy, first-timers exclaiming over their plates of Koi Soi and bowls of Kang Ka Noon, corks popping from bottles of Riesling. Las Vegas is ever changing, and Lotus may change with it, but where it matters, on the plate in front of you, everything is blissfully the same. 953 E. Sahara Ave., Ste. A5, 702-735-3033; saipinchutima.com V 84 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 082-084_V_ST_Opener_Dec13.indd 84 11/19/13 10:02 AM