Passion. Somboon (Sam) Sutchaleo has it. He is passionate about his recently opened restaurant, Thai One On. I stopped in for lunch [the Tom Kha Gai soup is amazing] and to find out what Thai One On is all about. Here is what I found.

Sam came to America from Thailand in 1975. He has lived in Boston, MA and Gary, IN. While living and working in Gary his daughter received a kidney transplant. She was the youngest baby to ever receive one, at only 13-months old. He was driving to Indianapolis twice a week for doctor appointments and finally decided to move here.

He picked Speedway as his new home and found a job in the vending industry. He soon realized that he wanted to be in the restaurant business and became a training cook for China Coast, on 38th Street. Later he was the kitchen manager at Baker's Square. More recently, he opened the Avon O'Charley's, which became the #1 O'Charley's in the country.

Sam made a point to know all of his customers there and soon had a very loyal following. All during this time Sam had a dream of owning his own restaurant. He was always thinking about it. After about five years at O'Charley's, he risked everything he had and opened his first restaurant, the Avon Thai One On. "An exotic restaurant like mine might not have worked in Avon, but my loyal customers followed me. I took 'meat and potatoes' Midwesterners and exposed them to the wonders of Thai cooking. Most of them had never tried dishes like these." They tried them and loved them. "These recipes are from my life experiences. From my childhood in Thailand and my mother's cooking. I had to adapt the recipes so they could be prepared quickly. My mother would often spend two hours preparing our dinners at home."

Sam picked Broad Ripple to open his second location because of the vast diversity found here. "It is like no other place in the city". He did not have a customer base in Broad Ripple, although many of his Avon customers come to visit him here. Through his array of recipes and his personal attention to his patrons, he is building a new loyal crowd.

Still living in Avon, he stops at the original restaurant each morning. "I have a great staff there. They make sure it is run just the way I want it."

Thai cooking is very important to Sam. During the interview for this article he jumped up from the table and quickly returned with a large book. "You can borrow this. It is all about Thai foods and recipes. It is a great book." It is a great book. I found a dish in it that I want Sam to make. "That is no problem for us. We make every meal from scratch for every customer. We can change it anyway they like, more of that vegetable, less of that spice. Just let us know."

Sam said there is a common misconception that Thai cooking is hot. While many dishes do use hot Thai peppers, Prik Keenooh, there are many more that use spices and herbs like ginger, and lemon grass for milder dishes. "We have spicy dishes. They are marked on the menu and ranked on a scale of 1 to 10. But there is so much more to Thai cooking than hot peppers."

Sam is always working on new recipes. Many of them use 'Sam Sauce' as a base. "It is my special mix of spices that give my dishes their flavor."

"God gives everyone a gift. I think mine is cooking dishes that no one else could come up with."