{"id":33632,"date":"2026-03-05T07:55:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T23:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=33632"},"modified":"2026-03-05T07:55:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T23:55:01","slug":"how-anajak-thai-chef-justin-pichetrungsi-is-pushing-his-familys-restaurant-forwards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=33632","title":{"rendered":"How Anajak Thai chef Justin Pichetrungsi is pushing his family\u2019s restaurant forwards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">It is not uncommon to see a line outside Anajak Thai even on weeknights after 9pm. The family restaurant has raised the bar for the food and drinks scene in Sherman Oaks, a well-to-do Los Angeles suburb where award-winning bartender Max Reis opened his margarita bar Daisy less than a year ago.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Behind Anajak Thai is chef Justin Pichetrungsi, who won the James Beard Foundation Award for best chef in California in 2023. He credited his success to his parents, whom he calls his greatest allies.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Pichetrungsi worked as a <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Disney<\/span> Imagineer \u2013 the people responsible for designing and building Disney theme parks, resorts, attractions and <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">cruise ships<\/span> \u2013 but after work in the evenings, he would head to his family\u2019s LA restaurant and spend his little free time helping out there.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">This all changed in 2019, after his father suffered a debilitating stroke. Pichetrungsi eventually left his job and took over Anajak Thai, transforming the decades-old casual restaurant.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-inline-container e1a5rv550 css-1llrc1m e1yqhwb40\" data-qa=\"Component-renderMap-StyledDiv\">\n<div class=\"image-inline caption e1fvabeq0 css-19sk4h4 ea9pn0s0\" data-qa=\"Component-Container\">\n<figure class=\"image-inline caption ea9pn0s1 css-1qeofuq e1gf69pb0\" data-qa=\"ArticleImage-ArticleImageContainer\">\n<div data-qa=\"ArticleImage-handleRenderImage-ImageContainer\" class=\"css-0 e1gf69pb3\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The exterior of Anajak Thai in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. Photo: Carter Hiyama\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/img.i-scmp.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto\/sites\/default\/files\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/03\/04\/bd1dba73-2d30-4c7f-8214-dbb53d8751cb_58dda525.jpg\" title=\"The exterior of Anajak Thai in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. Photo: Carter Hiyama\"\/><\/div><figcaption data-qa=\"ArticleImage-DescriptionContainer\" class=\"css-1ixmelf e1gf69pb1\">The exterior of Anajak Thai in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. Photo: Carter Hiyama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">He began hosting Thai Taco Tuesdays during <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">the Covid-19 pandemic<\/span>, something which made the restaurant a viral sensation. It attracted the attention of the <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Michelin Guide<\/span>, which called it a \u201cfreewheeling no-reservations event that draws lines around the block\u201d, adding that Pichetrungsi\u2019s cooking \u201cbalances tradition with a contemporary, crowd-driven sensibility\u201d.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/food-drink\/article\/3345340\/how-anajak-thai-chef-justin-pichetrungsi-pushing-his-familys-restaurant-forwards?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is not uncommon to see a line outside Anajak Thai even on weeknights after 9pm. The family restaurant has raised the bar for the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[17244,809,17247,7150,17245,17246,2414,476,2855],"class_list":["post-33632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-anajak","tag-chef","tag-familys","tag-forwards","tag-justin","tag-pichetrungsi","tag-pushing","tag-restaurant","tag-thai","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}