The Makers: Santa Rosa’s Khaosoi Thai Zen Isn’t Flashy — It’s Fierce
By Tim Carl
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Next door to a Petco and Whole Foods on Yulupa Avenue, wedged between errands and traffic, sits a restaurant that doesn’t look remarkable at first glance. Inside, Khaosoi Thai Zen’s dining room is plain but spotless, the bathrooms clean, the service quick. Then the plates arrive, bursting with aroma and color — cilantro, basil, scallions, chilis — and the strip mall backdrop falls away.
The food here has bite, both literally and figuratively. Bowls of khao soi come stacked with fried noodles spilling over the rim, lime wedges and pickled mustard greens waiting to be stirred in. Pork belly snaps with crispness. Soups steam with galangal and kaffir lime. It’s not fancy dining. It’s bold, aromatic and satisfying in a way that makes people drive across town twice in a week.
“One of the Best Thai Restaurants in Sonoma County”
Meryl Azar, vice president of the Sebastopol Grange and a longtime county resident, doesn’t hand out praise lightly. She calls herself a “real foodie” and says this spot is the one she keeps coming back to.
“The food is fantastic,” Azar said. “It’s one of the best Thai restaurants in Sonoma County. The salmon was done with ginger and vegetables to accommodate me because I don’t do sugar, and it was excellent. I also love the tom kha soup ($12) with tofu and veggies. The service is great, and the atmosphere is warm and inviting. For what you get, the pricing is exceptionally fair.”
Her comments line up with what I have experienced: food with layers of flavor and technique that overshoot expectations for a small storefront next to a grocery chain.
The Daily Battle
Behind the stove is head chef Gabriel Carino. He’s been at Khaosoi Thai Zen since just after it opened in September 2024, recruited by owner and mentor TK Insuwan. Carino started with TK years ago in Vallejo at The Loft Thai & Sushi, followed him to Little Thai & Sushi on Marlow Road, then branched out to work in San Francisco before being pulled back into this project.
“TK was my first mentor,” Carino told me. “He wanted this restaurant to be more authentic, more focused. Little Thai was street-food style. This one, he wanted to step it up and give our customers a more sit-down restaurant experience.”
Carino describes the daily grind bluntly.
“They say chefs and cooks battle a war every day, but the only war we’re battling is against ourselves because our customers will always be hungry. Customers will always want quality food and the best value. The question is whether we’re ready. And we are.”
It’s that edge — the sense that the crew is hustling in real time, not staging food for Instagram — that defines the place.
Technique and Patience
Carino speaks about khao soi ($25) like a craftsman. Curry pastes — red and yellow — are blended, roasted, then cooked down with bones for four to five hours. Oils rise, coconut milk is added and the broth simmers until it’s thick and has depth. Separate stock pots are kept for each protein: pork, chicken, beef rib.
“Our khao soi stock cooks for about four to five hours,” Carino said. “Once those oils come out, you add coconut milk, let it sing and simmer. That’s where the orchestra starts warming up.”
The beef rib version ($28) goes further — up to 18 hours of slow cooking over two days.
“Who doesn’t like a really soft, tender beef rib you can bite through like butter?” he said.
It’s the kind of work that doesn’t happen unless someone is stubborn about it.
Food That Refuses to Compromise
Khaosoi Thai Zen is direct about what it is and isn’t. Vegetarian dishes exist — curries with tofu, vegetable stir-fries — but Carino is unapologetic about limits.
“In Thailand nothing’s really vegan,” he said. “We do our best, but the authentic khao soi is always stock-based. If they call it vegan, you’re at a different restaurant. No disrespect, but we’re trying to serve something authentic.”
Instead of watering things down, they double down on flavor: crispy pork belly basil ($17) boiled, dried and fried until it shatters; Phuket-style seafood basil ($17) with shrimp, calamari and scallops fried hard but not greasy; roti ($5) that lands flaky and puffed, meant for dragging through curries; and vegetarian-friendly curries such as pumpkin curry ($16).
There are vegan and vegetarian dishes, and the ones we tasted were delicious — fresh and clean — but we understood what Carino was getting at. The more traditional dishes had deeper layers of flavor and did feel like you could be at a restaurant in Thailand.
A JS-Corgi Guild Team Report
Our JS-Corgi Guild team* took on this assignment and filed back with no hesitation: “There were no clinkers in this meal,” they reported.
They went for the khao soi with beef short rib ($28) — a massive, meaty cut slow-cooked until it pulled apart easily.
“The beef flavor was very good and not too salty,” they wrote. The curried broth carried noodles and bean sprouts in balance, “not overloaded like some places,” with the pickled vegetables nested on the rib bone, adding a sharp, peppery bite that cut through the richness.
The Phuket-style seafood basil ($17) also impressed. Shrimp, calamari and scallops were fried crisp without greasiness or heavy batter: “Flavors of vegetables, shrimp, calamari and scallops were not overpowered by garlic but enhanced.” They spooned the curry broth from the khao soi over the steamed rice ($5) that came with it — “a combination we wouldn’t normally order but loved.”
Presentation stood out. Coconut water ($7) arrived in a whole coconut. Every dish came with orchids.
“Food was very nicely presented,” they said. “Friendly, clean and welcoming,” with their server, Fern, called out for careful service. At 2 p.m. they were the only diners, but the energy was there, and the verdict was clear: “We plan to return — and will tell our friends.”
The Chiang Mai Connection
To understand why khao soi matters, you have to look at Chiang Mai, where TK is from. Once the capital of the Lan Na Kingdom, the city sat at the crossroads of Burma, Laos and China. Trade routes moved spices, noodles and techniques across the region. That’s why northern Thai food leans on sticky rice instead of jasmine, pork as often as chicken, dried spices as much as fresh.
Khao soi likely arrived with Muslim Chinese traders, a hybrid of curry and noodle soup. In Chiang Mai it evolved into a signature dish: boiled and fried egg noodles in a curry broth, finished with pickled mustard greens, shallots, lime and chili paste.
This isn’t fussy cuisine. It’s food with force — layered through centuries of migration, trade and adaptation. That’s what Khaosoi Thai Zen is channeling: not a polished export but a living tradition served without compromise.
For TK, those flavors go back to his childhood. His parents sold curry at a market stall, and his job after school was to split and scrape coconuts — 30 or 40 a day — so his family could press fresh coconut milk for the curries. It was his first apprenticeship, and it left him with a feel for ingredients that no classroom could match.
The Role of Good Mentors
From there, he followed his uncle into a Bangkok hotel kitchen, starting as a dishwasher and working his way up before emigrating to Florida in 2009. He landed in California a few years later, working in restaurants around the state before opening Little Thai & Sushi on Marlow Road and then expanding to Khaosoi Thai Zen.
Carrino credits TK with more than recipes and a job. He calls him his “Mr. Miyagi.”
“He’ll push me, tell me to add flair, to bring up the intensity, to appeal to both young and old customers,” Carino said. “And he always says, ‘It’s not rocket science. Just cook authentic and consistent food that makes people happy.’”
That philosophy extends to price. Carino told me he thought the dishes were underpriced. TK just shrugged. “It’s OK. Take time. Build repeat customers.” Carino said it showed his mentor’s belief that loyalty is built bowl by bowl, not by chasing profit.
One Year In
The restaurant just passed its first anniversary. A year in, it has already become one of the most authentic Thai voices in Sonoma County. The draw isn’t hype or presentation — it’s the taste of broth that’s been simmering since morning, pork belly that took two days to prepare, herbs chopped fresh and thrown on heavy.
In a county defined by vineyards, tasting rooms and Michelin-starred restaurants, a bowl of khao soi in a strip mall next to Whole Foods feels almost rebellious. It’s food that doesn’t apologize for what it is — northern Thai cooking built on long-simmered broths, crisped pork belly, wok fire and care, with just enough edge to keep you coming back.
Fact Box
What: Northern Thai-driven restaurant
Where: 1169 Yulupa Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95405 | 707-843-7682
Opened: September 2024
Sister Spot: Little Thai & Sushi, 1791 Marlow Road, Santa Rosa
Hours: 11:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., 4:30–8:30 p.m. daily
Signature: Khao soi (chicken $25, pork rib $25, beef rib $28)
*What Are Guild Teams?
Guild teams are groups of readers who take on assignments to visit local restaurants, wineries, shops and other places, then report back. Their notes help shape these Maker Series features. It’s a way to bring more voices and perspectives into the mix — not just one writer’s view but a shared table.
Think of it as being a Michelin reviewer — undercover — but with all the work and none of the reimbursement or glory. And it’s not just eating. Teams may be sent to taste, shop, watch or experience something new, then tell us what it was like.
If you want to become a Guild Team member, write us at sonomacountyfeatures@gmail.com. Each team gets a special code name, so identities remain secret. The deal is simple: Go out, experience and tell us what you honestly think.
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Tim Carl is a Northern California–based photojournalist.
Editor’s Note: The Makers is a series from Sonoma County Features that profiles the people behind the region’s most dedicated food, wine and craft endeavors — not as brands, but as hands-on stewards of technique, care and community.
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