Wok Goes In Must Come Out -- Like My Thai

Growing up in Saegertown, PA, Mike found that he had a passion for making food when he would hurry home from school to watch “Wok with Yan,” which was hosted by Stephen Yan. He may have also gotten his sense of humor from the host’s aprons that had different puns on them, and transferred it to his restaurant now. At twelve years old, Mike bought his first wok and put it to work by trying recipes he found in cookbooks.

Like My Thai’s start began with him first owning a pizza shop, Papa Joe’s, where he and his wife, Liz, began having Pad Thai Tuesdays, but shortly after in 2006 they left the pizza shop to open a pop-up. From 2009 until 2014 they operated their pop-up at a variety of places in Erie, and in 2014 they met with Kris Wheaton from Mercyhurst University for three months to devise their plan to convert their pop-up to a brick and mortar with Wheaton’s Quickstarter. When they confirmed their spot on State Street, him and his wife polled their customers to find out whether or not they should keep their name as Like My Thai, and the customers said yes.

Mike said that they “do not like the word ‘authentic’,” because they like to best represent the spirit of the dish more than trying to be authentic. Every Sunday Mike and his wife travel to Cleveland to purchase what they will need for the upcoming week(s), and a lot of their food is made from scratch and has no concentrates. Even though he sometimes gets a hard time from people when they see that the cook is white, he understands and has an advanced form of sincerity because he makes their traditional food from home. When Mike gets a compliment that their food tastes like the customer’s grandmother he appreciates that a lot.

Mike is very familiar with his returning customers, knowing what they want to eat, their names, and what is going on in their lives. He prides himself in not only his food, but his jokes and especially double entendres. In the beginning it “wasn’t what I thought it was going to be,” Mike said about not knowing how much he would be grateful for the same customers coming in, the smiles on people’s faces eating the food, and the anticipation people have waiting for the food to cool down.

The plan for the future is to come back to work tomorrow.

Like My Thai's address is: 827 State Street

Their hours are Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

                          Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Their phone number is 814-455-1026

Like My Thai Website

Like My Thai on TripAdvisor