Hiring

 Both Thai Taste and Big Chill are looking for additional staff. Due to staff shortages, Thai Taste will close for lunch on July 29th and dinner on July 30th.

Thai Taste

 Downtown staple Thai Taste went on the market today for $580,000.  Price includes the restaurant, equiptment and building with two upstairs apartments.  20% down payment with a 30 mortage at approximately 6%. In business since 2004. The current owner wants to move on but has no plans to close the restaurant.

One of my favorite sit down restaurants in Carbondale.

Thai Taste

 Was talking with one of the staff members at Thai Taste and the restaurant was slammed for Valentines Day. It closed for lunch at 2 p.m. today and the kitchen was still cooking at 2:45. Evening dining had several dozen reservations by late afternoon.

Restaurants on Vacation

 The following resaurants/food places are currently closed for vacation.

Thai Taste-reopens July 7th

La Unica Bakery -reopens July 10

Mary Lou's - reopens July 11

Electric Larry's was closed today as well but no indication that they will close for the entire week.

Thai Taste

 Thai Taste has  reopened for inside seating for dinner only. The restaurant only seats from 5 to 8 p.m. during the week and 5 to 9 on Friday and Saturday. They would have reopened inside seating a couple of weeks ago but had a little problem with a car going into their wall. 

Thai Taste

 Thai Taste was getting ready, after almost a year, to reopen to seated dining. They have extesively repainted and redone the interior. However,t he recent accident in which a car hit the side of the building had delayed the reopening. The car did enough structural damage that the wall will have to undergo repairs before the restaurant is safe to reopen.

Thai Taste

 According to this post, some low-class potential customers are name calling and harassing the staff at Thai Taste because the restaurant has not opened up for seated dining, still offering only take out and delivery.

Although smarter people will not need a reminder (and I classify you as  a smarter person because you are reading this), Thai Taste is a private business and, absent legal requirements such as the ADA, they are free to act as they see fit. The state has said that restaurants and bars may reopen for seated  without violating regulations but there is no requirement that  restaurants and bars do so. If Thai Taste, out of abundance of caution, wishes to remain closed, the owner is within their rights to do so,  just as, when open, any business is within its rights to require all customers to wear shirt, shoes, pants and mask. Customers, of  course, are free not to patronize that business but to insult the staff just  because they will not allow inside dining shows a pretty low level of crassness.

Thai Taste Sold

 Downtown institution Thai Taste, which has anchored the corner of Main  and Illinois for over a decade and has been on the market for the past year, has finally sold. No idea, as of yet, if the restaurant will open back up for inside dining or will continue to offer take out and delivery only.

Thai Taste Reopened

Looks as if Thai Taste reopened today. The closed due to death sign was gone this afternoon and the Open sign is on now.

Thai Taste Temporary Closed

Thai Taste closed yesterday and apparently will remain closed for a few days. The sign in the window says the head chef passed away unexpectedly and the management and staff need some time to deal with the loss and look for a new head chef.

Thai Taste

Another downtown business up for sale. The owner of Thai Taste is moving to San Antonio so needs to sell the restaurant and the building.  Staff and management will remain in place so pretty much a turnkey operation.

Thai Taste Reopens

Thai Taste reopened for business last Saturday at lunch time after closing for 2 days while repairs were made from an accident wherein a car, doing a 180 after getting clipped on the rear end, smashed into the restaurant's north wall. Repairs to a smashed drainpipe were completed Friday and, while Tyvik still covers the hole in the wall, the restaurant reopeend with a clean bill of health Saturday.

Parking Downtown

I know I talk a lot about downtown parking but the perceived lack of parking in downtown Carbondale is one of the biggest problems the area has. Customers don't want to shop where they cannot park conveniently, and conveniently is generally defined as within sight of the front door of the business.

One thing I would like to see done, but 'twould take the cooporation of both the city and IDOT is turning the turn lane in the 100-200 block of West Main into free on-street parking, with a 1-2 hour limit. This would really help places like Thai Taste and La Unica Bakery, who often have customers wanting to pop in for a few minutes to pick up an order or purchase some baked goods. Currently Thai Taste has to rely on customers parking across the street while La Unica has a small parking area behind the building that it shares with Triphammer Tattoo. Convenient parking in front of both businesses would truly help them do even better.

Thai Taste Update

It appears this morning's post was a bit premature as Thai Taste now has a sign in the window saying they will reopen on Monday August 11.

Thai Taste Reopens

For those who have missed your weekly Thai fix, Thai Taste should finish their remodeling today and be open regular hours.  I will be happy to stop seeing people parking in the depot parking lot, hurrying over to the restaurant and turn away disappointed. I even saw one couple try the door, as if they didn't believe the sign.

Thai Taste Still Closed

Apparently the plumbing problems at Thai Taste are pretty considerable as the restaurant has remained closed for over a week..  The main drain pipe broke during the big freeze earlier this month, necessitating major repairs as well as paperwork on which others have to sign off.  From the business' Facebook page:

Let us start by saying we are NOT going anywhere. The fact of the matter is, our main drain line is broken. Unfortunately, the pipes do not run under just our building alone. Steps have to be taken to ensure that all parties and property owners' interests and concerns are addressed in case anything should happen during repairs. Sadly, not all parties involved live in the area. It has taken some time to get ahold of them and present them with paperwork.

Timing has been our enemy since Day One. When the plumbers were ready to go, the paperwork was not. And now that the paperwork is nearing completion, the plumbers are unavailable. There have been people working diligently since the beginning to help us get things accomplished as quickly as possible, including one individual who probably wishes we'd never contacted him in the first place!

It is both flattering and humbling that so many of you are concerned with our well being. We truly appreciate it, and deeply apologize for any inconvenience, especially to our wonderful staff, who have essentially been unemployed for over a week.

Rest assured, we are not dead. We have come back from worse. This is just a hiccup. We WILL be open again very soon.