ALBANY PARK — Arun’s Thai Restaurant in Albany Park will shut Sunday, providing followers of the fine-dining spot one final probability to savor its menu earlier than its award-winning chef and proprietor retires.
Arun Sampanthavivat was born and raised in Thailand. He opened his eponymous restaurant in 1985, providing an upscale, elaborate tackle his native delicacies and accumulating accolades alongside the best way.
The restaurant at 4156 N. Kedzie Ave. at the moment gives a nine-course tasting menu for $120, in addition to an a la carte menu.
Arun’s was hailed in 1996 by Chicago Tribune eating critic Phil Vettel as “a civic treasure, one of many eating places that defines Chicago as a world-class restaurant city.” In 2000, Sampanthavivat received a James Beard Award for Greatest Chef, Midwest.
“You may’t do that job with out devotion. And to have my restaurant keep that lengthy, not many individuals can try this,” Sampanthavivat instructed Block Membership Friday.
Sampanthavivat deliberate to shut quietly with out a lot fanfare as a result of as he winds the enterprise down and appears at placing the constructing available on the market, he received’t be as hands-on within the kitchen as he’d like, he stated.
However after listening to from longtime prospects inquisitive about his retirement and the restaurant’s future, he determined to say farewell to them, he stated.
“I owe it to them too. I don’t wish to maintain them at the hours of darkness. A whole lot of them have been coming right here for generations. I’ve many feelings about this closure and rather a lot prospects additionally really feel that means, too,” he stated.
Sampanthavivat opened a second, informal restaurant, the now-shuttered Style of Thai City, in 2015 in a former police station at 4461 N. Pulaski Street. It closed in 2019, based on an Arun’s worker.
In 2016, Sampanthavivat introduced plans to shut Arun’s and promote the constructing, however he modified his thoughts and as an alternative took on a enterprise accomplice, renovated the inside and reopened after a quick closure, based on the Tribune.
As for what the longer term now holds, outdoors of promoting the property Sampanthavivat stated he primarily desires to spend his time writing.
“I wish to sit down and write plenty of issues. That’s what I do finest, what I really like finest,” Sampanthavivat stated.
Arun’s is open 5-9 p.m. by Sunday. Reservations will be made on the restaurant’s web site.
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