Today we’d like to introduce you to Dara Quinn.
Hi Dara, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The Emerald of Siam was the very first Thai restaurant in Tri-Cities Washington. With a small endowment from my grandparents my aunt and mother converted a soda fountain shop in the Thrifty Drug store into a little Thai restaurant.
I took over our family restaurant in 2011. I am a former touring musician and live music is my passion so I infused my passion for music into The Emerald of Siam. The Emerald features live music 5 nights a week while serving award winning Thai cuisine. We just celebrated our 42nd anniversary and it looks like we will be here to stay.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
This restaurant has been run by family since inception with my mother working 14 hour days for years until I took over and am doing the same. Covid was particularly rough as it was for all restaurants, we used the shutdown to update our menu and our venue.
Currently we are having a fundraiser as we need to raise 100k+ to purchase and install a new kitchen hood. Unfortunately the unit we have is too old to fix and to meet code we also have to move it to a new location, that is very expensive.
We also struggle because we are somewhat eclectic to the very conservative area. A lot of people love us for giving them a cultural oasis here (along with great Thai food) but it is a very conservative town and have to really fight for our place here.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
If you are talking about me personally I am really a musician, not a business woman. I toured professionally in the 9os playing jazz fusion piano. I would come home for a month every summer to take care of the family business so I know it like the back of my hand, been working there off and on since I was 10 years old.
When mom was going to retire I was living in Seattle and playing music. We had to either sell the restaurant, close it or my brother and I could take over. This is such a special place, a cultural oasis in the community we feature live music 5 nights a week including a regular open mic and a jazz night. We often host local school jazz bands giving the kids a chance to see what its like to perform on a real stage. Anyways to close would have been like losing a family member the place is so special. You can look at our gofundme for a little more info. https://gofund.me/538405cf3
Any big plans?
Music and culture lovers in the area have been so supportive with our fundraiser. It is looking like it will be successful so we can afford our mandated upgrades and we don’t have to close the restaurant. Rising food and material costs and the cost of minimum wage continue to make a thriving restaurant business a lot of work and sweat equity. But with this grant from our community we can continue to move forward.
Lately we have been very busy expanding our love for music regionally booking an outdoor concert series and providing a music booking service for local organizations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.emeraldofsiam.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emeraldofsiam
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emeraldofsiam
