Since spending two months in Thailand working in orphanages around the country way back as a youth in 1999, the “Land of Smiles” and overwhelming heat has had a piece of my heart. I adore its people and like so many, its incredibly vibrant, often scorchingly spicy food. I’ve been back to Bangkok in recent years, marveling at the growth of its food and cocktail scenes, while I have warm memories traveling Thai cities like Chiang Rai and regions like the Isaan territory where many of my favorite dishes hail from.
Hed — which is Isaan for ‘to make’ in an authentic way — just opened late January 2023 hidden in a downtown Financial District alley off Kearny Street. It’s focused on Isaan Northeastern Thai cuisine, but unlike many in town serving dishes from that region, Hed VeryThai serves food in khao gaeng style. While that broadly translates to curry over rice, it’s a platter of mini-bowls of complementary dishes, playing off contrasting flavors and textures.
San Francisco is long home to superb Thai treasures like Pim Techamuanvivit’s Michelin-starred, casual Kin Khao in downtown SF, vibrant like its more elegant sister restaurant, Nari, in Japantown. But we recently saw the sad closure of my nearly decade-old favorite for Isaan Thai in SF, Hawker Fare — no one made a Laotian crispy rice ball salad like James Syhabout and team (sigh). There are Thai gems neighborhood-by-neighborhood. But I haven’t seen the like of Hed VeryThai’s all-inclusive platters anywhere in the states.
A tri-color rice bowl of jasmine and brown rice with purple rice berries centers the platters with different curries or stir-fries, soup, salad and/or fried dish, plus light Thai mango, coconut or banana puddings for dessert. The platters/sets range from $19.95 to $25.95 at lunch, $23.95 to $27.95 at dinner. They’re a deal for how much food you get. I couldn’t even finish one set and had another mini-lunch out of leftovers at home.
Owner Naruephon “Billie” Wannajaro literally just moved to San Francisco from Bangkok nine months ago, impressively immediately opening Hed VeryThai with an investor from Bangkok in a roomy, striking space that has been home to numerous spots over recent years, including most recently Homage and a much-needed Brittany-style crepe place, Galette 88.
The bright, roomy farmhouse-meets-urban-downtown feel remains with rustic wood floors, black steel beams and shelving against white walls and ceiling. It’s bustling but still easy to get a table in the welcoming space. Chef Jacqueline “Jackie” Tabor is cooking with care in the kitchen, working closely with Wannajaro to hone the recipes to Isaan Thai authenticity.
Trying two different platters out of the five sets available, centered around beef, fish, shrimp, chicken or vegetables, there are some bites that need honing, like unexpectedly bland gently-fried eggplant, which could use more aromatic Thai basil and piquancy in the sauce.
The “Shrimp Set” held my favorite plate of all the 10 or so I tasted: goong sauce makham, aka shrimps in tangy, tart tamarind sauce accented with lemongrass and fried shallots. It was partnered with a cool yum woonsen (spicy glass noodle salad with tomato and nicely silky mini-tofu), the aforementioned eggplant dish, a classic papaya salad lively with heat and dried shrimps and an add-on option of a spicy herbaceous lemongrass shrimps salad with grapefruit and mint. All this plus dessert pudding of your choosing.
For contrast, the “Beef Set” centered around heartier kaosoi nua, a comforting Northern Thailand-style curry with 24 hour-braised Angus beef in yellow curry contrasted by Thai pickles. This platter also had the eggplant, FakThong pad khai, a gratifying butternut squash dish laced with egg and Thai basil, and a spicy papaya salad, plus dessert.
I also tried the main dish from the “Fish Set,” a revivifying bowl of tomyum pla, or catfish in tangy tom yum sauce with mushrooms, tomatoes and red onions.
After the tamarind shrimp, my friend and I were most excited about the add-on sausage plate of two styles of sausage both popular in Thailand’s Isaan region. The first are plump, fermented pork-and-rice sai krok Isaan sausages originating from Lao immigrants in Thailand’s Isaan region. The second is sliced sai oua, a Lao sausage of aromatic, ground pork seasoned with lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves, cilantro/coriander, chillies, garlic, sticky rice and fish sauce. Here, with a beautifully spicy sauce to dip the sausages in, it’s happiness.
As opposed to the vivid food of Kin Khao, which I crave and dream about, Hed VeryThai’s food may be less exciting, more comfort food with a clean range of flavors and contrast in each platter. With honing, there could be more crave-worthy dishes like the tamarind shrimps or sausage, the two dishes I was thinking about after I left.
Paired with nicely balanced, not too sweet Thai iced teas and iced coffees or fruit and veggie juices, it’s a healthful meal where you leave feeling nurtured instead of heavy. It’s a win for downtown, the hardest-hit part of SF since pandemic, with its still heavily vacated office buildings as thousands (rightly) have the option to work from home.
But on a weekday lunch at Hed VeryThai, the lofty space is bustling, two thirds full, inviting and filled with the incomparable aroma of Thai chilies. Good news for a new restaurant hidden down a FiDi alley. Here’s to more casual, thoughtful newcomers like this to revive downtown with a local, neighborhood feel, a different approach from every other Thai restaurant and that one-of-a-kind Thai welcome.
// 88 Hardie Place; https://hedverythai.com
Virginia Miller is a San Francisco-based food & drink writer.
