Puma Yu’s is a dream realized for co-owners Pete Amadhanirundr, the chef, and Ally Smith, the beverage savant. What started as the aptly named Side Hustle pop-up in 2017 evolved into a Kickstarter to raise funds for a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Now it’s here, with an industrial-meets-vintage vibe in the historic Southern Mill development.
The couple works to set their restaurant apart from others with careful intention in everything they do, from paying the staff a fair wage to thoughtfully selecting their vendors. The produce is as local as possible, and the wines are often natural, selected by Smith from producers who are women or from under-represented communities. “I feel like it’s almost our job to also find like-minded people who share a love for their land, the produce that their land produces, the people they work with, [and] the community that keeps all these small growers, producers, companies, and restaurants alive,” Amadhanirundr says.
For Amadhanirundr and Smith, the restaurant is a chance to share what’s most important to them, whether it’s the producers they work with or the dishes they serve. It’s why Amadhanirundr always has a curry on the menu. The dish varies regionally in Thailand and shows how diverse the cuisine is. “There’s a lot of abundance of fruits and herbs and aromatics,” says Amadhanirundr. “I think Thai curries are a really good representation of how food mixes and culture mixes to become what it is.”
