How fortunate to be a nation of immigrants. How else would the sturdy cuisines of northern Europe become informed with the zip of salsas, curries and mysterious stews from warmer, more adventurous culinary climes? And how doubly fortunate for Northern Coloradans to live near universities that attract foreign students who sometimes decide to share their cooking.

Suda Lapakulchai, owner of the new restaurant Bann Thai, found Colorado State University's master's program in food science on the Internet.

"I wanted to come to the States to study," she said. "I liked the mountains and the idea of living in a place that has four seasons. Thailand has one."

Lapakulchai explained that in late 2007, even before she had finished her degree in December, she began looking for a location for a restaurant. She had decided to stay in Fort Collins permanently, and her search eventually led her to the space that Hugo Caballero was leaving to open his new Los Tarascos next door.

First, however, she had to deal with her parents back in Thailand. As expected, her two brothers had already gone into the family wholesale business, supplying exotic seafood products to restaurants and hotels, but Thai culture - and her Chinese heritage within it - is protective of daughters.

"I talked with mom and dad," she said. "At first they did not agree. They thought I was too young. A daughter is always a child. I had to be very persuasive. I told them that I wanted to bring two of my sisters to work with me."

Wanting to have her sisters join her in the business was more than just a sentimental decision. Maythawee Lapakulchai has a master's degree in business and Nucharin Lapakulchai, with a degree in art, had already established herself as a graphic artist in Bangkok. They would bring just the right talents to the enterprise, not to mention a willingness to wait tables.

Suda Lapakulchai grew up at the intersection of culture and cuisine that flourishes in Bangkok. Thailand was never colonized by a Western power (good kings, she explained) and the capital city, established by King Rama I in the 1780s, had long been home to a large Chinese merchant community.

"My grandpa came from China. He settled in Bangkok and started the family business," she said. "We are now the third generation."

Suda Lapakulchai added that in Thai cuisine, dishes with noodles originally came from China - those same noodles Marco Polo took back to Italy - while rice dishes are strictly local.

"We eat rice for every meal. My sister created the decoration that goes around the edge of the restaurant. It is the rice plant when it has turned gold just before it is harvested. The golden fields are beautiful," she said.

While many of the items on the Bann Thai menu will seem familiar, the Lapakulchais have marked several as "Authentic!," including som tum (green papaya salad) and phad suki (bean thread stir-fried with egg, napa cabbage, celery and fishball in spicy peanut sauce). For those who like to be in the know regarding appetizers, thoong tong is found everywhere in Bangkok, while koong hom pa is quite upscale. With a beer after work? Shrimp crisps, of course.

And when the sisters get homesick?

"We eat tom yum koong soup!" said Maythawee Lapakulchai.

There was no debate.

The Bann Thai Restaurant, 626 S. College Ave., will have its grand opening Aug. 1. Hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Closed Sunday.

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What's wot?

The Lapakulchai sisters found their way to Fort Collins via the Internet. Hanna Mulu Selassie followed a more indirect route from Ethiopia to Ras-Ka, her eatery on the other side of College Avenue at 120-B W. Laurel St.   She left her homeland for Sudan when she was 16. It was there she met and married a Peace Corps volunteer.

"We first came to Fort Collins in 1988, but then in 1993 we went back to Africa to work in Kenya with Plan International, an NGO that helps children and families," she said. "I worked with ladies with HIV to help them create a living. We were there a year and a half, and I learned how to organize people and how to cook with some new spices."

A permanent resident of the United States with two young children, Selassie returned with her family to Fort Collins. The marriage ended.

"I was a single mom," she said. "So I worked as a resident assistant as I went to school, and from time to time would prepare meals for international events. As a fashion and art major, I would do fashion shows and serve food. I was disappointed when people liked the food more than the fashions!"

Selassie never set out to open a restaurant.  She was looking for a production facility to make her bottled sauces because the demand for them had grown.

"I wanted to be a full-time mom, and so I was looking for a way to create a living that would let me stay close," she said. "I developed these sauces, one hot and one mild, and named them after my favorite Ethiopian king, Ras-Kasa. I shortened it to Ras-Ka. The sauces contain 30 handcrafted organic spices. At one time, Ethiopia was a crossroads for the spice trade."

Selassie pointed out that making traditional sauces is the most labor-intensive part of preparing a meal.

"So you can take this sauce and add it to stews or meats or vegetarian dishes and create a special meal quickly," she said.

Which brings us to wot (variously spelled wat or wut), the very hot Ethiopian stew traditionally eaten off injera, big, spongy, pancake-like bread made out of teff flour. Many who have partaken of Ethiopian cuisine will not be sad that this very sour flatbread does not automatically come with a meal at Ras-Ka, which also serves as Selassie's sauce production facility.

Ras-Ka, the small restaurant that was previously home to Taco Nation, feels as if it could be elsewhere. Somewhere in Africa, maybe, where the aromas of the simmering curried chickpeas, organic lentil stew and chicken doro wot are pungent and a serving of wot can make you sweat. Selassie has taken out the soft-drink dispenser ("If I won't drink it, I won't serve it") and instead offers red hibiscus tea and lemonade.

"I don't have a menu," she said. "I take what is fresh from the CSU CSA (community supported agriculture) gardens and cook that. I believe that food should activate all the senses. Everything we prepare is 100 percent natural, and the spices bring everything alive."

Selassie's Ras-Ka sauces can be found in Fort Collins at Beaver's Market, Choice City Butcher & Deli, The Cupboard, the International Market and the Fort Collins Food Coop. In Greeley, they are available at Life Source One.

Summer hours for dining at Ras-Ka are weekdays from noon to 8 p.m.



Jane Albritton is a contributing writer for the Business Report. Her monthly column features restaurant and hospitality industry news. She can be contacted at jane@tigerworks.com.