By Lisa Abraham
Beacon Journal food writer
Published on Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009
With all of the recent restaurant closings, it's nice to be able to report on an opening, even if it is several months away.
The former Piatto restaurant, which has sat vacant on South Main Street in downtown Akron for the past three and a half years, is expected to open in September as Cilantro Thai and Sushi Restaurant.
Building owner Jeff O'Neil said he will be in town this week to sign a lease with Charlie Somtrakool, a Dayton resident who will be relocating to Akron in the next few weeks to open the restaurant.
Somtrakool said his mother recently moved to the United States from their native Thailand to help him run the kitchen and cook authentic Thai dishes, including pad Thai, duck basil, and seafood claypot. They are currently finalizing the menu.
Somtrakool, 28, has been working in restaurants for the past eight years and currently is manager of Thai 9 in Dayton. This is his first solo venture and he said he selected Akron because there are not many Thai restaurants here.
The downtown location also was desirable, he said. The fact that the former Piatto kitchen is fully equipped and will need only minor modifications should help him to get up and running quickly.
He chose the name because the herb cilantro figures so prominently in Thai cooking. ''Most people think of cilantro as Mexican because it's in salsa. We use a lot of cilantro in Thai food as well. It is a very popular and very important herb within the Thai cuisine,'' he said.
O'Neil said he was pleased to have a tenant in the building and to be bringing new business to Akron.
''This is a brand new Akron venture, not someone moving from somewhere else in the area,'' he said.
Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com.
