Street to Kitchen

Look out Thai lovers, there’s a new reason to celebrate. Street to Kitchen is spicing up Houston’s East End with traditional Thai dishes made from locally sourced ingredients. Self-described as unapologetically, authentically Thai, Chef Benchawan Painter uses family recipes from her grandma’s neighborhood kitchen in Thailand where she grew up and enhances them with techniques she learned in some of Houston’s top restaurants. East deliciously meets west at Street to Kitchen.  

Chef Painter’s sauces and curries are made from scratch and she relies on fresh ingredients from a number of local farms. Her people’s choice-styled menu was developed from the following she gained hosting pop-ups at farms, bars and markets. Popular items include: old school Thai garlic chive pancakes, drunken noodles with pickled chilies, sweet potato and chicken medium spiced massaman curry, and Jasmine fried rice spiked with chili. No surprise, a true crowd pleaser is her Thai marinaded crispy fried chicken, which gets its extra crispiness from a rice flour batter and it’s sprinkled with crispy shallots. Finger-licking is allowed. 

Street to Kitchen is a dream come true for both Chef Painter and her husband Graham Painter, since they met in Thailand. The name comes from their start in the streets as a pop-up to now owning their own permanent kitchen. A heartwarming love story inside of a flavorful food story.