In 2007, Anucha Kongthavorn stepped off a plane in San Francisco from his native Thailand, and got a job cooking the same day. He's spent his career in the service industry, from restaurant busser to cruise ship butler, culminating in opening his own Thai food take out, Mae Krua. He joins us to talk about his journey, shares his philosophy on serving others, provides advice on starting a restaurant, and explains why his restaurant regulars asked about his emotions before ordering.In this episode, he tells usthe origin of the name "Mae Krua"how he got into the service businessthe value of persistencewhy he uses feeling and emotion when making foodhow to recognize if you're in the wrong jobwhy thinking deeply about food is the first step of opening a restaurantthe impact of emotions on the size of a tablespoonwhy he stopped using food delivery services like GrubHubmuch, much more... we get philosophical on this one.Links and Show Notes331 Cortland (https://www.facebook.com/331cortland/) Star Cruises (https://www.starcruises.com/us/en) Princess Cruises (https://www.princess.com/) CCSF: City College of San Francisco (http://www.ccsf.edu/) ESL (English as a Second Language) (https://www.ccsf.edu/en/educational-programs/school-and-departments/school-of-international-education-and-esl/english-as-a-second-language-esl.html) de Young Café (https://deyoung.famsf.org/deyoung/visiting/de-young-cafe) Paulie’s Pickling (https://pauliespickling.com/) Lonely Planet (https://www.lonelyplanet.com/) Mae Krua in Lonely Planet (https://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/san-francisco/restaurants/mae-krua/a/poi-eat/1518213/1329643) Yelp (https://www.yelp.com/) Amazon Prime (https://www.amazon.com/amazonprime?_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&linkId=%7B%7Blink_id%7D%7D&primeCampaignId=prime_assoc_ft&ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1427739975520&tag=lettucewrap-20) (Amazon Restaurants is now closed)Grubhub (https://www.grubhub.com/)/Eat24Uber Eats (https://www.ubereats.com/) Definition of veganism | The Vegan Society (https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism) The Vegan Diet — A Complete Guide for Beginners (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vegan-diet-guide#section5) Ukiah Temple/City of 10,000 Buddhas (http://www.cttbusa.org/) Our thanks to Anucha for joining us. We wish him the best of luck in whatever he decides to do next.Save 25% at Spice Hound and NeoCocoa!The holiday season is upon us, and as a special “thank you” for being a Lettuce Wrap listener, we’re offering you 25% off all items at both NeoCocoa and SpiceHound online stores! Listen to the episode for the special website and discount code!Thank you for listening. You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram:Lettuce Wrap: @lettucewrappod (https://twitter.com/lettucewrappod)/ @lettucewrappod (https://instagram.com/lettucewrappod)Christine Doerr: @christinedoerr (https://twitter.com/christinedoerr) / @neococoaconfections (https://www.instagram.com/neococoaconfections/) Tammy Tan: @spicehound (http://twitter.com/spicehound) / @spicehound (https://www.instagram.com/spicehound/)or email us at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]).That’s a wrap!Amazon (https://amzn.to/2DBzg5j) and other links may be affiliates. Purchases help support the show. Special Guest: Anucha Kongthavorn, Mae Krua.