Simply Siam Thai Restaurant

An evening out in town. Good ole' Maryville. The familiarity of it all. As you walk around, the smell of delicious food hits you and your stomach growls. Rounding the corner, a scent of salty noodles, garlic, lemon, and sweet mixed with bits of a controlling sour fills your nose as you are met face-first with the restaurant that is calling to you. Simply Siam Thai Restaurant. As you look between the two lions that outline the door, you walk inside and sit, finally enjoying a meal that reignites your tastebuds and sends you into an alternate universe.

Simply Siam Thai Restaurant, which opened in 2010 and is located at 314 North Main Street in Maryville, Missouri, is a hometown favorite to many of those who live in Maryville. Until March 1st, 2016, Nok Schuler was the proud owner of the Simply Siam Thai Restaurant but handed it over to Xong and Tue Chang to carry on the profound legacy. Coming from the Maryville Forum, author Tony Brown states the history behind how the restaurant went into different owners' hands and how it is still thriving to this day. "The Changs, along with their oldest child, Eric, are currently working at the restaurant so Schuler can teach them the ropes, introduce them to regular customers, and share her management techniques and recipes. Schuler has always served as the restaurant’s sole chef, duties that will now be shared by Xong and Tue, who say they are determined to maintain the establishment’s reputation for quality cuisine" (Brown, 2016).

Since 2016, Simply Siam Thai Restaurant has continued to welcome newcomers, along with college students at Northwest who find themselves needing a place to find comfort in mouth-watering food and kind people.

Before the Simply Siam Thai Restaurant became what it is known as today, between the years of 1886 and 1909, the now-restaurant was a drug store in Nodaway County. Still located on 314 North Main Street, drug stores in both 1886 and 1909 in Nodaway County were simply pharmacy general stores that housed medicine, over-the-counter remedies for home, and ready-made goods. Along with this, almost every American drug store at this time was known to be a meeting spot for lunch and even a community social center where many would find one another and create small talk over the town and other ongoing issues or gossip at hand.

When looking at the Sanborn maps provided in the image section, you can see that the 1886 and 1909 maps have not changed locations. The drug store, which is now Simply Siam Restaurant, has stayed in the same place and has not moved locations since the creation of Simply Siam Thai Restaurant. Although the locations change in the images, the Nodaway Democrat, a newspaper written in Nodaway, mentions many different drug stores and what is offered at each. One of the newspapers from February 11, 1909, states how spectacles are being sold at a lower price at only Love's Drug Store. Like many of the newspapers from Nodaway County, many ads mention what is proposed in said drug stores and how customers can purchase them or possibly get a discount on specific items.

As history has continued and aspects of life have changed, the manufacturing of drug stores and goods will forever be a remarkable part of what has made us get to his point in life. Although it may be a small store, it still creates much growth into who we are today, especially within the foundation of Simply Siam Thai Restaurant.

Brown, Tony. Simply Siam: Changing hands but not the menu, Maryville Forum. February 12th, 2016. Accessed October 14th, 2024. https://www.maryvilleforum.com/business/simply-siam-changing-hands-but-not-the-menu/article_54a395b8-d192-11e5-b800-2bcf8b16976d.html.

1886 Sandborn Map: Maryville, MO, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A138882

1909 Sanborn Map: Maryville, MO, https://dl.mospace.umsystem.edu/mu/islandora/object/mu%3A138882

Nodaway Democrat, Newspapers.com. February 11th, 1909. Accessed October 14th, 2024. https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/paper/nodaway-democrat/23640/.