Pranom Pop Up

We have your Monday dinner planned. Our good friend Dream Kasestatad of Pranom Pop-up will be passing through Asheville on his nationwide tour bringing with him his authentic Thai street food. What’s on the menu? His famous boat noodle soup, just in time for the cooler weather.

Dream has been busy since we last saw him. He was just in Clarksdale, MS cooking for the Deep Blues Festival. While he was there he was filming his feature documentary about the Williams family. The Williams family performed at Ground Zero, Morgan Freeman’s blues club and restaurant. Both the Williams family and Dream were invited back to take over Ground Zero in April. After his short stop here in Asheville he will be heading to New Orleans for the annual voodoo festival. While in New Orleans he will film segments of a new horror film he is directing then back to his hometown in Austin to start filming a new travel/good pilot starring Amy Paffrath, former host of VH1, fox’s Dating Naked and now current host of ESPN, Drone Races and E Entertainment.

The traveling concept has humble roots. Kasestatad is the product of four generations of Thai restaurateurs, the catalyst behind his deep love of family and community. “Food is love in our family,” Kasestatad says. His culinary-centric upbringing and love for traditional Thai food preparation led him to Los Angeles, where he prepared pad Thai from his apartment and offered bicycle delivery to friends, bars and small businesses. From there, he began hosting Thai street food pop ups, eventually hitting the road to share his cuisine nationwide. Now, Kasestatad travels the nation, stopping in foodie hubs like New Orleans and Charleston. “I love traveling,” he says. “I love meeting and connecting with people.” He also loves exposing communities across the country to authentic Thai food. For Kasestatad, taking his cuisine on the road is as much about the people as it is about the food. His favorite part? “All the friends I have made all over the country,” he says. “It feels more like reconnecting with friends when I come to town than work.”