This Houston Thai Restaurant Won’t Change Its Menu — Not Even for Madonna

Street to Kitchen’s James Beard Award-winning Chef G stands by her “unapologetically” Thai cuisine, and even a megapop star can’t sway her

Anyone familiar with James Beard Award-winning chef Benchawan Jabthong Painter knows the chef prides herself on “unapologetically” Thai cuisine at her restaurant Street to Kitchen. The restaurant, now located in Houston’s Second Ward, humorously poked fun at its standards and customers’ responses in a previous menu that featured an unagreeable customer “Karen” who complained about STK’s policies, which include not modifying spice levels and the requirement that diners order all dishes at once. But if you wondered whether Chef G ever waivers on her “no modifications” policy, just know — even Madonna can’t sway her.

Graham Painter, Street to Kitchen’s co-owner and Chef G’s husband, says a representative for the mega-pop star stopped by during a busy night in March. While Painter was overseeing operations at their Thai and Indigenous restaurant Th Prsrv in Kemah, Chef G was holding it down at Street to Kitchen’s host stand, inconspicuously greeting guests and taking orders. That night, in walked a British man with a small group of people, Chef G recalls. The man immediately began to order various dishes but with a host of modifications. Chef G listened but rejected them. “We don’t do that,” Chef G said.

Brittany Britto Garley

“You do know this is for Madonna?,” the man reportedly said, but Chef G surprisingly wasn’t familiar with the superstar. “Well, Madonna. She’s really quite famous,” he asserted, according to Chef G.

Her response?

“Well, I hear the chef here is really quite famous, too.”

Painter says the man was left speechless, but after a few moments, agreed to the Thai dishes prepared the chef’s way. When Chef G recalled the story to her husband, Painter says he was beaming with pride. “She didn’t mean to be a diva,” he says. “But a proud chef doesn’t want to have her menu changed. She works hard … If you go to a French or Italian restaurant, almost everybody understands you don’t tell the chef how to make the food.”

Painter says Chef G — especially as a younger, female chef in a male-dominated industry — has been adamant about maintaining her style and approach to Thai cuisine, much of which is predicated on her grandmother’s recipes. Some of that refusal to change, though, is rooted in Thai chef culture, Painter says. While Thai cooks at street food stalls or touristy restaurants are often willing to make modifications, Graham says most Thai chefs push back on modifications or requests to their menus, which many Americans aren’t used to. “When it comes to Thai food, we assume it’s all have it your way,” he says. “She’s younger, and she’s a woman, but that doesn’t mean she’s not serious. She sees her food as an art.”

Interestingly enough, the Madonna encounter, which occurred while the singer was on tour in Houston, led to another near-brush with celebrity months later. Painter says he retold the story to two Los Angeles musicians who were dining at the restaurant. Almost immediately, one of the musicians began texting a friend. The friend was Alanis Morissette. Painter says the musician said Morissette thought the story was hilarious and invited both him and Chef G to her Triple Moon concert tour stop in the Woodlands, which was held on Father’s Day. Chef G, more familiar with Morissette and her hit “Ironic,” obliged, and the Painters, who were invited backstage, missed meeting her by mere minutes, they say.

Annie Mulligan

The Houston restaurant scene is no stranger to celebrities. Hometown hero Beyoncé pops in to visit her favorite local spots like BB’s Tex Orleans and Frenchy’s now and again, and has professed her love for Pappadeux. Lizzo shouted out various local spots during her trip home in 2022, including Shipley Do-Nuts, Mai’s, and Chapultepec Lupita. And Bun B’s Trill Burgers has drawn in a variety of celebrities, including Drake, Mike Tyson, and Ludacris.

But, if anything, Graham says Street to Kitchen’s interaction with Madonna’s crew is just proof that you never know who’s in Houston. Knowing Madonna’s reputation — one that aligns with women’s empowerment — the restaurateur says he’s confident she’d approve of Chef G standing her ground. “I think she’d be all for it.”

Eater Houston reached out to representatives for Madonna but did not immediately hear back.