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About Keo |
For over twenty 23 years,
restaurateur Keo Sananikone has been at the epicenter of
America's increasing fascination with the cuisine of Thailand.
The popularity of his Thai restaurants in Hawaii. Keo
explains, stems "not from doing extraordinary things; it comes
from consistently doing the ordinary things extraordinarily
well." The recipes from his famed restaurants---are not known
with glitz but for their savory, spicy Thai flavors. The
awards garnered by Keo's restaurants speak for themselves. Bon
Appetit voted Keo's "American's Best Thai Restaurant" and
Gourmet named it one of "America's Top Tables". Newsweek
described Keo's as " One of the choicest dining spots in
Honolulu."
Keo Sananikone, who has called Honolulu home since 1975, has
ties to Hawaii and the islands and to the United States dates
from before his family fled Laos following the Communist
takeover. Keo Sananikone was born and raised in Laos. In
mid-summer of 1968, Keo first came to Hawaii at age 15 on his
way to a private college preparatory school in Ojai,
California. Keo graduated from Ojai Valley School in 1970. And
in the fall of 1970, Keo entered the University of Washington,
and graduated in 1974 with a bachelor degree in Architecture.
Following graduation, he attended Japanese business courses at
the Japan America Institute of Management and at Sophia
University in Tokyo, Japan.
Keo's first job was a dishwasher and waiter at Ojai Valley
School where all the students took turns working in the dining
room. Keo landed his first paying job at the University of
Washington as a cashier at the University cafeteria. Keo is
multilingual, in addition to Laotian and English, Keo is
fluent in Thai, Vietnamese, and three Chinese dialects -
Mandarin, Cantonese and Teochew. Laotian, Vietnamese, Chinese,
French and Thai food were all prepared in the kitchen of his
family home, a multicultural household that would inspire him
to pursue a career in the culinary arts.
Keo started his career as a restaurateur officially in 1977
with the opening of his Mekong Restaurant in Honolulu. In
December of 1981, a second restaurant was opened and named
Keo's Thai Cuisine. August of 1982 saw the opening of another
restaurant called Mekong II. In the summer of 1985, Keo
published his cookbook, Keo's Thai Cuisine. Keo acquired two
farms on the Northshore of Oahu in 1986 and began growing his
own flowers, spices, and vegetables. In the winter of 1985,
Ten Speed Press, purchased the publishing rights in Keo's
cookbooks and began marketing his cookbook worldwide. The
August of 1986 saw the opening of yet another restaurant
called Keo's at Ward Centre. In the December of 1997, Keo
moved his flagship Kapahulu Keo's to a new location to
Waikiki, now the grandest and most famous of all his
restaurants. In December 1999, Keoni by Keo's was opened in
Waikiki, serving Thai and American food. Today, he owns and
operates five restaurants with over two hundred employees and
continues to delight diners the world over.
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Hours: |
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American Breakfast: |
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7 am - Noon |
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Lunch: |
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11 am - 2 pm |
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Dinner: |
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Sun - Thurs: |
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5:00 - 10:30 pm |
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Fri, Sat: |
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5:00 - 11:00 pm |
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Payment: |
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All Major
Credit Cards, incl. Diner's Club and JCB |
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Full Bar & Wine List: |
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Traditional and
tropical cocktails, beer and wine. |
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Open Air Dining: |
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Enjoy a sunset in downtown Waikiki.. |
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Group Dining: |
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For all occasions. Our semi-private room
seats up to 50 guests. The entire restaurant can accommodate from
150-200 guests. |
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Take Out Available |
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Free Valet Parking for Dinner. |
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Free self-parking for breakfast and lunch. |
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Why did a
Laotian open a Thai restaurant? "Laotian and Thai language,
culture, and religion are very similar," Keo says. "But the
food is very different. I felt Laotian food would not have
been successful in America at that time. Laotian food is very
basic and simple, and Thai food is very exotic and colorful."
The secret of Keo's success has been to create a restaurant as
he wanted it. "I visited a lot of ethnic restaurants in
America and around the world," he said. "In many ethnic
restaurants, the food would be good but the ambience was
wrong. Or the ambience would be right but the food and service
were not. I put in everything I personally liked in
restaurants to create my restaurants."
Along the way, he found time to write a cookbook, Keo's Thai
Cuisine, beautifully illustrated with photos by Lou
Harrington. When no publisher was interested in the book, Keo
published it himself in the summer of 1985 and sold out the
first printing of 15,000 copies in a month. "Then five
publishers wanted it," he laughs. The book has now sold over
100,000 copies, including 9,000 copies in Thailand and 5,000
copies in Australia and Canada. |
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