Mai's Thai has been serving authentic cuisine for 23 years in Jeffersonville

Aug. 23—JEFFERSONVILLE — No one leaves Mai's Thai restaurant on Tenth Street in Jeffersonville hungry.

Owner Pissmai Meyers makes sure no one leaves without feeling like part of the family as well, and that relationship is somethings she's been building for the past 23 years.

"You don't have to go to Thailand to eat Thai food," Meyers said.

The food isn't the only thing at Mai's Thai that pays homage to her home country. The restaurant is brightly decorated with scenes from Thailand and photos from trips Meyers has taken, accompanied by Southern Indiana residents, to Thailand.

She even has a plaque from Thailand's government on her wall certifying her food authentic.

Meyers' customers get to learn more about her culture with every bite.

"People come here and they know me real good and they say, 'Hey Mai, how are you doing, I'd like to go to Thailand sometime," Meyers said. "And I say 'Yeah, when do you want to go?"

Then Meyers takes them to experience the country, its food, its culture and the home she owns there.

Photos from the trip are on some tables at Mai's Thai and in a photo album a customer gifted Mai.

The food, which she said she makes with her heart, connects people.

"My best-seller is everything," Meyers said. "I beat everyone's curry."

All of the dishes at the restaurant, and there are over 40 to choose from, are made with love and by hand in the kitchen.

Meyers prides herself on serving authentic cuisine that hasn't been Americanized.

In the summer months, when mangoes are ripe and juicy, she serves a Thai dessert of mango and sticky rice, with a side of a coconut sauce handcrafted by her granddaughter.

Her curries and sauces are silky. The portions are generous and flavorful.

Mai's Thai celebrated its anniversary earlier this month, a date that closely coincided with Meyers' 71st birthday.

In April the eatery's food truck, Mini Mai's Thai, hit the road with Meyers' granddaughter Alexis Addison at the helm.

"When I went to culinary school, I went to Sullivan University and I watched the Food Network channel a whole, whole lot," Addison said. "I used to idolize Rachel Ray, I idolized Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri. I was amazed by Guy Fieri and how he went to different restaurants and different food trucks on the East Coast...I was like, that's what I want to do, a food truck."

When Addison first presented the food truck idea to Meyers it didn't catch on, but earlier this year they decided to go forward with it.

Mini Mai's Thai serves a smaller menu and drives across the region so customers all over can try what the Jeffersonville restaurant has to offer.

Addison said it's brought at least 1,000 people over to Mai's Thai to try the full menu and that the goal is to take the truck to three spots a week.

"I like to bring more foot traffic here," Addison said. "People remember us as that corner mom and pop shop you go to and get some of the best Thai food. It's a lot of the stories our customers have. We have customers who have known her since the grocery store."

Meyers' daughter, and Addison's mother, Samai Morris, also offers the families warm hospitality and remembers working at their now-closed grocery store in Old Louisville while she was in high school.

"Both my parents took that up as a project. The store was there for 10 years. We started selling Thai food in the deli and people came out from all kinds of places for a Thai dishes, all we had was one or two dishes" Morris said. "...My mom has worked her entire life, she's a hard worker, I don't think she even knows how to not work."

Mai's Thai opened after the grocery stopped operating.

Morris said COVID has changed some things at the restaurant, and they've had to switch to counter service and using disposable plates and utensils, but that's what's best for business and their customers.

The pandemic also stopped the cooking class offered at Mai's Thai, but there's plans in the works for its return.

"She did her cooking classes, which we are trying to get back into that, it kind of died off when COVID happened. We sold out every time we do the cooking class," Morris said. "The cooking class isn't funds she keeps. The money we charge for the cooking class she gives away to charity. She gives to local temples needing assistance here and needing assistance in Thailand."

Meyers said she let people pick out the food they wanted to cook and took them back into her kitchen to see how it's done.

"You help me do that and you're going to heaven with me, and everybody likes it," Meyers said. "You get three things, you learn how to cook, you go to heaven and you get free food."