courtesy of Vila Thai
This article was not edited by Zocalo Magazine.
Vila Thai will move into the former Chileverde space at 20 N. Stone Ave. some time in April.
Don't think this is just a simple move from Vila Thai's hidden upstairs nook at Main Gate Square.
Vila Destanii Jarrell will instill quite an upgrade for this Downtown move that will bring an urban-style name change to V Fine Thai Dining. The Main Gate location will be converted to counter service and renamed Vila Express.
"We will do a lot of traditional Thai dishes we can't do now," Jarrell said. "I am what you call a cosmopolitan Thai."
Even at Main Gate, without a grill or the facilities to make sticky rice, Vila Thai earned accolades, such as being the Arizona delegate for the Blue Elephant Cooking School in Bangkok.
Jarrell said traveling Thais and even Indonesians have marveled at the Vila Thai cuisine.
"This year I had a group of Indonesians," she said. "They said 'make us Thai food.' They ate and they cried and cried. I had attorneys from Los Angeles and New York and they said 'I can't believe we can find this kind of food in Tucson.'"
V Fine Thai will give Downtown sticky rice, grilled items and a wide variety of Thai specialties.
"Our food is deconstructed Thai cuisine," Jarrell said.
Because Thailand lies along the sea and Arizona is landlocked, Jarrell and her chef husband, Redman Jarrell, have reinterpreted Thai cuisine to create dishes that reflect Thai tradition but also include local ingredients.
The menu has Downtown resident Michael Laatsch salivating. He's the one who signed the deal to put V Fine Thai into the U.S. Bank building with the tilted blue walls.
"We had multiple tenants vying for this space," said Laatsch, acquisition and asset manager for Holualoa Companies, which bought in 2004 and also owns the Pioneer Building. "I was actually selfish with this space. I wanted a tenant I want to walk to with my fiancée."
Vila Jarrell was born in Thailand and moved to Seattle when she was nine. She lived in Seattle for 26 years before moving to Tucson in 2006 and opening Vila Thai, which is tucked away with no signage but Asian visitors to the Tucson Gem, Mineral & Fossil Showcase still manage to find it.
"We've grown as a company," Jarrell said. "Our cooking capacity is maxed out. It breaks my heart every time I have to turn away customers."
Downtown will triple the size of V Fine Dining and have it steps away from Tucson's three tallest buildings and not many more steps from a host of theaters.
"Downtown is a different kind of crowd. All the foodies and all the government workers love to come Downtown," she said.
V Fine Dining will have entrances from Stone and Congress Street. Like chileverde before it, the setting with the entirely downplayed fa'ade bespeaks ultra urban like only Café Poca Cosa matches with its parking garage setting.
"Poca Cosa has always been my inspiration," Jarrell said. "We've looked and looked for a long time. We've contemplated Scottsdale and Phoenix. We needed a more upscale, cosmopolitan space. I think we found the right partnership.
"The feel is right. I'm superstitious in that way. It has to feel right."
