Reka Souwapawong is a prize-winning poet in Thailand. She is an artist who paints in oils and watercolors. She is an actress who made her Broadway debut six years ago in “Corner Wars” (a play about drugs). But to locals she is better known as Reka, proprietess and hostess of Reka’s Thai Restaurant in downtown White Plains. Nestled in a corner apartment building, the restaurant lends an exotic presence to Main Street and Broadway.
She has a second restaurant in Katonah called Muscoot, “a family-style Italian restaurant.”
With a moment to spare, she posts a contribution to Friends of the Asian Elephant, billed as the world”™s first elephant hospital.
Reka’s food has been lauded over the years by critics for its masterful presentations of classic Thai cuisine. Everything is made fresh every day. Her secret ingredient is “passion.”
“You cook with love,” she says. The dishes are a delight for the palate and a delight to look at: vegetables, noodles, meats and fish enhanced by the flavors of coriander, lemon juice, tamarind and chilis. But the chef will omit all spices by request.
She will tell you her customers are her guests. She comes in as often as she can and chats with each one, often running from one restaurant to the other in a single evening.
The White Plains clientele has included Mariano Rivera, Sally Jesse Raphael, Dr. Ruth, and Bernie Williams. The U.S. women”™s soccer team celebrated back-to-back championships in 2004-2005 at Reka”™s. She has played hostess to book signings, among them Phyllis Weed author of “Women First” another customer.
“Let me show you what else I do,” she said. She brought up a photo of a watermelon carved exquisitely in the shape of a giant rose. In her restaurant were several “roses” under glass. “They are orange peels,” she said, “I’m always carving something.”
She has done hundreds of cooking demonstrations including several for Julia Child at the James Beard Foundation.
Souwapawang lives in White Plains, but formerly lived in a menagerielike home in Mahopac, built apparently near a snake den. “On the warm days in the spring, they would come out of the cracks in the driveway and sunbathe. I would have to be careful not to hit them.” At night, rabbits lined her driveway, “as if they were waiting for me to come home.” She grew trumpet vines to attract hummingbirds and other flowers for butterflies. “It seemed like there were a million birds around my house when I moved in. I think they were migrating and thought my little sanctuary a good place to stop. I got used to having them all the time.”
The wildlife harks to her youth in Thailand, where long jungle walks with her father and sister honed an appreciation for things wild and where a humble caterpillar could assume the grandeur of an orchid before it became a butterfly.
Her childhood playhouse was a log cabin where she and her sister further embraced the jungle and where she learned her personal Aesoplike fable of “the butterfly who could carry you away.” The butterfly was big enough to block the playhouse window and terrify the girls until their father returned with them to demystify the “monster” in their midst. She told the story to the White Plains Kiwanis Club 20 years ago and is still kidded about it ”“ the group meets at her restaurant every second Thursday.
Cultivating extravagant gardens was also part of her Thai youth. She emigrated July 3, 1973.
She recalls watching 10-15 elephants walk by her house as a girl. The elephants were used to transport rice and bananas. Tapirs ”“ “five animals in one body; in Thai they call it ”˜ready-mixed”™” ”“ also live in her memory.
An article in a Thai magazine allowed her to take the next step: supporting Thai wildlife. For years, she has supported the Friends of the Asian Elephant.
The link with the elephants provides her with a door to an entire universe Souwapawang left behind, almost unimaginable in the context of modern New York. “We had African pygmies for neighbors. They mostly stayed in the jungle and came out occasionally to trade. Even though we did not speak the same language, I became friends with the children. Because of their size, they were called ”˜the doll people.”™”
She is a devout Buddhist and visits a temple in Mount Vernon.
She does not attend services on a particular day. “Thai people go to temple because they want to go,” she said. “It is not mandatory. We have a saying: ”˜Heaven is in your heart, hell is in your mind.”™ That is why people go crazy: You do something wrong, then you drive yourself crazy over it. I think my life is blessed. Every morning I get up and think of how blessed I am.”
She is her own inspiration.
