My New Orleans
04/01/2021
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Budsi’s Authentic Thai, a vibrant and buzzy newcomer in the Marigny, steps into two niches simultaneously. It is both unfamiliar (with a distinctively singular regional Thai menu) and rooted in the pleasures of home (i.e. the cooking that owner Budsaba Mason grew up with). Launched by the wife and husband team of Budsaba and Jared Mason, Budsi’s got its start as a pop-up in a series of bars before striking a major chord at Pal’s Lounge. Patrons there swiftly developed fierce cravings for the complex and fiery fare which made few concessions to Americanized tastes. “We immediately went from selling about 25 plates a night to over 100,” Jared recalled. “It just exploded.” At the end of its pop-up run they had multiple cooks, runners and even front of house staff. “We were essentially a miniature restaurant at that point,” he said.