It’s the Sauce
Maiyaj Asian Bistro Delivers Bold Flavors to Montague…
Montague is a quaint western town located six miles east of Yreka, with a stunning view of Mount Shasta and a single Main Street brimming with historic buildings and an old railroad depot museum. It’s also, perhaps unexpectedly, where Maiyaj Asian Bistro chose to first open its doors in 2021. “I remember when we first opened, it was toward the end of the pandemic, and it was like an old Western movie where the tumbleweeds would blow down the road, and there wasn’t much traffic at all. We were nervous at first, but then we decided we’d make really good food, use our marketing skills to push it out, and that’s what we did. Now, we get a lot of cars that drive through. People come through the backroads during the summertime. There are bikers, cyclists and even tour buses and semis using it as a back way. Now, I feel like it’s truly a downtown,” explains owner Maiyaj Vang.
The original choice of the location was pragmatic. “We’re located in the building that used to be the Dutchman, which had been a really popular and had a lot of history,” Vang says. “Chef Pom, whose full name is Ratanachai Amaritnant, is my fiancé, and he’s been a chef for the last 20 years. Before here, he was a chef in New York where the pandemic really impacted the restaurant industry. During that time, we had friends in Oregon who suggested we open a restaurant on the west coast. We made a trip out here, and our Realtor showed us this space. What really got us was that the restaurant was turnkey. To find that kind of place at an affordable price was amazing. I also learned about a large growing Asian population in Northern California, so that helped us decide.”
The casual dining restaurant offers a variety of Asian-inspired dishes, specializing in Hmong, Thai, Lao and Vietnamese cuisines. They have also added sushi and a number of monthly specials to the menu. According to Vang, every dish is made with love. “Chef Pom decided to name the restaurant after me because he said that it was his love letter to me. Back in New York, he had shareholders to please. But out here, Chef Pom has had free range to create the menu, and so everything that’s on the menu are things that we love to eat and make at home.”
The food is all cooked fresh, so they can customize just about anything. “We actually have an open window to our kitchen so that you can see every dish that gets ordered being made,” she says. “People always ask me, what’s your favorite thing on the menu? And the truth is, that everything we serve is my favorite. But, if you ask what’s our most popular dish, I can tell you that most of our customers love our pineapple fried rice. And, everyone loves our house-made peanut sauce with pretty much anything. The peanut sauce actually won Chef Pom an award that landed him at job at the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room in New York. His peanut sauce made him the executive chef for the Asian cuisine, which is a story I always love telling.”
The restaurant’s success has led to a second location in Yreka’s newly expanded Rain Rock Casino, with opportunities to reach a new clientele. “We have different clients, even different hours over there. In Montague, we’re open from 11 am to 8 pm because there’s not much traffic at night, but with the Casino location, we’re closer to Interstate 5 and open on Friday and Saturdays to midnight. The late-night crowd is always a different crowd. It’s also dealing with with customers who are just traveling through, versus Montague, where we see the same people every week, which presents a different challenge. How do we create food for people who see us only one time and make sure that they get their best meal? Having a good quality of food and experience is key for us at both locations.”
Given the success of the Yreka location, Vang is optimistic about possible future expansion plans. “The business part of it is how do we maintain this? A lot of times with restaurants, the mom-and-pop place usually dies with the first generation. So, we’d love to create a business that could be generational. We’re still finding our niche, but I think it comes down to being able to create a fast, casual experience with really good, freshly-made food.” •
Maiyaj Asian Bistro
155 South 11th St., Montague
(530) 459-9003
