By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
A long-time Del Rio love affair is coming to an end July 10.
That’s the day Jitra Thai Cuisine will serve its last egg roll as the Rubenacker family, Vic, Somsri “Jitra” and Jay, sell their restaurant and move back to Thailand. The restaurant will be levelled, and the block will be a car wash.
Much of Del Rio has loved the food produced by the family that the Air Force moved here nearly 35 years ago, and the family has loved Del Rio right back.
The story of Jitra Thai Cuisine is also the story of two lives crossing. “Jitra” came to the U.S. to earn a master’s degree and was working in a Thai restaurant in Arizona where she met her husband, then an Air Force logistics airman.
Jitra quickly admits she made the first move on this airman. Nearly 35 years later, she still remembers that first order she sent home with him — shrimp fried rice. She also had one request. “I told him I need a ride home,” she said.
The couple married less than a month later and shortly afterwards, relocated to Laughlin Air Force Base here in 1992.
Soon after moving to Del Rio, the Air Force and Vic were to be no more. He was a staff sergeant and the Air Force was experiencing one of its drawdowns and offered Vic $36,000 to go find employment elsewhere.
Since Jitra had a booming Thai restaurant on one of Del Rio’s busiest streets, he knew where he could get work.
Jitra Thai Cuisine opened on May 1, 1994, in a modest building that used to be a Dairy Queen.
“The first day we opened, it was full. We thought it might go up and down, but it never did. It just stayed full for 30 years,” said Vic. “Del Rio supported us from the beginning.”
The restaurant became known not just for their rich curries and tangy soups, but for the personal relationships they built with generations of customers. Many patrons grew up eating at the restaurant, then returned with their own children.
However, during the quick start, the family learned an important lesson, seven days a week is not good for the human body.
“We had one month initially where we were open seven days a week, but we were so exhausted,” Jitra said.
So, on the fourth Monday night they were in business, they convened a family meeting. “We decided to close on Tuesdays, and we’ve done that ever since,” Vic said.
Like many small businesses, the restaurant faced challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Remember that old Dairy Queen that was turned into a Thai Palace? Well, the COVID pandemic brought out the best of that old Dairy Queen as customers started safely coming through and grabbing their food at the drive-through window where customers used to grab a Blizzard or a chili cheese dog.
They also transformed their buffet into a steam-table setup modeled after fast-casual concepts, a move that initially met resistance but ultimately won approval because it kept customers safe and fed.
Despite the tweaks to the building, the flavors never changed. Jitra prepared food exactly as she was taught in her family’s restaurant in Thailand—no shortcuts, no canned ingredients and no measuring cups or spoons.
“Thirty-two years here, and we’ve never had a can in here, everything is fresh,” she told an 830 Times staff member
Jitra’s life is very simple, get up at 5 a.m., get the kitchen ready and serve plenty of food throughout the day until the last customer is served, often long after the sun has gone down. When Jitra breaks down the math, that means she will have served nearly 3 million plates of food there.
“She has overseen every plate,” said Vic. “If it’s cooked here, Jitra is going to oversee it.”
Typically, she said she’d serve 300 customers a day. She has one day a week off, so, 1,800 meals per week turns into 93,600 meals per year, multiply that over a 32-year span, and Jitra is sitting on 2,999,200 meals during her time running the restaurant, give or take 100,000.
While much of the country has been working to come up with the fashionable farm-to-table trend, Jitra has been blazing that trail since the 1990s. “Everything is from scratch,” she said. “I taste the spices I’m growing, and if I love it, I know my customers will love it too.”
“I grow many of the spices we use in my backyard,” said Jitra. She grew herbs like basil in her backyard and relied on instinct to balance spices. “I know when it’s right,” she said.
The decision to close the restaurant was driven partly by age, family commitments and the desire for rest. Young-born-and-raised-in-Del-Rio Jay is returning to Thailand to marry his fiancée, and the family recently purchased a five-bedroom home there. With the proceeds from the restaurant sale, savings, and investments, the Rubenackers say they are ready to retire.
During the restaurant’s last few days, they are closing the restaurant at 5 p.m. every day.
Though they will soon leave, they say they carry Del Rio in their hearts.
“We came here as strangers,” Jitra said. “But Del Rio made us family. We love this town and its people. We’ll never forget it.”
Jitra Thai Cuisine will serve its final meal July 10. The family hopes to see as many familiar faces as possible in the coming days.
“There are so many people coming in that I cry when I have to tell them goodbye,” she said.
The writer can be reached at JoelALangton@gmail.com .
