"Phoenix's most exciting Thai table - James Beard winner Yotaka Martin hand-pounds curries from her family's regional recipes. Book well ahead for a first date."
Lom Wong sits at 218 East Portland Street on Roosevelt Row, the downtown Phoenix arts district, a short, warm room that has become one of the headline tables in our Phoenix guide and on the city's Thai map. Chef Yotaka "Sunny" Martin and her husband Alex began with pop-ups in 2019 and opened the restaurant in 2022.
Martin won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2025 for cooking that maps her home country rather than the takeaway menu most Americans know.
Chef Yotaka Martin draws on three regions of Thailand - her home of Chiang Rai in the north, central Kanchanaburi, and southern Phang Nga - so a single meal travels the country. The kitchen hand-pounds its curry pastes and hand-squeezes coconut milk, and it shows. The signature ae kan khlak ti, a Moklen sea bass curry from the south, lands with a spicy, layered sauce; the boo pad pong garee stir-fries crab with curry powder, egg and Chinese celery; the gai tawt won pen is fried chicken under a sweet-hot Thai red chile sauce. Beef-shank and mussel-pineapple curries round out the family repertoire.
This is Thai cooking treated as a regional canon rather than a fixed menu, which is precisely why it stands out.
The room is small and warm, seating around forty with a little bar, the lighting low and the mood intimate. It is the kind of space built for a leaning-in conversation rather than a crowd, and service is personal in a way only an owner-run room manages.
Since the Beard win the small dining room books out well ahead, so reserve early, especially for a weekend evening.
Lom Wong suits an intimate first date, a birthday, or a quiet seat for solo dining at the bar. For other Phoenix tables, compare Bacanora, Pizzeria Bianco or Valentine.
Not for a big group, a quick takeaway-style Thai meal or anyone after pad thai and the usual suspects - this is a small room cooking regional family recipes.
Regional Thai cooking from James Beard winner Yotaka Martin in downtown Phoenix. The kitchen hand-pounds its curry pastes for dishes like the Moklen sea bass curry and a crab curry powder stir-fry, drawing on recipes from Chiang Rai, Kanchanaburi and Phang Nga.
Chef Yotaka 'Sunny' Martin, who started Lom Wong as a pop-up with her husband Alex in 2019, opened the restaurant in 2022, and won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2025.
At 218 East Portland Street on Roosevelt Row, the arts district of downtown Phoenix.
It sits in the upper-moderate $$$ band, with plates roughly $14-34 and about $55-95 per person before drinks.
Yes - reservations are strongly recommended. The room is small and has booked out since the 2025 Beard win, especially on weekend evenings.
The dining room is small and has booked out since the 2025 James Beard win, so reserve well ahead. Find it at 218 East Portland Street on Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix.
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Lom Wong anchors part of our Phoenix guide - James Beard winner Yotaka Martin's hand-pounded regional Thai cooking on Roosevelt Row.
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