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Chai’s bistro Chai Chaowasaree, owner of the popular Singha Thai Cuisine and Chai's Island Bistro, is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center and faces deportation to Thailand unless his legal appeals succeed.
owner jailed, may
be deported
The high-profile chef has
problems with the INS and
is held at OCCCBy Rosemarie Bernardo
Star-BulletinThe restaurateur has been in custody under his real name, Vichai Saetung, since last Tuesday because he is in the country illegally, the Immigration and Naturalization Service said.
Chaowasaree's attorneys have secured a temporary restraining order to prevent his removal until Feb. 26, said INS district director Donald Radcliffe.
Chaowasaree first arrived in Hawaii in August 1985. His request for permanent residency was denied in June 1991 after a questionable marriage to a Big Island woman, said friend Michael Harris, producer of KHON-TV's "Hawaii's Kitchen," who has known him for nearly a decade.
The chef's troubles with the INS intensified last year after he says he received permission from the INS to visit his father, who underwent triple bypass surgery in Thailand, court documents state. Chaowasaree left on Jan. 20, 2000.
INS officials confronted him upon his return to Honolulu Airport on Feb. 5 last year. Radcliffe said Chaowasaree had temporary resident status pending his appeal of denial of permanent residency. But when he left the country, his status was terminated.
Radcliffe said Chaowasaree's attorney's advised him not to leave the United States because of his pending case. His appeal was terminated when he left, he said.
Radcliffe said Chaowasaree can reapply but is barred from returning for five years.
John Delaney, manager of Chai's Island Bistro, located at Aloha Tower Marketplace, said, "He's unparallel to his commitments to Hawaii's cuisine and contemporary and traditional music."
Chaowasaree's sister, Joy, is running both restaurants in the meantime, Delaney said.
"It's just a hard pill to swallow," Harris said. "He did a lot of great things for charity."
John Heckathorn, editor of Honolulu Magazine, said, "He's an incredibly talented chef."
Chaowasaree is one of the most visible of Hawaii's new generation of upscale chefs, preferring to turn his kitchen over to assistants so he can meet and greet customers, and promote his restaurants through personal appearances.
He is a frequent guest on local cooking programs and has been developing a television show of his own. He is also a fixture at charity events and food festivals such as Taste of Honolulu.
Last March, he represented the state in New York as part of the "2000 Chefs of Aloha" tour.
He was among 10 chefs selected by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau to promote island cuisine through cooking demonstrations and guest-chef dinners at landmark restaurants, as well as by sitting for interviews with mainland food and travel writers.
Both Singha Thai and Chai's Island Bistro have won several local restaurant awards, among them the annual Hale Aina Award from Honolulu Magazine.
Chaowasaree is a founding member of the Hawaiian Island Chefs, a group formed primarily to raise funds for culinary programs in Hawaii's community colleges.
His culinary style combines traditional Thai flavors with the ingredients and techniques of other cultures. Chai's Island Bistro first opened in 1998. Singha Thai, at 1910 Ala Moana Blvd., opened in 1988.
Star-Bulletin food editor Betty Shimabukuro contributed to this story.