restaurants
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE SON
Family bonds unite two area chefs whose food is in demand
WRITTEN BY REBECCA KING PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNE-MARIE CARUSO
W
hen Ani Ramen
owner Luck
Sarabhayavanija
is missing an
ingredient to
make his restau-
rant’s lauded bowls of steamy ramen,
he doesn’t have far to go to get it.
The 35-year-old Weehawken
resident just turns left out of his
Montclair restaurant, walks down
Bloomfield Avenue, past a few shops,
across Willow street, beyond a dance
studio and a paint-and-sip, and into
the striking, colorful Kai Yang. The
owner is used to these visits and
happy to give Luck what he needs.
That’s because the owner is his
mother, Sheree Sarabhaya, 59, of
Bloomfield.
“I probably owe her about $5K
at this point,” laughed Luck.
Two restaurants just a block away
from each other on Montclair’s
bustling Bloomfield Avenue might
otherwise be seen as competition.
But Luck and Sheree are each other’s
biggest supporters.
When Kai Yang regulars come to
dine at Ani Ramen or Ani Ramen
regulars at Kai Yang, the mother and
son couldn’t be more pleased. They
tell tales of friends hiding behind
menus, begging Luck or Sheree not
to tell the other they dined at his or
her restaurant.
“Why wouldn’t I want them to go
to Kai Yang? That’s the food I love,
too,” says Luck, who has expanded
the Ani Ramen empire to include a
new location in Summit and two in
Jersey City; another is due to open
in Maplewood soon.
MOM’S COOKING The vegetable puffs at Kai Yang, the Montclair restaurant owned by
Sheree Sarabhaya.
“It was better when she was next
door at Spice II,” he adds, referring
to his mother’s now-closed restau-
rant. “I could walk over for lunch
every day.”
Well-known in the
neighborhood
Sheree, who is originally from
Bangkok, has been a mainstay of the
North Jersey dining scene for more
than two decades. She owned Spice
II in Montclair and still owns Boon
Thai Kitchen in Livingston. Luck
joined her as a restaurant-owner in
2014 when he opened his first Ani
Ramen in Montclair.
Today, Montclair police officers
come in to greet them in their respec-
tive restaurants and regulars shake
hands and give hugs.
Luck is outgoing, a natural in the
front of house and his mom’s biggest
cheerleader. He’s always popping
over to Kai Yang with friends to
show off his mom’s cooking — the
meals he grew up eating. Sheree is
more understated, but is a generous
and hospitable host. On the day this
reporter visited, she carried out plat-
ter after platter, piled high with food
like pad Thai folded delicately in a
layer of egg ($11/$13 for shrimp),
pineapple fried rice served in an
actual pineapple ($11/$13 for
shrimp), and — of course — “kai
yang,” rotisserie chicken, which is
marinated overnight and served
with sticky rice ($17 for half a
chicken/$25 for a whole).
MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE MAY 2019
35