Lilly Chittivej immigrated from Thailand to start the first Thai restaurant in the United States.
Liad “Lilly” Chittivej was born in Bangkok, Thailand around 1914, when the country was still known as Siam. Most of what we know of her life in Thailand comes from a March 9, 1985 Denver Post interview with her daughter, Patty Coutts. According to Patty, her mother Lilly was born to a World War I Air Force pilot and a lady of the court within the Thai king’s palace. Lilly’s grandfather was a wealthy Thai landowner and her family was part of the country’s small Muslim minority. When Lilly was young, she attended nursing school and it was there she met her husband, Chitti Chittivej, an army doctor. Eventually, he was sent to run a hospital in Northeastern Thailand and Lilly would accompany him there to work as a nurse. Lilly was immediately struck by the unjust treatment and general conditions amongst the poor of the country and sought to provide them with free medicine and medical services.
“They had no money and many were thrown in jail for their pauperism. The children were sick. The people had no money to pay for medical care or food.” - Lilly Chittivej, Denver Post March 9, 1985
Lilly began working with labor unions to promote the rights of workers and improve their ability to make fair wages. Though married to a military officer, she came into conflict with the police for her actions and was even jailed at one point. She eventually became a leader within a union, sold her land, and traveled to Europe to advocate for the rights of the Thai people as part of an International Labor Congress Tour. Upon her return to Thailand, she would run for the national legislature three times before running out of money. According to her daughter, her message of justice for the poor led to death threats and someone attempting to shoot her while she sat in her car.
In 1960, the government sent her and her husband to Colorado so her husband could study medicine at Fitzsimons Hospital. She would go on to work at National Jewish Hospital. Her husband returned to Thailand when he finished his work in 1961, but Lilly decided to stay and raise her three daughters, Jo-Ann, Prapim-pan (“Patty"), and Jutathip (“Judy”) in the United States. She also had three grown sons. Though she did not speak the English language very well and there were not many other Thai people in Colorado at the time, she decided to strike out on her own and open what is widely considered the first Thai restaurant in the United States.
In 1962, she opened Chada Cafe at 408 E. 20th Avenue and received a rave review in the Rocky Mountain News.
“Madame Chitti has an infectious laugh and a quaint command of English. She also has a wonderful way with food, particularly Siamese and Chinese.” Rocky Mountain News February 8, 1962
Lilly would work long hours almost every day of the week. She did the shopping, cooking, cleaning, and sometimes even entertained people with traditional Thai dances. Her daughters also helped keep the restaurant running. She received so much love from early customers that many helped with tiling floors and painting walls – even working to prepare her new banquet room in the building’s basement. Chada Cafe continued to expand, improve, and gain new loyal customers as time went on. Lilly was able to add another dining room, a gift shop, and an amazing room that looked like the sea which her granddaughter remembers fondly to this day.
While many early reviews of the restaurant, largely referred to Thai food and curries as very exotic, more and more people sought out Chada Cafe, with positive results. In 1966, Denver’s Jewish Community Center even hosted a Thai dinner at Chada Cafe as part of their “Gourmet Dining Around the World” program. In 1970, Lilly took a trip to Thailand, and her husband joined her when she returned.
As Denverites continued to develop a taste for Thai food, Lilly’s restaurant became a favorite spot of a rising Colorado politician. Lilly’s daughter, Patty, recounts that Richard "Dick" Lamm would come into the restaurant twice a month before he was elected Colorado’s governor in 1974. In fact, the Denver Post even covered Richard and his wife, Dottie, sitting at a table in Chada Cafe watching election results come in. According to the March 9, 1985 Denver Post interview with Patty, Richard would be a regular of the restaurant for a decade.
In 1976, Lilly died and left behind three sons, three daughters, and nine grandchildren. After her death, the restaurant was taken over by Lilly’s husband, Chitti, along with help from her son Yos (“George”), daughter Judy, and son-in-law Chamras Sodsaikich. The restaurant continued to receive great reviews in the Denver press and her son Pop prepared his own complete Thai dinner for the Ouray Culinary Arts Show. Pop would go on to start his own Thai restaurant, Chao-Praya, with his wife Nita in Commerce City. Pop died in 1998, but his wife continued running the restaurant until its closure in 2000. Nita would go on to manage Chada Thai now at a new location at 2005 East 17th Avenue. As of a 2024, report from the Colorado Health Institute, the Thai population of Colorado was only about 6,000, but we still retain the honor of having hosted the country’s first Thai restaurant, thanks to Lilly Chittivej and her family.
pauperism - an old word for poverty
Did you or your parents come from another country? Did you find restaurants or shops here related to your home country?
Do you think Lilly standing up for people's rights in Thailand made it easier to start the first restaurant of its kind in the United States? Why or why not?