WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Nearly 15 years ago, a young Thaicoon changed the face of D.C. dining forever: “Nick” Kitiphan Srisawat opened Tara Thai in Vienna and the rest is local culinary history.

“Back then everybody was in the city,” he says. “And nobody dared to open a restaurant in the suburbs, especially not a Thai restaurant.”

A savvy business student well versed in working in and running a restaurant, Srisawat saw a golden opportunity and grabbed it.

“I looked at Fairfax County, booming and affluent, and I found no Thai restaurant,” he says. “How can that be, a whole county without Thai food? So I smacked a restaurant down right in the center of Fairfax in Vienna. And that’s how Tara Thai was born in 1993.”

A native of the central Thai city of Hua Hin — “It’s the gateway to the south, and the king has his summer palace there” — Srisawat took to the food world early on, he says, because he was the only one of 25 grandchildren who helped his grandmother with the food at family gatherings.

“I just watched her doing all the prep work,” he says. “She taught me little bits here and there. I always knew I have a passion for food.”

After graduate school, Srisawat came to the D.C. area to attend classes at American University. While he was a student, he also took jobs at local Thai restaurants, starting first at D.C.’s first-ever Thai restaurant, the now-closed Thai Room on Connecticut Avenue. He then took jobs at a variety of restaurants, working as busboy, waiter and cook, to learn the intricacies of the restaurant business and to understand what the public wants. That prep work has stood him in good stead: Srisawat now owns nine restaurants, including Pana Thai and Tara Asia and he cooks at each of them when they first open, overseeing the kitchen until the main chef knows the ropes.

Thinking about food, Srisawat is also readying his household to celebrate Thai New Year, or Songkran, which begins Friday. A joyous time of feasting and also a solemn time of paying respect to elders and Buddhist monks, Songkran is also known as the “water festival.”

“This holiday actually comes in our Thai summer,” Srisawat says. “For April is the hottest time of year. … People in big cities go home to celebrate, spend time with the family, and eat together. In the olden days, the younger pay respect to their elders by throwing water on their hands and shoulders. Nowadays, people throw water for fun, using water guns and balloons. We eat all kinds of food such as pad Thai for longevity, but that is more Chinese than Thai. It’s also always about rice. That’s very Thai.”

Shrimp Paste Fried Rice (Kaho Kluk Kapi)

This very traditional Thai fried rice dish is one the Nick Srisawat enjoys, particularly for Thai New Year. Look for shrimp paste, fish sauce and palm sugar at an Asian market. Serves four.

1 ounce shrimp paste (kapi)

4 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced, plus 1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 lb. Thai jasmine rice, cooked

4 eggs, beaten

Salt and black pepper to taste

About 1 lb. ground pork

2 tbsp. chopped cilantro roots

3/4 lb. (about 1/2 cup) palm sugar, or to taste

2 Thai chilies, sliced

1/2 cup fish sauce

2 tbsp. dried shrimp

1 tbsp. sliced Thai chilies

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1/4 cup shredded raw mango

2 tbsp. chopped cilantro

One lime, cut into wedges

Wrap the shrimp paste in foil and grill or broil for five minutes. Heat three tablespoons oil in a large wok over medium heat, reduce the heat to low, and stir-fry the garlic. Add the shrimp paste, and stir-fry for two to three minutes. Add the rice, and toss together until the rice is coated with shrimp paste. Set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in skillet, and add half the beaten eggs. Season with salt and pepper. When cooked through like an omelet, remove and slice thinly. Repeat with the remaining eggs, and set the slices aside.

Mix the pork, cilantro roots and remaining 1 tablespoon garlic together, and cook in a skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until the pork is cooked through. Add the palm sugar, chilies and fish sauce. Let cook until the sugar dissolves.

To serve, spoon the fried rice onto four individual plates and top each with dried shrimp, sprinkles of chili oil, shallots, mango and cilantro. Spoon portions of the pork mixture onto the rice and top with sliced omelet. Squeeze lime juice onto each serving, toss together and enjoy.

In Srisawat’s own words

What is your favorite dish? Oh, so many. If I had to choose one dish to eat from now until I die, I would have to choose kaprow, a stir-fry with chili, garlic, Thai basil and meat, topped with fried eggs, sliced chilies and fish sauce. That’s what I grew up eating every day. But when I am sick I will eat rice soup; I make a mean one. I am about to make caprese with mozzarella, Italian basil and tomato. That’s my favorite Italian dish. It is simple, and with good toms, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, it has a very clean taste.

What is your favorite ingredient? Fish sauce. I use the best-grade fish sauce, which is the Tiparos brand, because it is very consistent. That’s for cooking. For a condiment, I use something less concentrated, like the squid brand for dipping.

What is your essential piece of cooking equipment? A commercial or professional wok. It is No. 1, and there is no substitute.

Where do you like to eat out?

I know I must visit my restaurants, so most of the time I eat at a Tara Thai. But if I go somewhere else, I go for a bowl of noodles, like Vietnamese pho, or for sushi.

What is in your fridge? Lots of leftovers, such as restaurant food.

What do you do in your spare time? I play tennis. I also help organize a professional woman’s tennis tournament and we also do the Asian Festival in Reston held in conjunction with the Legg Mason tennis tournament. This year it will occur on July 21.