Brennan Griffith is not from Thailand, nor is he of Thai descent. But Griffith's Thai-inspired pop-up Nam Prik Pao has been turning heads and causing spicy sweats in the Richmond dining community.

"[Thai food] is what I'm most obsessed with," Griffith said when asked why he chose that cuisine to base his business. "I love other cuisines. But I haven't had that connection with anything else to the degree that I have with Thai food."

Started in 2019 and reborn after the COVID-19 pandemic, Griffith typically pops up at Sub Rosa Bakery in Church Hill.

"The first pop-up, my mom bought some extra tickets specifically so I could invite other restaurant people. So some of the people I invited were Evrim and Evin from Sub Rosa," Griffith said. "Four courses into a seven-course meal, Evin's like, 'Brennan, when are you doing this at Sub Rosa?' So that was another validating moment of just having successful restaurant people say like, 'this is delicious.'"

Listen to the entire podcast to hear why Robey thinks Brennan and Nam Pril Pao succeed where some other Thai offerings in town do not.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.