Working with Noodles

The air in the kitchen of Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop always smells a little bit like homegrown lemongrass, Thai chili and their secret 15-spice recipe for masala curry.

To the restaurant’s owner and founder, Malisa Monyakula, parent to freshman Ben Baughman, it smells like home — Bangkok, Thailand, to be exact.

Monyakula — known to family and friends as “Lulu” — was born in Bangkok to a Thai father and an American mother, and her family moved to Kansas when she was around 3. In 1997, using her father’s and grandfather’s recipes, Monyakula opened the first Lulu’s in Lawrence as a way to share a part of herself and her culture with her community. Today, the menu still holds those original dishes from her father and grandfather.

“I grew up with my dad cooking this amazing food, food that brought people together,” Monyakula said. “I decided that I wanted to try to do that for other people.”

Monyakula decided to open the first Kansas City Lulu’s in the early 2000s, after moving to the Crossroads and closing the Lawrence location.  Since, she’s been responsible for the growth of the restaurant, which now has two locations. In the past five years, Lulu’s has been voted “Best Asian,” “Best Thai” and “Best Carry Out” in The Pitch’s yearly Best of KC.

It’s a place where every smell and every dish brings back Monyakula’s memories of nightly family dinners growing up, usually eating the same curries and pad thais that she now serves. When she started Lulu’s, she knew she wanted the atmosphere to embody that.

“I wanted it to have a relaxed atmosphere, what you have when you go to someone’s house for dinner,” Monyakula said. “I didn’t want it to be a 12-course-menu where you have to dress up. I want people to come as they are.”

Her restaurant model, she says, is to make every meal at Lulu’s feel a little bit like home. And to Monyakula’s son, the restaurant serves a similar purpose.

As a 7-year-old, his family didn’t have a babysitter, so after he left Westwood View Elementary School at 3:10 p.m., he went to the second ever Lulu’s location at 333 Southwest Blvd.  He hung from the metal railings situated at the back of the restaurant while his mother worked. He pretended to be a waiter and took customers’ menus off of the wooden tables.

But now, Lulu’s isn’t just a place where he grew up: in January of 2019, Baughman started working as a greeter at the restaurant’s Westwood location. While Baughman spends up to 12 hours a week at the Westwood location, his mother works daily at the Lulu’s off of Southwest Boulevard. Once a week, the two work a shift together at the Westwood location.

“She’s worked incredibly hard to have everything that she does,” Baughman said. “It’s rare for her not to be [at the restaurant] every day.”

Monyakula prides herself on the fact that Lulu’s has an entirely from-scratch kitchen, uses no MSGs and offers a gluten-free menu — all fairly rare for Thai restaurants in Kansas City, according to her. Lulu’s also has an intentionally small menu in order to maximize the freshness of the ingredients and the quality of the dishes, according to Baughman. Even Monyakula’s favorite order,  a Thai-style omelette over rice, isn’t offered on the menu — the chefs make it specially for her.

Additionally, though she supervises an 85-person staff, she still feels personally responsible for the service to each of her customers. Her philosophy is that every guest who walks through her door is her boss — meaning she is trying to make up to 1,000 people happy every day. Even so, she knows the work of her staff has been essential to the growth of the restaurant.

“I am fortunate that, throughout the over 20 years of Lulu’s, I’ve been able to attract and find really great people to help me run [Lulu’s],” Monyakula said.

Both Lulu’s locations have become popular destinations for East students: on an Instagram poll, 99 out of 294 responded that they eat at Lulu’s frequently. The restaurant is a favorite among junior Olive Henry and her friends.

“It’s really good food and also a fun atmosphere,” Henry said. “I feel like every time time I go to eat there, it’s more special.”

In the last year, the property managers at Park Place and Ward Parkway have reached out to Monyakula about opening a new restaurant in their developments. No plans have been made yet, but as the restaurant grows — both in number of locations and in popularity — Monyakula hopes to continue their success.

More than anything, though, Monyakula believes Lulu’s success comes from the unifying experience that eating together brings — one that she, especially, values.