Tippy's Thai Cafe A decades-long journey ends in your stomach

Forty years. For some, that's how long it takes to lose their virginity; for others, how long it takes them to just ask for directions to Israel. For the proprietress of Tippy's Thai Cafe, it measures the wait to launch her second restaurant after opening her first in Louisiana in the early '70s, then embarking on a 30yr cheffing career at The Registry/Grand Kempinski/Hotel Intercontinental. Decorated with traditional paintings of her family and hanging inverted parasols those Russian gymnasts totally couldn't land, the 50-seat local's currently serving:

Bi-Continental Breakfast: Her extensive hotel background provides for dishes like the Pandora's Box that is Breakfast Chess Pie (grilled hash brown shell stuffed w/ egg, bacon, sausage, ham, onion, tomato, green pepper, 'shroom, spinach, cheddar, mozz, and parm), or the adventurous Thai Omelette rolled over ground pork or turkey, tomato, onion, and Thai spices, served with steamed rice, because Sarah Palin didn't call him, maybe.

All-Thai Lunch: You know the dishes -- Pad Kee Mao, Pad Ginger, Thai Stir Fry -- but you probably haven't had them prepared by someone who learned how to make them from a mom born in Thailand, has been cooking them herself since Robert Plant was making kooky country songs with Jimmy Page instead of Alison Krauss, and along the way picked up vast culinary knowledge at a hotel nice enough to check into when you turn 40, and finally meet someone who doesn't mind that you have to ask her directions.