Benchawan Jabthong Painter
Street to Kitchen | Houston, TX
September 2025
Benchawan Jabthong Painter grew up in the hospitality business, hanging out in the kitchen of her grandmother’s restaurant as a kid. One day—when Jabthong Painter was just six years old—her grandmother asked her to make pad kra pao, and since then, Jabthong Painter has pursued a career in the kitchen. In 2015, she moved from Thailand to Houston with her husband, Graham Painter, to be closer to his family.
Jabthong Painter got a job working at SaltAir Seafood Kitchen before she joined the team at Chef Justin Yu’s Theodore Rex. Feeling homesick, she and her husband began hosting Thai pop-ups in their spare time, with Painter offering wine pairings alongside his wife’s reimagined Thai classics. One year later, they set up shop at Urban Harvest Farmers Market, where the concept gained a cult following. In 2020, they opened Street to Kitchen in a former fried chicken joint, and three years later, the Painters moved into a bigger space to accommodate their growing business.
At Street to Kitchen, Jabthong Painter creates deeply personal, comforting takes on traditional Thai dishes, like her gaeng ran juang curry with A5 wagyu tri-tip, fermented krill broth, nam pla, Thai chile, and sweet basil. With Jabthong Painter in the kitchen and her husband managing operations and the front of house, Street to Kitchen is a labor of love: Jabthong Painter’s homage to her home, her family, and her Houston community.
