At the new Maison Lotus in Wayne, a new generation takes the reins of a restaurant empire

Since the debut of Thai Pepper in Ardmore in the summer of 1992, Win and Sutida Somboonsong have opened a string of elegant Asian restaurants in the western suburbs.

There’s Mikado, the Japanese BYOB that merged next door with Thai Pepper in 1999; Teikoku (Thai Japanese) in Newtown Square in 2003; Azie (pan-Asian) in Media, opening in 2007; and the Blue Elephant, whose menu fuses Italian, Japanese, and Thai, in Pottstown (2019) and in Wayne (2023). There were a few others over the years, including an Azie location in Villanova and Parker’s Prime, a steakhouse, in Newtown Square.

With the couple’s retirement, their two oldest children have taken over — daughter Pearl Somboonsong Murphy, 33, who has led the company since joining Win Restaurant Group several years ago, and son Paul Somboonsong, 31, who switched careers, from finance, last year.

The siblings’ first two projects have emerged in rapid succession. Mama San, which opened in February across from Radnor High School, is a fast-casual, sushi-based restaurant that they envision as an Asian Shake Shack, with maki rolls, sushi bowls, dumplings, and other dishes that can leave the kitchen three minutes after the order hits the kiosk.

Their newest is Maison Lotus in Wayne, which opened last weekend in the landmark building that housed Margaret Kuo for decades.

Maison Lotus, whose cuisine is French Vietnamese, is sprawling. There are about 100 seats on the street level, including a curved, 19-seat bar, and private dining rooms. The second floor has room for roughly 100 more seats between the dedicated bar, dining space, and semiprivate tatami room. Downstairs will be an event space. The decor has a lush, tropical feel thanks in part to the wallpaper, which Sutida Somboonsong procured in Thailand.

Maison Lotus opens at 7 a.m. daily with a cafe counter accessible through a door off the alley. Morning service includes lattes (matcha, miso caramel, ube coconut, and pandan mocha), and patisserie such as apple galette and filled croissants. The lunch menu includes banh mi, rice and noodle dishes, summer rolls, and wagyu seared tableside on a hot stone. Both breakfast and lunch are counter service.

At dinner, the menu expands to include such dishes as grilled eggplant over mushroom sticky rice; lemongrass pork served with rice-noodle crepes; and shaking beef. Most entrées are in the $20s, though five-spice roast duck with Chinese broccoli and hoisin tamarind sauce over white rice is priced at $32 and the Chilean sea bass with glass noodles, celery, shiitake, and scallions in a ginger-soy-lemongrass sauce is $36. Seven cocktails, eight beers, and a small wine list join a few nonalcoholic options.

Food is under the direction of Win corporate chef Agus Lukito and the restaurant’s executive chef, Kenkhoun Kayalath, and executive sous chef Tai Ha.

Sutida and Win Somboonsong came to the United States separately from Thailand — Sutida to attend Harcum College in Bryn Mawr and Win as a boarding student at Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne. They met at the wedding of Win’s older brother, Tom.

In 1991, while Win was in the U.S. Navy and working toward a Ph.D. in civil engineering, “my mom was kind of homesick,” Murphy said. With her siblings in Thailand, “the idea of doing a small Thai restaurant came up. My dad was thinking, ‘I really need to find something for Sutida to do.’ The restaurant came about as a hobby, a side project, and then it quickly grew.”

Thai Pepper opened to good reviews. In July 1992, six weeks after the opening, Inquirer critic John V.R. Bull raved about its “jewel-box setting” on Lancaster Avenue. He said the food could please fans of Thai cooking while “dishes that would be fiery at other restaurants are toned down for American palates, which is perhaps one reason the place was crowded with customers, even on a hot summer Monday night.”

The couple later opened a second Thai Pepper in Wayne, which was rebranded as Flavor before it closed.

Murphy said her parents never pressured her or her brothers to get into the restaurant business. For the longest time, she said, “I thought I was going to go to med school.” (Brother Peter, 27, is in medical school at Drexel University and the youngest brother, Parker, 17, is a senior in high school.)

Murphy went to Cornell University’s Hospitality Administration Program, but after graduation in 2014 left the field and to work for Brookdale Senior Living at its corporate offices in Chicago. After a year, though, she fell back into restaurants, taking a job with Lettuce Entertain You, the Chicago-based restaurant mega-group. She said the break and her return to restaurants validated her belief that “it’s something that I actually enjoy and want to do for my own.” A few years later, she joined her parents on the Main Line.

Paul Somboonsong was working in finance in Chicago and on the road five days a week. Two Decembers ago, Murphy said, she had heard that Margaret and Warren Kuo were thinking of selling their restaurant.

“Blue Elephant Wayne was doing very well, and I mentioned in passing to my brother, ‘The restaurant industry is actually quite fun, and there’s a lot of potential here, and there’s another project I’m eyeing, but I don’t think I have the bandwidth to do on my own,’” she said.

Paul Somboonsong was thinking about a career change and wanted more family time. He agreed to join his sister. “I was just as surprised as everyone else,” Murphy said. “But we work really well together.”

Maison Lotus, 175 Lancaster Ave., Wayne. Hours: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and 4 p.m. till late for dinner and bar. Reservations via Resy.