The Washington Post - March 15, 2006

by Michaele Weissman

Mike Moran, 29, grew up in Bethesda in a house with his mother, grandmother, sister and few frills. Moran was energetic, entrepreneurial and not very interested in school. By the time he was 17, he was more or less managing a restaurant, he says.

During the next 10 years, Moran got to know the food business inside out, working as waiter and bartender in Washington and later in Atlanta, where he lives now. He kept dreaming up ideas for new businesses that somehow never jelled. While working at Surin, one of Atlanta's most successful Thai restaurants, he fell in love with the food and the people. He'd listen as customers complained that it was impossible to make Thai food, especially the curries, at home. Then he met Nimitr Harimtepathip, known as Lim, a Thai national living in Atlanta who is a member of one of Bangkok's best known restaurant families.

Together, the two created CurrySimple, a line that includes curry sauces and other products made in Thailand with fresh, authentic ingredients that are adapted to American tastes. Red, green, yellow and masaman curry sauces have gone into production in Thailand, as well as syrup for making Thai tea and sauce for pad Thai, the popular noodle dish. In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the ready-to-heat products, which are sold in sealed packets.

Moran, who owns the American end of the business -- his business partner, Lim, owns the Thai operation -- is doing a slow launch and for now, CurrySimple products are available only on the Internet, where they have started to generate some buzz. "I told my cousins on Christmas Day that I was going to revolutionize Thai food in America," says Moran. "They thought their crazy cousin was sounding off again, until I cooked them up a batch."