For Air Chantha Dandith and her husband Khanh, business is all about giving customers what they want, whether it be a specially prepared dish or even a new restaurant.

Air opened Air Thai Cuisine in Harrisburg in 2007. Regular customers who live in Albany, Sweet Home, Lebanon and Brownsville soon began urging them to open a Thai food restaurant closer to home.

"All the customers drive 21 miles to eat, I thought why not just open one closer?" Khan said.

After scouring east Linn County, the Dandiths settled on Lebanon. On Dec. 15, Air Thai Cuisine opened at 693 Main St. on the corner of Main and Sherman sts.

Managed by son Derrick Soltero and daughter-in-law Amy, Air Thai 2, as the family refers to it, was quickly gaining favor with customers by week's end.

"I've been eating lunch at the Harrisburg one a couple times a week. I always have the sunset curry," said Galen Troyer of Lebanon. "It's nice to have another good restaurant here in town."

Although Khanh does the building work, he's the first to admit he doesn't know a thing about cooking. For that, the real magic occurs in the kitchen where Air conducts a symphony by blending rice noodles, eggs, chicken and ground peanut into Pad Thai.

Pad Thai is the dish by which Thai restaurants are judged, and Amy takes particular pride that customers who have travelled to Thailand say Air Thai's is the best they've ever had.

The homemade coconut ice cream is world class, too, Amy said.

Besides the obvious palatable pleasures, Thai food is healthier than many other Asian food types, Amy said.

"We use less corn oil and no MSG and always very fresh ingredients," she said.

For those who have wanted to try Thai food but have heard stories about how hot it is, Khanh says customers can choose from five levels of spiciness.

"We cater to everyone," Khanh said. "The kitchen is for the customer. Whatever they want, we cook for them."

Air and Khanh came to the United States as refugees from Laos, he in 1981 and she in 1992. Air worked in restaurants in the Seattle area for several years while dreaming of being the chef for her own restaurant.

Air Thai features 60 different dishes, including many vegetarian servings and offers daily specials.

Customers can enjoy the artificial waterfall while dining in the restaurant or call 10-15 minutes ahead for takeout.

Catering is available for weddings, parties and business events.

Air Thai is open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with lunch prices from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m.

For more information or to place an order, call 258-2355.