Inspired by family

Starla Pointer/News-Register##Fon Khunsamart and her youngest son, Asher, show off the new Baker Street Cafe at 205 S.E. Baker St., McMinnville. A native of Thailand, Khunsamart offers several Thai entrees. Her husband, Thomas Gilstrap, bakes pastries such as brownies, big cookies, cinnamon rolls and a variety of Danishes.

Fon Khunsamart and her husband, Thomas Gilstrap, owners of the newly opened Baker Street Cafe in McMinnville, have three sons, Aiden, 10; Ares, 8; and Asher, 4, who claims to be the “big boss.”

The boys are a primary reason behind the new business.

“They inspired me to open the shop,” said Khunsamart, who also sells real estate with EXP, a Portland-based company.

“I’m here to inspire my boys,” she said. “We’ll support them in whatever they want to do,” whether that’s to follow their parents and grandparents in the restaurant business, go into real estate or some other career.

Forest Grove residents, the couple have always enjoyed McMinnville. One day on a drive through town, she spotted the Baker Street building.

“I said, ‘What a cute building. I want you!” she recalled.

The next time she saw the place, it was Joseph and Mandy Vadnay’s chocolate making site and retail shop. The Vadnays last year moved to another location to expand their maker space (and are close to opening a new Vadnay retail location at 619 N.E. Third St.)

Then Khunsamart saw a real estate listing for the building. “It heard me,” she said, recalling how she’d told the building she wanted it. “It was a dream to own a building to put our passion in.”

They bought the building and began making plans for their cafe. They added seating in addition to counter and display space, painted the door pink and drew a kid-friendly mural in one corner.

Khunsamart said she loves being able to work beside her husband with her children there, as well. “I feel blessed,” she said.

Khunsamart, who came to the U.S. when she was about 13, grew up helping in her family’s restaurants, first in Thailand, then in Coos Bay, Brookings and Portland.

“I ran around and played, like my kids are doing,” she said.

She also learned to cook from her parents.

She met her husband at the Coos Bay location, where he worked. He also had a food background, and he does most of the Baker Street Cafe’s baking these days.

The cafe’s “grab and go” case offers nine pastries baked fresh each morning. Among them are big brownies and cookies, various Danish pastries, colorful crispy rice treats, cinnamon rolls, Nutella rolls and cruffles, a combination waffle and croissant.

Hot and cold beverages are offered, including espresso, regular coffee and bubble tea with tapioca pearls.

Several entrees are available. Khunsamart adds a Thai touch with fried, omelets with rice, and fresh chicken salad rolls with homemade peanut sauce.

The cafe and bakery opened on Valentine’s Day and did a good business, Khunsamart said. “It was good to meet people and hear them say they’d been waiting for us,” she said.

The Baker Street Cafe, 205 S.E. Baker St., is open from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Both the hours and the menu may see some adjustment as the weeks go by.

For more information, go to thebakerstcafe.com.