There are crisp linens on the tables with bentwood chairs upholstered in green and burgundy. There's cherry paneling along the walls, ceramic tiles on the floor and gauzy plum curtains filtering the bright morning sun. Fresh orchids at each table ruffle gently, stirred by four overhead fans. The welcoming atmosphere is reinforced by the smiling greetings of the staff. And there are the mixed aromas of curry and peanut sauce, mango and grilled chicken.

"I am the one who cooked at home for my family in Thailand," says new owner Lynn Krakaver, referring to three generations under one roof where she was taught recipes as a 7-year-old, "and I cook the same way here."

She points to several of the special appetizers on the extensive menu that are her creations. There's the crab ball, a mixture of crab, shrimp and pork that she molds into balls the day before so they can soak in a marinade of salt, sugar, black pepper, garlic and Thai herbs overnight. For each order, they are deep fried in shortening and served with a plum sauce Lynn makes from salted plums that she seeds and crushes with mild Thai chili peppers ($7.95). Spiciness can be controlled by the amount of chili added.

"My grandmother could bite into one raw," she giggles. "I like it medium, so it won't lose flavor."

Her sa-tay—a choice of chicken, pork or beef marinated in Thai spices—is grilled on skewers. It's served in a rich peanut sauce that she brings to life with coconut meal mixed with Thai chili paste, peanut butter and crushed sesame seeds and peanuts ($6.95).

"In Thailand, women cook, not men," she says, as if to shyly explain her expertise. "My mother and grandmother taught me." Always associated with many aspects of the food industry, she grew up surrounded by her family's wholesale food business in Bangkok.

Of all the recipes she brought with her from home, her favorite is for angel wings. She removes the bones from chicken wings and, in their place, stuffs in a mixture of ground chicken, vegetables and silver noodles. The plump wings are then deep fried to a light crispiness and served with cucumber salad ($7.95). "It's difficult to make, and I love it!"

Difficulty appears to add spice to the challenges Lynn has met in her life. In her 30s, she left Bangkok with her husband in 1989, anticipating going to school to learn English when she arrived in San Jose. But pregnancy and the need to work right away precluded the luxury of a gradual transition. Instead, she went to work on an electronics assembly line as a $5-per-hour trainee. After four years of making circuit boards, she was promoted to a lead position. Two more years of hard work earned her a supervisor position. English was learned through co-workers on the job. All the while, she worked a second job as a Thai cook in a restaurant later torn down to make way for the Los Gatos Hotel. "As I cooked, all the time I thought, 'I can do this better,'" she recalls. So she did. In 1999, she abandoned the electronics industry to spend seven days a week in her own restaurant on Brokaw Road in San Jose. Five years later, she's back in Los Gatos with her second Thai Spice. Hint: Leave room for Lynn's homemade jackfruit ice cream atop a deep-fried banana ($3.95).

Thai Spice is located at 337 N. Santa Cruz Ave., Los Gatos. It is open every day from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Call 408.354.2785.