Pak's Green Corner to close next month

Merely a month after the popular West Duluth restaurant Pak’s Green Corner appeared on a national Food Network program, its owner has announced plans to close.
Pak’s, at 4131 Grand Ave., will close Nov. 8 following the sale of the property to Superior Choice Credit Union.
Kamolpak Williams, who has operated the Thai fusion restaurant for more than two years, said she wanted to spend more time with her husband, Dan, and her daughter, Nita, 17, who joined them from Thailand shortly after she opened the restaurant.
“This restaurant takes a lot of time from me,” Williams said, and she wants more time at home as her daughter adjusts to American culture. “I still like to cook. It’s in my soul. … I don’t think I can keep up my dreams.”
The restaurant, which employs eight, is known for its eclectic menu of Thai and other Asian cuisine mixed with Mexican or Italian, for example. It has built a following during the relatively short time it’s been open, garnering enough attention to land a spot on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” show, airing late last month.
Williams said she’s proud of the warm way that local residents have received her food, especially those in the restaurant’s West Duluth neighborhood.
“Nobody thought that they were open to a new concept like this,” she said. “They said you’re gonna fail because, you know, here they like meat and potatoes. I said I’m going to take a chance. What I lose is money but what I gain is experience, so why not? They love my egg foo young … They love my pad Thai. I think that’s good enough.”
Only hours after announcing the closure on the restaurant’s Facebook page - a place where Williams has communicated frequently with regular customers - more than 70 people had responded with well-wishes or dismay to the news.
With the closure of Pak’s and the 2013 closure of Canal Park’s Thai Krathong, only one Thai restaurant - Sala Thai in Woodland - remains in Duluth.
Williams said owning a restaurant has been hard work, and while she isn’t closed off to the possibility of doing it again, she’d prefer to cook in someone else’s kitchen.
“It’s kind of like, I’ll let my destiny happen. Throw it in the air,” she said.
There will be an auction of restaurant furniture and equipment.
“But not Guy’s picture,” Williams said. “That’s going with me. That’s my reward.”