Sam Cafe has been a staple in South Merced for 35 years. What’s the key to its success?
There aren’t many family sit-down restaurants found south of Highway 99 in the City of Merced.
Most of the eating options are fast food places located along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, R Street and V Street.
Sam Cafe, located at 235 West 12th Street, is one of the exceptions. Owner Sam Malaythong has been offering his Thai and Chinese cuisine for 35 years.
“Sam is a legend,” said Merced Mayor Matthew Serratto. “To have people like that, just enriches our community. It really becomes a fabric of who we are as a community. To have these institutions where people can come, they are great sources of community, sharing not just food, but sharing our city and who we are.”
The first of its kind in Merced
Today, there are a handful of Thai restaurants operating in Merced, including the Coconut Cafe, which is owned by Malaythong’s niece Manila Malaythong.
However, Sam Malaythong, 76, says his is the first Thai restaurant in Merced, which opened on July 5, 1990. The original name of the restaurant was Star Garden. It was later changed to Siam Cafe for a short time before Malaythong settled on Sam Cafe.
”I have to give a thumbs up all our local support,” Malaythong said. “I’ve seen generation after generation. I’ve got three generations of people who come to see the restaurant.”
Malaythong worked in real estate and insurance in Los Angeles before seeking a slower lifestyle in Merced. Malaythong had a lot of friends who were in the restaurant business so he decided to bring a little taste of Los Angeles to Merced.
Dishes at Sam Cafe blend flavors from Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and other Southeast Asian countries. Mayathong said he likes to use a lot of herbs and spices in his food.
One of the favorite dishes for customers in the Pad Thai, a noodle dish made up of meat, eggs and peanuts stir fried with rice noodles and onions.
“The customer said, ‘I do not know what you do. I have gone all over the world and I tried to find it. Nobody makes it the same as you,’” Malaythong said. He also will adjust dishes to the way regular customers like them.
Fixture in South Merced
During his 35 years in Merced, Malaythong sayshe has been advised to move his restaurant to other side of Highway 99, although tempted and it has not always been easy, he said, he takes pride in operating a business in his location.
Malaythong said stubbornness kept him going.
“I don’t give up,” he said. “I am now a local Mercedian. I am going to make this work. I don’t care, I’m going to change it. I’ll make it better, to prove everybody that we can make it happen.”
Sam Cafe has been an anchor for that area of town.
“A restaurant like that brings people from all over town, south of the freeway, that’s very unique,” Serratto said. “I think a lot of people don’t typically go south like that, unless it’s for the fairgrounds or soccer at McNamara Park or Sam Cafe. So it’s nice for the south side can feel different. It can feel isolated sometimes and places like that help to change that.”
Giving back
Malaythong also gives back to the community by serving food at homeless shelters or for other community services.
Malaythong also had two kids who were standout athletes at Golden Valley High School, although both graduated long ago, Malaythong often will supply team meals for Golden Valley football and basketball teams.
“Having a guy like Sam is like having a pot of gold,” said former Golden Valley principal and football coach Kevin Swartwood. “He was a go-to guy every year. To provide a team meal for a football or basketball team you’re asking a lot of that person to do something like that. He would close down his restaurant and offer it up to the team.”
Serratto said people like Malaythong are crucial to the community.
“The community needs people who take care of it, who worry first and foremost about others and the quality and character of our town,” Serratto said. “Not everybody does that because it’s hard and it’s selfless and it takes sacrifice, but Sam is one of those guys who does that.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2025 at 12:12 PM.
