Judy Thonpreecha is thriving evidence that it can. A native of Thailand, her given name is Chutima, but that has evolved to the more easily remembered name of Judy. Her restaurant, Bangkok Taste, has been in Los Gatos since 1993, when she and her father, Tim, pooled their saved earnings to buy the former Chinese fast food restaurant in a mini mall on Blossom Hill Road.

Ten years for a restaurant is a long proving time. The loyal customers who return year after year to the small eatery come to enjoy the taste and feel of Bangkok—a Thai city with flavors of curry and coconut and of black mushrooms, honey and spices. It's a city on a river where canals divide the land into sparkling islands, where hundreds of boats form a floating town, where an abundance of water nurtures great quantities of rice and the river deposits a sediment of fertile soil for the growing of tropical fruits. That is old Siam.

But Judy's place is a simple place—soft green in color, with light blue tablecloths, artwork of Siamese dancers on the walls and climbing plants casting faint shadows across the candlelit tables. "It's the same menu we've always had," she says. Her customers return because of the familiar dishes, satisfied with the catch of the day as a token surprise.

Many choose to start their meals with an appetizer of chicken, beef or pork satay—meat grilled on skewers and served with peanut sauce and cucumber salad ($7.95). That might be followed by an entree of mussamun curry beef—tender cubes of beef in a curry and coconut milk stew with carrots, potatoes, peanuts and pineapple ($8.95). A grand dessert could be the deep-fried banana with honey topped with a big scoop of ice cream made from jackfruit and coconut milk ($4.50).

There's also seafood, like golden fried catfish sautéed in red curry with bell peppers, sweet basil and zucchini, or a vegetarian dish of rama tofu, steamed on fresh spinach and served with peanut sauce. The menu includes 69 entrees in nine categories.

When Judy and her father arrived in Los Angeles from Thailand in 1979, she worked after school as a waitress in the restaurants where he cooked. A call from a friend who needed a cook for his new restaurant brought the pair to San Jose. A series of subsequent restaurant jobs made Judy realize that Thai food did well and that they should open their own place, as a family business.

But one year after they opened Bangkok Taste, Tim died, leaving Judy to run the business by herself. To complicate matters, the cook she hired left after a few months. Judy was left alone knowing nothing about cooking restaurant food. "But I learned the hard way, because I had to," she recalls. Her life became a series of 12-hour days. She would greet customers, seat them, take their orders, run back to the kitchen to cook, serve them, clear the tables, wash the dishes and run the cash register. It continued like that for the next few years.

In 2000, things changed. Suddenly, the restaurant's reputation spread by word of mouth and the number of customers increased. Judy was able to hire a cook and two assistants, plus a dishwasher and two waitresses. She also expanded the dining area by knocking out a wall into a back room.

And now there is Bob Godwin, a recruiting consultant, who is both her fiancé and partner. Occasionally, the two get to take time together away from the restaurant. "Now I am more relaxed," Judy says with a smile. "I don't have to be there all of the time."

Bangkok Taste is located at 1769 Blossom Hill Road in Los Gatos. The hours are 11 a.m.­3 p.m. for lunch Monday through Friday and 5­9 p.m. for dinner every night of the week. For more information, call 408.358.2525 or visit www.bangkoktaste.com.