Blog | YaYa's Thai Fusion & Steaks
The 0–5 Spice Scale Guide: Finding Your Heat at YaYa’s
At YaYa’s, most dishes can be made at one of six spice levels, from 0 to 5. That little number makes a big difference — Thai “hot” and Louisiana “hot” are not always the same animal. Here’s our guide to picking the right level, so your dinner is exciting, not punishing.
Why We Use a Scale
Chef Rai cooks the way she learned in Thailand, where chilies are a core ingredient, not a garnish. But we know our guests come in with every kind of spice tolerance — from folks who think black pepper is plenty, to crawfish-boil veterans who want it to hurt a little. Our 0–5 scale lets everyone eat the same food at the heat that’s right for them.
The Levels
Level 0 — Mild
All the flavor, none of the burn. You’ll still taste the garlic, basil, lemongrass and lime — just without the chili kick. Perfect for kids, first-timers, and anyone who’d rather keep things gentle.
Level 1 — Medium
A friendly warmth that builds a little as you eat but never takes over. This is where we tell most first-time guests to start. If you like a dash of hot sauce on your eggs, you’ll be right at home.
Level 2 — USA Hot
Real heat by American standards. You’ll feel it, your nose might run, and you’ll be reaching for your drink. NOLA.com’s Ian McNulty ordered our papaya salad at U.S. hot and called it “as hot as I’d ever want.” Consider yourself warned — and invited.
Level 3 — Pushing the Limits
Now we’re past what most restaurants call “hot.” The chili is front and center, the heat lingers between bites, and you’ll want rice close by. For seasoned spice lovers who order extra hot everywhere else and still wish it had more punch.
Level 4 — This Will Hurt (Extreme Fire)
We named it honestly. This is serious, sweat-on-your-forehead heat that builds with every bite. Only for true chili-heads who know exactly what they’re getting into.
Level 5 — Thai Girl Hot (Explosive Thai Spice)
The way it’s eaten back home — full-strength, no-holding-back Thai heat, the level Chef Rai cooks for herself. We love that you want to try it, but please, work your way up first.
Tips for Choosing Your Level
• Not sure? Start at 1 (Medium). You can always add heat at the table — you can’t take it out once it’s cooked in.
• Remember that 2 is already USA Hot. Jumping straight to 4 or 5 on your first visit is a bold move.
• Ask your server. They know the menu and can tell you how a particular dish carries heat — some dishes taste hotter than others at the same number.
• Different dishes, different heat. A level in a creamy coconut curry feels gentler than the same level in a bright, lime-forward salad.
• Some dishes come with a built-in kick. Our Siam Basil Pork Belly, for example, starts at Medium Spicy.
• Sharing with the table? Order shared dishes at 0 or 1 and let the heat seekers go hotter on their own plates.
Dishes That Love the Heat
If you’re ready to turn it up, these dishes are built for it:
• Thai Papaya Salad (Somtam) — green papaya, lime, fish sauce and fiery chilies. Bright, crunchy, and made to carry spice.
• Authentic Thai Drunken Noodles — already described on our menu as aromatic and spicy, and a bestseller for a reason.
• Pad Karpao (beef, chicken or pork) — the Thai holy-basil stir-fry that’s a street-food staple.
• Thai Isan-Style Ground Pork — a taste of Chef Rai’s home region, where bold flavors are the whole point.
• Tom Yum Soup — lemongrass, lime and chili in a broth that wakes you right up.
• Red and Green Curry — the coconut milk softens the edges, so these are a good place to try one level higher than usual.
Gentler Picks and Cool-Down Helpers
If you’re keeping it mild, or you just need a break between bites, we’ve got you covered:
• Massaman curry and our Roti with Massaman Sauce — rich, warm and comforting.
• Thai Tea and Thai Green Tea — creamy, sweet and the classic fire extinguisher for spicy Thai food.
• Sticky Rice and White Rice — keep a scoop handy. Rice soaks up the heat better than water ever will.
• Tum Yum Shrimp or Massaman Chicken Pizza
• And when all else fails: the Steak House Menu. Our ribeye doesn’t need a spice number at all.
One more pro tip: water spreads chili heat around your mouth. Reach for something creamy, sweet or starchy instead.
Find Your Number
Everybody’s number is different, and half the fun is figuring out yours. Start low, work your way up, and tell us how it went — we love hearing from the guests who’ve made it all the way to Thai Girl Hot.
Come See Us
YaYa’s Thai Fusion & Steaks is at 2401 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Suite 4, in Kenner — toward the back of the strip center, so keep your eyes peeled once you turn in off Vets. We’re open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., for lunch and dinner, dine-in or takeout, and you can order online at yayasthaifusion.com.
More from YaYa’s
Brewsky’s to YaYa’s: How a Game-Day Favor Became a Kenner Restaurant
Some restaurants start with a business plan. Ours started with a sports bar that needed a cook, a Saints game on the TV, and a Thai mom who said, “I can help.” Here’s the story of how YaYa’s went from a kitchen inside Brewsky’s Bar & Grill in Metairie to our own place on Veterans Boulevard in Kenner.
It Started at Brewsky’s
Before there was a YaYa’s dining room, there was Brewsky’s Bar & Grill at 2205 David Drive in Metairie — a neighborhood sports bar serving the classics: pizzas, burgers and chicken wings.
Chris’s daughter was working at Brewsky’s when the bar found itself in a pinch: it needed a cook. That’s when Rai — Chris’s wife, and the chef you now know as Chef Rai — stepped in. She started cooking Thai food on Saints game days
If you’ve ever watched a sports-bar crowd discover real Thai food between touchdowns, you can guess what happened next. People kept coming back for it, and the game-day menu grew into a nightly one. A Metairie sports bar suddenly had its own Thai kitchen.
YaYa’s Thai Fusion Is Born
By early 2024, it was official: YaYa’s Thai Fusion was set up as a permanent pop-up inside Brewsky’s. When Chris talked to What Now New Orleans about it in February 2024, he explained the plan — classic Thai restaurant dishes alongside fusion items like fried shrimp and sliders, all prepared through the lens of Thai cooking techniques.
“The two main cooks both trained in Thailand, and they’re excellent at what they do.” — Chris Matise, to What Now New Orleans (Feb. 2024)
That idea — Thai technique at the heart of everything, with room for the comfort food our neighbors grew up on — is still how we cook today.
The People Behind the Name
YaYa’s is a family business through and through. Chef Rai — Urairat Matise, pronounced “lye” — is from the Issan region of northeast Thailand, and she brings about 30 years of experience cooking on the bustling streets of Bangkok. Chris is a Kenner native and a construction contractor by trade, and he’s the first to admit he’s still more meat-and-potatoes than noodles-and-fish-sauce. Chris went to Thailand for Thai boxing and martial arts, and a bad back put me on the sidelines. That’s how I ran into Rai. Rai also does medical Thai massage, and she put me back together — and she's been putting me back together ever since.
The name says a lot about the food. “YaYa” comes from a Thai term for grandmother, and the family home cooking of the old country is what inspires Chef Rai’s specials. As Rai put it to NOLA.com: “It’s what we cook for ourselves, and for each other.”
Moving Up the Road to Kenner
The next step was a place of our own. In the fall of 2025, YaYa’s opened in Kenner at 2401 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Suite 4 — right in Chris’s hometown.
Along with the new address came a new name: YaYa’s Thai Fusion & Steaks. The steaks weren’t a gimmick. Plenty of families are like ours — a Thai lover and a steak lover at the same table — and we wanted a menu where everybody wins.
Inside, it’s a small strip-mall spot that we’ve worked hard to make feel special: dark blue walls, gold trim, and prints brought back from Thailand. There’s a full bar too, where travelers from the nearby hotels settle in and takeout regulars wait on their orders.
What People Are Saying
Word got around. Blaine’s Restaurant Report stopped in for lunch in early January 2026 and wrote, “I could have made a meal out of the roti,” wrapping up with “Fantastic lunch here today.”
In June 2026, NOLA.com’s Ian McNulty told the whole YaYa’s story — from Metairie sports bar to Kenner restaurant — and called our tom yum shrimp pizza “a hybrid I never saw coming.” He also wrote that the dishes from Chef Rai’s home region of Issan “stand out for their strong, layered flavors.” We couldn’t have said it better.
Still a Family Kitchen
A lot has changed since those first Saints Sundays at Brewsky’s, but the heart of it hasn’t. Rai is still in the kitchen, cooking the food she grew up with. Chris is still out front, still getting brought along one dish at a time. And we’re still feeding our neighbors in Kenner, Metairie and New Orleans the way we feed each other at home.
Come See Us
YaYa’s Thai Fusion & Steaks is at 2401 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Suite 4, in Kenner — toward the back of the strip center, so keep your eyes peeled once you turn in off Vets. We’re open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., for lunch and dinner, dine-in or takeout, and you can order online at yayasthaifusion.com