Restaurant news: Blue Orchid Thai Cuisine expands, opening second location in Riverside

A well-known Jacksonville Thai restaurant has opened its much-anticipated second location in historic Riverside.

Blue Orchid Thai Cuisine is now open at 1551 Riverside Ave. — next to Memorial Park — and joins Blue Orchid's original restaurant at 13475 Atlantic Blvd. in Harbour Village.

The new restaurant has been billed as the first component of Riverside Village, a planned mixed-use project comprising four existing buildings nestled between the historic Riverdale Inn bed and breakfast and Memorial Park.

Blue Orchid, from married restaurateurs Jeff and executive chef Montakran "Bam" Schofield, renovated one of the buildings formerly occupied by a medical practice.

The couple announced the opening on the restaurant's Facebook page.

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"Our mission is to inspire a love of Thailand and we do that through cuisine and hospitality and through art, cultural education. It's not simply to give you food. We're trying to do more than that," Jeff Schofield previously told the Times-Union.

The Riverside location — listed at about 4,450 square feet on the building permit — is more spacious than the original restaurant and can seat up to 249 guests, according to Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation records.

Plans called for a full bar including a large wine selection. It was designed to complement the natural landscape with an outdoor garden area featuring seating, a small pond and a waterfall feature.

Guided by the motto "add a little spice to your life, experience Thailand," Blue Orchid is known for freshly sourced, authentic ingredients and preparation of traditional Thai dishes.

Riverside restaurant guests will find familiar Blue Orchid entree favorites on the menu.

Among them: Coconut Shell Curry, a young coconut bowl filled with seafood curry including crab, squid, scallops and shrimp ($33), signature Blue Orchid Phad Thai featuring grilled lobster tail ($40), Curry Duck, a crispy half-duck with pineapple, grapes, lychee and basil in red coconut curry ($34) and Choo Chee Fish, a fried Asian sea bass covered with thick red curry ($28), the menu shows.

Starters include crab rangoon and Chicken Satay (both $9). Soups ($6-13) range from Coconut and Wonton to Thai Chicken and sour seafood.

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Desserts include Mango Ice Cream with Sticky Rice ($9), Mango Ice Cream with Sticky Rice ($9), Thai Tea Crème Brulée ($7) and a Thai doughnut ($7).

The menu also lists beer, wine and cocktails.

Riverside Village was launched in 2019 by Frank Schiavone, a physician whose dermatology practice previously occupied the site. Three of the four buildings at the 1.3-acre site are more than a century old.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville's Blue Orchid Thai Cuisine opens at Riverside Village