She loved Thai food so much she opened a restaurant. Then lemongrass nearly killed her

She was tired of the corporate world and tired of having to leave Hendersonville to get a good restaurant meal.

So, around 2013, longtime information tech executive Tamara Gnyp, then in her late 30s, decided to quit her job and open a Thai restaurant in an old skating rink along West Main Street.

"There was a hole for restaurants in Hendersonville, especially in those days, and I spent lots of time downtown and in East Nashville," Gnyp said. "Every decent bite, I had to leave my town. I wanted to change that."

Gnyp grew up traveling the world, and she always loved Thai food, often visiting Smiling Elephant and International Market, her favorites in Nashville.

So, through Nashville's Bangkok Market, Gnyp found an excellent chef in Seng Chansathi, and launched a successful restaurant and craft brewery called Blossom and Cellar Door Craft Cavern.

Then, the lemongrass attacked her.

And nearly killed her.

"In what’s quite possibly one of the more unfunny cosmic jokes," Gnyp posted on Facebook in 2022, "the founder of all the things at 750 W. Main St. developed a profound autoimmune rebellion to lemongrass. And. It’s. In. So. Many. Signature. Dishes."

Devastating

Gnyp first noticed in 2016 when she was enjoying the lemongrass-heavy tom kha coconut milk soup at King's Market Cafe in Antioch. There was a tingling on her tongue and lips she'd never had before.

Over the next year, symptoms worsened, prickly heat feelings in her mouth, numbness and then, finally, in 2018, her throat started closing when eating a lemongrass chicken dish at that same Antioch Thai restaurant.

Doctors diagnosed a severe allergy to lemongrass and told her she needed to carry EpiPens, which auto inject medicine to reverse allergic reactions and relax muscles in the throat to make breathing easier.

"It was a devastating thing, honestly. And I thought, how do we keep business going? It’s doing brisk business," she said. "I still experience mourning and grief. I built this restaurant with intention."

Gnyp stopped eating lemongrass right away, but the allergy got worse. She had to stop picking up lemongrass in her car, had to stay away from the kitchen, even had to walk out of shops and spas that used lemongrass diffusers.

Gnyp and her staff tried desperately to find a way to keep Blossom Thai Lao restaurant open, but a Starbucks breakfast sandwich proved to be the final straw.

Gnyp started eating the sandwich that day in March 21, 2022. The next thing Gnyp knew, she was at a hospital.

After a few bites, Gnyp slumped over, with labored breathing. Longtime friend and collaborator Angela Parrish injected her with an EpiPen and called 911. Parademics had to give Gnyp a second and third anti-allergy shot in the ambulance.

Parrish called Starbucks and asked if there was any way there could've been any lemongrass in the breakfast sandwich. An embarrassed worker admitted she made the sandwich on top of where she earlier had laid a used lemongrass tea bag.

'I'll go broke for these folks'

Two months later, Gnyp announced on Facebook she would change her restaurant from Thai to Italian, calling the new spot Trattoria La Caverna, which opened in April 2023.

"It's the noodle train reimagined," she said, smiling.

The transition has been tough. Despite a thorough cleaning and changing air filters and other equipment, some traces of lemongrass remain, and Gnyp often still gets allergy symptoms in her new place.

While getting lots of love during the changeover, Gnyp has had some online and in-person haters who have loudly mourned the loss of good pho — a Vietnamese noodle dish Gnyp had added to her menu — in Hendersonville.

And business has slowed. The restaurant once was packed for lunch and dinner nearly every day. Those huge crowds now show up consistently only on weekends, she said.

Gnyp said she remains hopeful and inspired to continue providing fine dining in Hendersonville.

"We’re still here. And I spend an inordinate amount of my own money to keep it going," she said.

"And I still feel like it’s worth it. Food is community and food is love. And we have an amazing core of regulars, and a lot are starting to come back.

"I’ll go broke for these folks."

Do you know someone who has had to pivot to overcome a difficult challenge? Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com or 615-259-8384.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Hendersonville Thai restaurant owner: Pivoting to Italian post-allergy