DeeDee Niyomkul, the daughter of restaurateurs Nan and Charlie Niyomkul, keeps three portraits of her parents from the ’70s hanging front and center on the walls of her restaurant, Nan Thai Buckhead.

The first bite of Thai food I ever had was at Midtown’s Tamarind restaurant, and it began a love affair. Tamarind—widely credited with introducing Thai fine dining to Atlanta—was opened in 1998 by ...