ROCKLAND—Spice Pizzeria, which reopened mid-September in its new Rockland location, is hitting its stride.

Aphiwat Ruklittikul (Mr. Wat), who formerly owned Mr. Wat's in Rockport, took a year to renovate the vacant gas station at 59 Camden Street opposite the McDonald's into a colorful take-out restaurant. Offering more than just Thai-inspired pizzas, Mr. Wat and his family have also brought back some of the best-loved Thai dishes from Mr. Wat's to the updated menu.

For Mr. Wat, the new business is a culmination of his restaurant experience, which started in Boston more than 30 years ago.

"In Boston, I started as a dishwasher, then a busboy, and worked my way up," he said.

Eventually, he trained with sushi chefs in multiple Boston restaurants and honed his skills. He and his family moved to Maine 22 years ago. He became the sushi chef of the former Tamarind in Rockland (where Roseyln Thai restaurant is now) before opening Mr. Wat's (See that PenBay Pilot story from 2017 here.)

While years of making sushi required long hours of prep, standing, and late nights, taking a toll on his body, the new take-out location has been much easier on Mr. Wat. With his wife Jaruwan, and sons Prem and Kem working alongside him, the family business has found its flow.

"It took us a couple of years to renovate the garage, but business has been much better in this location," said Kem. "Now, that we're open, it's been really busy and people have been really positive."

For a sushi chef, making pizza was a complete 180-turn as a menu item, but Mr. Wat's wife was the inspiration.

"After work or on my day off, she'd make me this spicy tuna on pizza dough and I liked it," said Mr. Wat.

It spurred him to experiment with different Thai-inspired pizza flavors.

"Any flavor can be on the dough," he said.

As a student of culinary arts, Mr. Wat studied under an Italian pizza maker, learning how to make all of his dough from scratch.

The most popular pizza with customers has been the Thai sausage.

"Most people think of pepperoni when it comes to a meat pizza," said Mr. Wat. "But, Thai sausage is much tastier, in my opinion."

They took the pizza oven from Mr. Wat's with them when they moved to the first Spice location on Route 90 in Rockport at the start of the pandemic on 2019.  However, the oven became more expensive than the Ruklittikuls anticipated, requiring an additional $30,000 in wiring the building correctly just so the currency powering the oven would work.

Though the Rockport location didn't pan out in terms of traffic as they hoped and they had to close after two years, they kept the oven and took it to the new Rockland location.

In addition to pizza, Mr. Wat has brought back some of his customers' favorite Thai dishes on the menu, including appetizers, noodles, and fried rice, all reasonably priced.

"The Pad Thai noodle dish is the most ordered," said Mr. Wat.

The parking lot with only six spaces only allows take-out service, but the model has worked out so far, according to Kem. Spice is open year-round and closed on Mondays.

To learn more about the menu, visit the website.

Related story: Tomi's Sushi and Noodle Bar to replace Mr. Wat's in Rockport

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com