Look inside seven straight days of entertainment at The Emerald of Siam in Richland

You wouldn’t think Tri-Cities has an abundance of live performances, but there’s always something going on.

Even if you don’t get a chance to go out on the weekends, you can catch live music or other entertainment throughout the week. One of few venues to feature some form of entertainment every weeknight is The Emerald of Siam in the Uptown Shopping Center. It is a consistent gathering place for music lovers.

In the spirit of the daily entertainment offered by The Emerald, I attended every single event for seven days straight. Here’s how it went.

The Emerald of Siam weekly schedule

The Thai restaurant and venue is usually closed on Sundays, with exceptions for special occasions. For Saint Patrick’s Day on March 17, The Emerald held two events, one during dinner and a late night show.

Mondays are Open Mic Nights, allowing anyone who wants to try their hand on stage to give it a go. Whether it’s singing, playing an instrument, rapping, comedy, or something else, all talents are welcome.

Tuesdays are Acoustic Nights at The Emerald of Siam, and Wednesdays feature jazz jams.

Thursdays feature trivia with Geeks Who Drink.

Fridays and Saturdays have a dinner show and late night show.

The Emerald posts a full month schedule on its social media pages around the start of each month, so you can see who’s scheduled to perform when and get a little information about weekend artists.

About the Emerald of Siam

In business for over 40 years, The Emerald of Siam provides authentic Thai cuisine and culture, matched with performances by regional artists. It was started by Ravadi Quinn and her sister in 1983. Ravadi’s daughter Dara now runs the show.

The sisters were focused on providing a cultural experience through food. When Dara took over, she wanted to continue her mother’s legacy. But as a musician who spent years performing in the Seattle area, she also wanted to boost The Emerald’s musical aspect, maintaining her own legacy.

It’s the dedication of both women that made the establishment what it is today, a community favorite and safe space for many.

For anyone who hasn’t gone to The Emerald before, it’s located between Desserts by Kelly and Legacy Jiu-Jitsu in the Uptown Shopping Center. When you walk in, you’re next to an outdoor seating area at the front of the restaurant. Patrons often gather here during intermissions and after sets.

The front table area is adorned with decor and merchandise, along with Ravadi’s two cookbooks and book of meditation, available for purchase. During the day, customers wait to be seated in this area. At night, it’s where those 21-and-up can get a wristband for bar entry.

There are booths along the wall and in the back, where tables are elevated. There are tables with chairs for two and four people, as well as a longer table that can seat a bigger group and a series of stools at the bar.

The stage is right in the center of the main space and can fit a large band. It’s not too high up that artists need to use stairs to get on and off the stage, making crowdwork easy.

Next to the bar, the wall features a chalk listing of what’s on tap, specialty cocktails and weekly entertainment information. The hall to the bathrooms has show posters, setlists and pictures from previous shows.

The Emerald of Siam also has one of the best bathroom signs I’ve ever seen. Instead of separate bathrooms for men and women, the two single bathrooms are separated by a sign reading “Whatever, just wash your hands.”

Saint Patrick’s Day at The Emerald

My week of The Emerald began with dinner on St. Patrick’s Day. A Yakima Valley-based Irish band, Shamrock and Sage, played “Irish club tunes” through regular dinner hours, which encouraged some patrons to get up and start dancing.

The eight-piece band includes instruments you don’t often see utilized, but were very necessary for the sound. The group features:

• David Riddle on lead vocals and guitar
• Bethany Riddle and Teresa Palazzo on vocals
• Jude Noah on the fiddle, mandolin and “anything with strings”
• Dave Riddle on the bodhran
• Peter Cole on the flute, whistles and vocals
• Jeremy Erickson on the fiddle and vocals
• Ben Macy on the accordion, upright bass and vocals

With knowledge of the culture and history behind the songs performed, the talented ensemble created a transformative experience. They sang of love in Dublin, of drinking, of dancing and more, with applause and cheers from the crowd throughout.

During the set, David Riddle mentioned that it was the “most awesomely American thing ever” to be performing Irish tunes on St. Patrick’s Day in a Thai restaurant.

“The Emerald is such a fantastic place to play; truly one of the best live music venues in the Tri-Cities,” Bethany Riddle told the Herald. “Great food, great atmosphere, and the love and support we felt from the audience on St. Patrick’s Day was just incredible.”

Four of the eight members are also in Bourbon and Bellows, another well-known band in the Tri-Cities music scene. If you missed the St. Patrick’s Day performance, you can stop by the Bourbon and Bellows show at The Emerald April 12.

Only a few hours after the traditional Irish band completed their set was a Saint Patrick’s Day drag show, featuring popular local queens. Admission included all-you-can-eat access to an appetizer buffet.

Hosted by Sugar Titz, the set included performances by Sugar, Manaja Twat and Katana T. Rexia to start. The full cast came out after 9 p.m., including Slayoncé, Tatiana Rexia and others.

The queens had an array of green looks for the holiday and festivities to celebrate, like beer pong between performances. Even though it was a Sunday night, the crowd was a good size and full of participation. Each queen brought their sense of humor, their drama and their performance best for the night.

Weekdays at The Emerald of Siam

Open Mic Night has rolling sign-ups, which determine the order of performances. On Monday, March 18, the performers included multiple lesser-known artists in the Tri-Cities area, including student and musician Owen Page, bassist Spider and several other talented performers. The ages varied, but many of the night’s musicians were on the younger side, getting their feel for taking the stage.

Many musicians in the area have credited Open Mic Nights at The Emerald as where they got their start. Whether it was through the connections they made, the confidence they gained on stage or from growing fans, The Emerald has helped plenty of talented locals hit the ground running.

Tuesdays are Acoustic Nights, featuring Chase McClendon. The guitarist pulls up generated backing tracks for certain sounds, vibes or even artists, and improvises a melody on his guitar. He started the set with an acoustic guitar but switched to electric later on.

I’ve seen him perform before, but his set really matches the general vibe at The Emerald on Tuesday. With happy hour beers all day long, good food and a comfortable setting, the tasteful guitar stylings in the background are the cherry on top of the perfect weekday outing sundae.

If you’re looking for a fun, yet low-key weekday date night, I recommend acoustic night.

Jazz night on Wednesday had a larger audience than the two weekdays prior. The restaurant appeared to be full of jazz lovers, with patrons adjusting their chair placement in order to get a more full view of the stage.

The 20th featured jams with Joshua Parrill and an array of talented musicians. Parrill played the saxophone, accompanied by a drummer, keyboardist and bass player. The core group of four played covers like “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” among other classics. It was clear each musician had a thorough understanding of the difficult genre.

As the night went on, they were joined by several others, including another saxophone player, two trombone players and a guitarist. This led to live jam sessions with solos for each musician, which had fantastic energy. The crowd was very responsive to the sound, with applause and cheering after particularly impressive performances.

Thursday had a packed house, with many regulars coming out for Geeks Who Drink. A national company known for engaging trivia nights, Geeks Who Drink has local events with local quizmasters every week at The Emerald of Siam and Moonshot Brewing.

The format includes themed trivia rounds covering a variety of topics, including audio and visual rounds. Groups of up to six can form a team, and each team uses one phone to input their answers. Even if your team is losing, you can earn free drink vouchers for being the quickest to answer the bonus question in most rounds.

Quizmaster BJ Johnson ran the show on the 21st, leading quiz rounds on rhymes, potatoes, cosplay and much more.

I didn’t win, truthfully I wasn’t even close, but it was a lot of fun regardless. The environment was light amid the competition, and some regulars welcomed my group after learning we were first-timers. Jokes were cracked throughout the night, sometimes even making staff at The Emerald burst out laughing as they worked.

Weekends at The Emerald of Siam

On Fridays and Saturdays, The Emerald offers a dinner show and a late night show. The dinner show on Friday featured jazz covers by Steve Haberman and Brandy Larsen, joined by a pianist. They brought a relaxing presence to the chaos that often comes with Friday nights at the Uptown.

The light jazz made it easy for patrons to come in and have a nice dinner, connect with the music and mellow out for a while.

But the turnout was larger for the late night entertainment, which was Pride Karaoke with Amber Bamber. The night’s proceeds benefited Tri-Cities Pride, raising money for the Pride Festival in June. And the local queer community was ready to show out. The list of singers was stacked all night, featuring performances across all genres.

The event was all ages until 11 p.m., when only patrons with 21+ wristbands were allowed to stay.

Saturday’s dinner show featured Beatles covers by Mennon and LaCartney, though unfortunately only half of the duo, Eric Endres, was able to attend. The “usual Lacartney” couldn’t be there that night, so the performance was supplemented with a handful of special guests, including his kids.

The light performance included covers of classic Beatles tracks and “Beatles-adjacent” tunes. Endres and his two kids’ performance of Blackbird was my personal favorite from the set.

The late night show featured the neo-psychedelia Seattle band General Mojos, who have performed at The Emerald before and are fairly well known in the local music scene. The group includes drummer Raoul Hardin, guitarist David James, keyboard player Natalie Colvin and lead vocals and bass player Dune Butler. The four took turns singing lead, though most often Butler took that role.

Their set included a mix of original jams and funk versions or mashups of popular hits, like Feel It Still, Rocket Man and Creep. Their energy was immediately reciprocated by those in attendance, with many dancing or jamming out while the band played. They even maintained lighthearted conversation and jams for the crowd through a minor technical difficulty during the first part of their set.

The band also played some songs from their upcoming record, “The Flat Earth Project” which is “about a girl who turns into a laptop,” according to Butler.

Living in a mid-sized area like Tri-Cities makes it easy to forget the abundance of talent and opportunity right here at home. During my week at The Emerald, I saw patrons across all demographics, experienced new music, met new people and saw old friends. Having all that experience in one place just proves what a rare gem the Emerald really is.

This story was originally published March 27, 2024 at 5:00 AM.