Come and try it, Wiscasset’s Stephen Heald said when Wiscasset Newspaper asked what he would tell readers who always knew 762 Bath Road for Miss Wiscasset Diner’s meat and potatoes or fries, and classic breakfasts, and now will find Charm Thai. 

The iconic Route One diner had a series of operators, starting in 1960. Most of them called it Miss Wiscasset Diner; the restaurant last closed in 2019, according to Wiscasset Newspaper files.

The inside is “completely redone,” from the dining room to the bathroom, Heald, a retired Navy chief, said. The kitchen is now a Thai kitchen, with brand new appliances; the dining room comfortably seats 40, Heald said. And there will be take out.

"We plan to offer a menu that's diverse but not lengthy. Family meals, all made with the very freshest of ingredients of course."

That tenet runs in the family. Wiscasset dining and the Heald name have gone together for decades, via younger sister Sarah Heald’s Sarah’s Cafe on Water Street, now Jodie's Cafe and Bakery. Sarah had retired due to cancer and sold the restaurant.

She died in August. “We miss her dreadfully,” her brother said. His and his family's new restaurant at the former Miss Wiscasset Diner will continue his sister’s idea of “all things made with love,” he said. “Fresh is best … We will be following her, so to speak, but in a different style of course,” northern Thai cooking, with influences from Thailand’s other regions. 

Did Sarah know about the plan to open a Thai restaurant in town? “Yes, she knew. And she was so, so pleased.”

Stephen Heald’s family with wife Sukitta is Thai-American, is experienced in the kitchen “and always desired to have a place to let folks try our brand of Thai food. "It's a family effort, and a family restaurant."

Norman Sherman bought the property earlier this year, according to Lincoln County Register of Deeds. Heald said Sherman was open to the idea of a Thai restaurant there, and is leasing it to him. "And we're very appreciative of the chance," Heald said. 

"Quite a change in the old diner," Heald said. The location is very good, he said. “And we wanted to provide Wiscasset with its own distinctly Thai restaurant. This will be a restaurant for families and couples and singles, for all citizens, to come and enjoy good quality food for a fair price."

Youngest son Kerry Heald, who worked at Sarah's, will create the desserts, his father said. 

Stephen Heald was in the Navy from 1971 to 1995, serving around the world. “But home to Maine. Always home to Maine.”

The family hopes to open Charm Thai mid-November if they have the state and local nods by then. Wiscasset's planning board was set to take it up Oct. 28.

"Everything is ready (for opening), with the exception of ordering the food," Heald said.

Thai cooking involves "the proper use of many spices, each different for each dish," Heald explained. "No two dishes are the same (and) all Thai food is not spicy, from mild to very spicy, but each dish being prepared individually, the spice level can be adapted to the American palate." Customers can say how they want their dishes prepared, he said. 

Charm Thai's hours were still to be set, and will include Mondays, Heald said.