Zaap News

Zaap Kitchen to open spicy Lao Thai restaurant on renovated East Dallas corner

Mmm spicy and good.

Photo courtesy of Zaap Lao

An acclaimed Asian restaurant concept serving two cuisines in one is doubling its footprint: Zaap Kitchen Lao & Thai Street Eats, the popular family-run Greenville Avenue restaurant that serves food from Laos and Thailand, is opening two locations, one in East Dallas and another in Fort Worth.

Owner Tony Singharaj confirms that Zaap is in expansion mode, and aims to have the two new locations open in fall 2020.

This will bring their total portfolio to four restaurants:

6107 Greenville Ave., the original
1152 Buckner Blvd., at Casa Linda Plaza
2325 N. Fitzhugh Ave.
West Bend, the mixed-use development in Fort Worth

The Fitzhugh location is going into Fitzhugh Plaza, a newly revamped center at the southeast corner of Capitol Avenue. That location is on track to open in September.

The West Bend location will follow, with an opening set for sometime in the fall.

Zaap serves Laotian cuisine alongside Thai street food. Singharaj and his wife opened their first location on Greenville Avenue in 2018, with a goal of bringing Laotian food to a new neighborhood.

They proved their ability to multitask and persevere despite the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020, when they opened a second location in East Dallas' Casa Linda Plaza, which has thrived as an outlet for takeout, despite the virus.

Zaap makes everything to order, with the influence of the Laotian cuisine bringing a higher, bolder level of spice.

Their menu includes sizzling Lao sausage, heavenly beef jerky, crispy wings, dancing garlic riblets, and juicy pork shoulder bites.

Pineapple fried rice is a dish with ingredients both savory and sweet: egg, cashews, pineapple, raisins, peas, carrots, onion, tomato, and garlic.

There's Laotian fried rice with egg, white onions, green onion, tomato, and garlic, which you can get as-is or with chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or tofu.

Zaap follows a fast-casual service model, to make it faster for those who are on tight lunch hours, and its to-go business is brisk.

Singharaj comes from a restaurant family; his cousin Boi owns Sabaidee Lao & Thai Cuisine. Just like Zaap, Sabaidee offers both Laotian and Thai dishes. Its first two locations, on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas and in Rowlett, were take-out only. In 2019, Sabaidee opened a third location in Prosper, which has a small dining room.

openings

Grocery News

Urban grocery market will join scene in historic downtown Carrollton

Street Corner Urban Market

A new grocery store brand is making its Texas debut in Carrollton: Called Street Corner Urban Market, it's a small chain from Kansas that will go into a former vintage store at 1105 South Broadway St., across from the historic downtown square, with an opening slated for spring 2026.

The Street Corner brand is headquartered in Topeka, and comprises several concepts, from express kiosks to gas station companions. The urban market concept has 47 locations across the United States as of early 2025, in cities such as Fresno, California and Rochester, New York.

Carrollton will be a 2,500 square-foot store — bigger than a convenience store but smaller than a large-scale grocery store.

Bringing the concept to Carrollton is franchisee Leon Smith, a longtime downtown Carrollton resident looking to fill a gap in the neighborhood's retail lineup.

“I've lived in the downtown Carrollton area probably for about seven, eight years,” Smith says. “I've always noticed the need for some type of grocery chain down here. There's just nothing down here for the residents — nowhere for them to go grab something quick.”

The historic downtown area nearly has it all: family housing, four luxury apartment complexes, a townhome development in the works, a DART station, dining, parks, entertainment, and locally-owned retail and beauty services.

The missing link: a place to grab groceries, beer & wine, flowers, produce, and ready-to-eat meals without hopping on a train or driving.

Smith, an HR professional at Baylor Scott & White venturing into franchising, says the Street Corner Market shopping experience is reminiscent of Trader Joe’s, including stocking many of the same vendors, but on a smaller scale.

Catering to the community is a priority, and they'll be open to product recommendations so that the store’s offerings reflect residents’ needs.

“It's not cookie cutter ‘this is the only way that it’s going to go,’” Smith says. “I'm here to try to make it welcoming for everybody that's around here. I'm a part of this community, so this is important to me, because I know the need for it.”

supermarkets openings