Zaap News
Zaap Kitchen to bring spicy Lao Thai food to 2 new Dallas-area locations
Lao & Thai food coming to Plano.
Acclaimed Asian restaurant concept Zaap Kitchen Lao & Thai Street Eats is bringing more of its top-notch spicy food to Dallas-Fort Worth.
The small, popular family-run restaurant from husband-and-wife Tony and Manichanh Moe Singharaj that's famous for serving both Laos and Thailand cuisine, is opening two new locations: one in Plano and another in Las Colinas.
The Plano location is going into a former T-Mobile store at 5976 W. Parker Rd. #304, at the southeast corner of the Dallas North Tollway in mid-2023. The Las Colinas restaurant is a former Jimmy John's and will open in late fall, says Managing Partner Kevin Singharaj.
"It's hard to predict nowadays with delays in permitting and construction — we just pay and pray," Singharaj says.
Zaap serves Laotian cuisine alongside Thai street food. The family opened their first location on Greenville Avenue in 2018, with a goal of bringing Laotian food to a new neighborhood. (Singharaj's cousin Boi owns Sabaidee Lao & Thai Cuisine.)
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.
These will join four Zaap restaurants, already open, including three in Dallas: the original at 6107 Greenville Ave.; a second location in East Dallas' Casa Linda Plaza; and a third in East Dallas that opened at 2325 N. Fitzhugh Ave. in 2020.
They also opened a location in Fort Worth, at the West Bend mixed-use development, which Kevin oversees.
