Zaya Thai Pantry owner Yanika Yawikham and her husband, a general contractor, worked together to renovate the interior of the Danville restaurant. (Photo courtesy Don Barnes.)
Restaurants have always been an important part of life for Yanika Yawikham.
Growing up in Thailand, she spent her childhood at her grandparents’ restaurant. She attended school in a different town from where she lived and with few classmates nearby to play with, she would entertain herself by playing restaurant with her dolls and stuffed animals.
After college, the then-21-year-old moved to the U.S. to work as a server at a cousin’s Thai restaurant, Siam Orchid in Orinda, where she met her now-husband, who was a frequent customer.
A decade since moving to the U.S., she’s putting her restaurant background to work at her own restaurant in Danville: Zaya Thai Pantry. The eatery, which has been in the soft-open phase for about three months, is planning a grand opening and ribbon-cutting for July 13.
Nestled toward the back of the town’s Clock Tower shops, the restaurant highlights both authentic flavors and fusion ingredients that may be more familiar to an American audience – think short ribs, salmon and steak – alongside a Thai street food menu, curries, a kids menu and desserts, she explains. Zaya Thai Pantry also offers a full bar.
One recommended menu item to check out is the short rib khao soi – a coconut curry noodle soup – made in the Northern Thai style of Chiang Mai, which is where Yawikham is from. Beef short ribs are braised for about 13 hours, then served with noodles, pickled greens, onions and chili oil.
Yawikham, who goes by the nickname PJ, says her husband, a general contractor, helped her transform what was previously Danville’s Tower Grille sports bar into the new restaurant over the course of about nine months.
“We basically had to almost 100% start over with the space,” she says. “We basically renovated the space by ourselves and came up with all the designs by ourselves, and it turned out okay.”
Zaya Thai Pantry is located at 301 Hartz Ave. #103 in Danville, and is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. weekdays and noon to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. weekends.
Originally published at Kate Bradshaw