Photography by Kathy Tran.
The original Chan Thai opened 22 years ago in what was then a little-known corner of Dallas called the Bishop Arts District.
Day-one employee Claudia Baez started as a waitress and then managed Chan Thai for 10 years until the original owner was ready to retire.
Baez and her husband, Rogelio, who also started on Chan Thai’s first day in 2000, bought the restaurant about five years ago. By then, they had added Pho 88, a Vietnamese restaurant within their Thai restaurant.
The Baez family lost their Bishop Arts lease last year, but they got lucky. A small law firm was moving from its longtime office at 436 W. Davis, and a friend of the Baezes was leasing it.
The building wasn’t a restaurant at the time, but Claudia Baez says she could envision the space for their business.
A two-story pecan tree at one end of the property inspired her.
They spent six months building a kitchen, tearing out metal garages and turning parking spaces into a dining patio. They built an indoor/outdoor bar and retained about 10 on-site parking spaces on West 7th Street.
Claudia and Rogelio, who grew up in Oak Cliff, met as teenagers while working at the bygone Tejano Mexican Restaurant. The former owner of Chan Thai was a regular, and she poached them to work at the restaurant she was opening.
Chan Thai/Pho 88 is a family business. Claudia and Rogelio’s son, 24-year-old Alex, is bar manager while enrolled in a political science master’s degree program at the University of Texas at Arlington. Their daughter Jocelyn, 18, works in the front of the house. And son Junior manages the kitchen.
Little has changed on the menu since the restaurant moved.
Regulars come for the pineapple fried rice ($12), pad thai ($13) and pho ($11-$13), and a few American Chinese entrees such as sesame chicken ($14) are also popular.
Crispy Thai spring rolls come four to an order for $6.50, and steamed summer rolls come two to an order for $8.75.
Reasonable prices and the care that can only come from a family owned and operated restaurant still set Chan Thai/Pho 88 apart, no matter how many new restaurants come along.
What has changed drastically at Chan Thai/Pho 88 is the atmosphere.
The new space features a social-media friendly backdrop with a “love you pho ever” neon sign. A more prominent bar and sidewalk-style dining help the owners put a new emphasis on their bar. Popular drinks are a mango margarita and a spicy Thai paloma.
Moving their restaurant was “very hard,” Claudia says. But regulars seem to love it, and they’ve had to hire several more people to the kitchen and waitstaff to keep up with demand at this location, Alex Baez says.
“Support from the community has been overwhelming in a good way,” he says.
Chan Thai/Pho 88, 436 W. Davis St. 214.948.9956. Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, noon-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
