After 32 Years, a Lower Haight Thai Favorite Is Getting a Makeover

Thai stalwart Thep Phanom will close after 32 years at Waller and Fillmore on November 22nd. But as chef/owner Pat Parikanont writes in a note to customers posted on the door of her restaurant’s dark blue Victorian building, “this is not the time for sadness because our journey is not ending, merely following a new path.” The business will return as Janchay Bistro in December.

A hit in the ‘90s, Thep Phanom once packed its dining room with customers clamoring for larb gai and “Thaitanic beef.” But business has steadily slowed, and to keep up with the times, Parikanont and family have decided to rebrand.

“We are renovating from the 32 year old style to modern, chic, and sleek for the new generations,” the team explains in a job posting for Janchay Bistro. “We will have versatile food; from American to European to Asian.”

As of 2005, SF Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer worried that Thep Phanom was beginning to “fray.” The restaurant had been on his Top 100 list since its inception. The times are indeed changing: Bauer filed his final review as the paper’s critic last month.

Eater SF has reached out to Parikanont and Thep Phanom for more details on Janchay Bistro, so stay tuned. An reopening is set for December 8th.

• After 32 years, Lower Haight’s Thep Phanom to become Janchay’s Bistro [Hoodline]