An icon of the St. Louis restaurant scene recently began a new chapter: King & I, the pioneering restaurant that brought Thai food to St. Louis four decades ago, is now welcoming guests into its new space, after closing its South Grand restaurant last month.
The new location, which opened September 20 at the corner of Hanley and Dale (8039 Dale) in the former Blaze Pizza in Richmond Heights, may represent a big change for the restaurant, but co-owner Shayn Prapaisilp insists that diners can expect the same King & I magic they’ve experienced over the past 40 years. “Folks have grown up with [King & I], so it’s like their go-to homestyle place that feels familiar,” Prapaisilp says. “The curry has been the same for 40 years—this is an old standby place that people really love, so we didn’t want to mess with that too much.”
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The (Re)Location
Although many associate the King & I name with the South Grand space near Juniata Avenue, Prapaisilp points out that it was not the original location. “People don’t realize that this is actually the third iteration of King & I,” he says. “The original was at South Grand and Humphrey. Then, we moved to South Grand and Juniata, so this is now just the next chapter.”
According to Prapaisilp, that second South Grand location—which has been in operation since 1993—was a lovely building but also a vestige of the past. Occupying 5,000 square feet, the former restaurant was the embodiment of grand pre-pandemic dining rooms; as diners shifted to carryout and delivery over the past three years, that setup no longer made sense.
“This restaurant is built for 2023, when more and more of our revenue is carryout,” Prapaisilp says. “We’ve probably gone from an 80-20 split of dine-in versus carryout to almost 60-40. This will allow us to manage dine-in business well, but it will also make carryout as expedient as possible.”
Unlike the sprawling South Grand location, the new King & I occupies a 3,000-square-foot storefront in a busy strip mall in Richmond Heights. An entire section of the space is dedicated to carryout, with its own separate cash register and pickup area. The rest of the room is dedicated to indoor dining, outfitted in steel gray-blue and mustard colored paint with mid-century style wooden wall accents and modern see-through black chandeliers. Seating is divided between tables, a few booths, and a combination banquette-chair arrangement that lines the Dale Avenue–facing wall. An outdoor patio occupies the front of the building.
A setup for modern dining is but one reason that the Prapaisilp family wanted to move their restaurant, though. The new location, near the bustling interchange of Interstate 64 and Hanley Road, will give the restaurant a chance to appeal to a larger portion of the St. Louis region. “We’ve been hearing from longtime customers who are not living as close to us as they used to,” Prapaisilp says. “They love our food but only come once a month. A large portion of our customer base isn’t in South City anymore—it’s all of STL. And everyone takes 40 and Hanley. It’s at the crossroads, so we can be more accessible to all of our customers in the metro area.”
The Menu
Although the restaurant may look quite different from the former location, Prapaisilp is emphatic that the food tastes the same. Roughly 90 percent of the menu remains available at the new King & I, and recipes remain unchanged.
“I don’t throw around the term ‘legacy’ lightly, but it’s important for us to carry it on,” Prapaisilp says. “The constant here is the quality of food and quality of service. Even though people will be dining in a new space, the taste will be familiar to them.”
In that spirit, such dishes as the popular Papaya Salad, Spicy Fried Rice, or the Panang Curry (all pictured above) will be the same delicious favorites that customers have come to love over the past 40 years.
If anything, Prapaisilp sees the new location as an opportunity for the restaurant to add even more dishes. A larger kitchen creates space to experiment with recipes, and he and his family look forward to running regular specials— including some of the dishes that didn’t make their way to the new spot—as soon as things get up and running.
The Backstory
Founded in 1983, King & I began when Suchin and Sue recognized the void of Thai cuisine in the St. Louis dining scene. At the time, the Prapaisilps were concerned that the city might not yet be ready to embrace a fully Thai restaurant, so they began with a menu that was made up of 50 percent Thai dishes and 50 percent Chinese ones, hoping that once the family earned customers’ trust, they might encourage them to try what were considered less familiar dishes at the time. King & I experienced immediate success, outgrowing its space in no time, though it would be a decade before they would move the restaurant a few blocks north on South Grand Avenue.
Over the years, the restaurant has become a consistent favorite for those looking for delectable Thai cuisine and have received the prestigious Thai SELECT award, an honor from the Royal Thai Government that recognizes authenticity in Thai cuisine served in the United States. The family has also expanded their business endeavors to include Jay International Food Corp., Global Foods, United Provisions, Oishi Sushi, Oishi Steakhouse, and Chao Baan—a legacy that Prapaisilp feels will shine through in this new venture.
“Forty years is a long time for a business to be open in any industry, but it’s like a thousand years in the restaurant industry,” Prapaisilp says.” It’s important for us to carry on that legacy. Our diners are passionate about our food and our restaurant, and we feel like this is a way to serve even more people in St. Louis.”
