Zaya Thai Pantry brings new Thai fare to Danville

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, Zachary Cummings, who was a frequent customer.

The short rib khao soi at Zaya Thai Pantry in Danville is prepared in the Chiang Mai style with curry noodles, braised beef short ribs, crispy egg noodles and pickled greens, onions and chili oil. (Photo courtesy Don Barnes.)
The spicy eggplant stir fry with purple rice is prepared with eggplant, garlic, Thai chili, basil, and jalapeños and is served with jasmine rice and a fried egg at Zaya Thai Pantry in Danville. (Photo courtesy Don Barnes.)
The crying tiger special is a Thai-style marinated ribeye steak served with papaya salad and sticky rice at Zaya Thai Pantry in Danville. (Photo courtesy Don Barnes.)
At Zaya Thai Pantry in Danville, one of the meals on offer is chicken khao soi, which contains curry noodles, chicken, crispy egg noodles, pickled greens, onions and chili oil. (Photo courtesy Don Barnes.)
The coconut lover cake, Zaya Thai Pantry’s most popular dessert, is made with 25 layers of coconut crepe cake, coconut ice cream and coconut sauce with coconut meat. (Photo courtesy Don Barnes.)

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 that Cummings, 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 in Danville is located in the former Tower Grille location and offers a full bar. (Photo courtesy Don Barnes.)

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.