Kin Kin Urban Thai Has Closed, Will Reopen as BITE in December

We’ve got to give chef Eddy Thretipthuangsin one thing — he’s tenacious. The Thai-focused chef has worked in and opened multiple concepts across Dallas and Fort Worth, including Pak Pao, Bite City Grill and two locations of Kin Kin Urban Thai. For whatever reason, chef Eddy T struggled to make...

By Amy McCarthy

November 25, 2015

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We’ve got to give chef Eddy Thretipthuangsin one thing — he’s tenacious. The Thai-focused chef has worked in and opened multiple concepts across Dallas and Fort Worth, including Pak Pao, Bite City Grill and two locations of Kin Kin Urban Thai. For whatever reason, chef Eddy T struggled to make his Oak Lawn Avenue location of Kin Kin stick. As a result, it will reopen as BITE in early December.

Thretipthuangsin has already closed the doors at Kin Kin on Oak Lawn after less than six months in business. BITE will be an entirely different concept, offering “globally influenced dishes with chef Eddy’s Asian flair,” according to an announcement from the chef.

“BITE allows me to cook a wide variety of cuisine, not just Thai food,” he wrote. “We feel that BITE better serves our clientele locally.” That likely means that the crowd on Oak Lawn would prefer to soak up their booze with burgers and fries instead of potentially unfamiliar Thai dishes.

Thretipthuangsin clearly likes using the word “bite” in the names of his restaurants, as evidenced by the similarly named concept he explained to the Observer’s Lauren Smart in late 2014. Thretipthuangsin was apparently going to open the BITE concept just after leaving Pakpao, the Design District Thai restaurant now led by Jet Tila, after just six months in the kitchen. BITE eventually opened as Bite City Grill in Fort Worth, which has since shuttered.

Fortunately for those who love Thretipthuangsin’s Thai cuisine, it isn’t going to be leaving Dallas entirely. Thretipthuangsin still plans to open two locations of Kin Kin in Dallas' northern suburbs, one at Preston Road and Forest Lane, and another at the forthcoming CityLine development in Richardson. The Fort Worth location will continue to serve yellow curry and pad see ew, if you find yourself in westerly climes.

The space that housed Kin Kin Urban Thai will reopen as BITE on Wednesday, December 9. Be sure to pour one out for all that great Thai food as this menu transitions into something more "globally inspired," whatever the hell that means.

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