Zaab Zaab is a Thai restaurant specializing in Isan cuisine that quickly earned the attention of locals and critics alike when it opened last year in Elmhurst. Now the owners have opened another outpost in the Essex Market.
The Zaab Zaab stall, which replaces Eat Gai, was in soft open mode last week. In June of 2022, Pete Wells wrote in The New York Times about the original spot:
“The steady, thrilling rise of Isan cuisine has been the major story arc in New York City’s Thai restaurant scene over the past decade or so… That trajectory reached a new high point with the arrival in April of Zaab Zaab in Elmhurst, Queens. The chef, Aniwat Khotsopa, was raised in the Isan city Udon Thani and is a gifted manipulator of his home region’s textural depth and contrapuntal flavors.”
On the Lower East Side, the menu will not be exactly the same. It features, Isaan skewers made with grilled ribeye, pork, sausage or intestine; pad Thai, papaya salads; Zaab fries; wings; a Thai version of a hot dog; and more.
