Sneak Peek: Takin' It to the Street (Food) at Sabai

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When I arrive at Sabai, my first sight is co-owner and bar manager Jason Lough spray-painting metal shelves a matte black in the parking lot next to the restaurant. It should come as no surprise; there's an eye-catching street art mural on one side of the West Broad Street restaurant, and atop the roof sits a metal sheet with the words "YES!" "NO..." and "MAYBE?" all written in black spray paint. The latter was a playful bid to win the affection of a woman whom co-owner Brandon Pearson had asked on a date. The sign stuck even though they did, eventually, have to mark a giant check in the box next to "NO."

These cheeky street art and DIY motifs are all woven throughout the late-night Thai street food restaurant and bar, from the cocktails like the Lady Boy Daiquiri to the tables and chairs, which they of course made by hand. Once the restaurant opens by mid-May, you'll see street art hanging for purchase, made by international and local artists alike, with exhibitions every few months.

There will be a lounge that converts to a small stage, where you can find live music four to six times per month. There will be both an herb garden and a vegetable garden on the roof. Thanks to permission from adjacent businesses — The Broadberry, The Jerk Pit and Chapman's Certified Auto Repair — there will be street art on every brick wall nearby. Two or three weeks after Sabai's opening, you'll find Thai brunch. Two or three weeks after the brunch launch, you'll find extended hours, with the restaurant opening for business every day around 11:30 a.m. Soon after that, you'll find a speakeasy/champagne room built into a garage that's accessed by walking through the kitchen and pushing on a false wall. Even later still, you might find a walk-up window that's open until around 3 a.m. 

It's ambitious, with a lot of moving parts, but Sabai's trio of co-owners — Lough, Pearson and My Noodle & Bar/Mom's Siam's Joe Kiatsuranon — are fairly relaxed about it, like the definition of the term "sabai." They're passionate about bringing a new experience to Broad Street, and especially about bringing authentic Thai street food to Richmond.

"We wanted to do the proper Thai stuff that you could find on any street corner in Bangkok," says Pearson. "A good 75 percent of the stuff we have here you won't see at the other Thai restaurants around town."

Kiatsuranon and Pearson are no strangers to Thailand. Pearson, who still has an apartment there, lived in Thailand for the last five years and currently owns record stores and is partnered in a restaurant there. Kiatsuranon grew up there, with an aunt and a cousin who served food on the street. "It's like going back in my memory," Kiatsuranon shares. 

So what is Thai street food, exactly? It's fast food in the most rudimentary sense, and it rarely involves pad Thai or many other American-Thai staples; throughout Thailand's cities, and especially in Bangkok, street food is served on corners, piping hot, and designed for those on the go. Grilled meat and seafood skewers, curries and sticky rice usually find their way to your mouth via plastic bags and your own two hands, with little to no flatware required.

And though this cuisine is designed for those who don't mind eating while walking, there's a great deal of preparation and care involved in its cooking. 

"What we're doing here is basic, but it's a lot of work. There's a lot of prep," says Pearson, who later adds that once Sabai opens for lunch and dinner, the restaurant will be prepping, cooking and serving food for roughly 19 hours per day. "Most Thai restaurants around here think people aren't ready to eat [this type of food] because of the spiciness. It's just very different."

Expect papaya salads, grilled meat, shrimp and fish skewers, whole-fish cooking, noodle soups, sweet grilled pork neck, sour soups, crab fried rice and vegetarian and vegan options. Once brunch launches, you can taste omelets with mussels, omelets with oysters, and jok gai — chicken porridge with egg — even though there is relatively no distinction between breakfast, lunch and dinner in Thailand. "But Thai people do eat a lot of eggs," says Kiatsuranon.

You can enjoy the fare in one of Sabai's 70 to 80 seats, whether you're perched at a high-top, in one of the lounge's couches, on the fenced-in front patio, at a hand-made table, or in one of the 12 seats at the bar that's helmed by Lough. His cocktail program, classics-driven but tiki-influenced, is both colorful and irreverent.

"I will be using Blue Curaçao in some drinks; I don't care," Lough says, "but almost everything's made in house — grenadine, you know — everything's fresh. We're not faking it."

Lough, formerly of Rappahannock, is bringing a playful air to the mix with drinks like the Soi Cowboy, named after the "sleezeball" who started the night markets in Bangkok. The cocktail contains a dash of fish sauce and is bagged, then served over ice, and must be punctured with a straw "like it's like a Capri Sun for grownups," he says. Lough's also adding a selection of daiquiris and mojitos, which you can order traditional or Thai-style, and which we'll ideally be enjoying on that patio thuk wan, or every day.

Sabai is located at 2727 W. Broad St. and opens in mid-May. Dinner hours: 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. (kitchen closes at 1:30), with a late-night menu beginning around 10 p.m. Find more photos below:

Correction: Co-owner Brandon Pearson's name appeared incorrectly as "Pierce" in the original story. This post has been updated to reflect this.