Eat All About It: Tip’s Thai House spices up Canyon Lakes

The Mid-Columbia’s newest Thai restaurant carries all the menu staples of a classic Thai dining establishment: Pad Thai, larb, lemon grass chicken, a variety of curries.

But it doesn’t look like many Thai restaurants.

At Tip’s Thai House, the decor is clean to the point of sparse. Bright buttercream walls contrast with dark lantern-like light fixtures and furniture. There is a smattering of flowers and lots of windows to admit sunlight.

The modern vibe is deliberate, said owner Nalyta Tippalak, who opened Tip’s near the Kennewick Walmart with her husband, Teng Xayarath, in late April.

“We like to keep everything clean,” she said. “We take care of it like it’s our house.”

The comparison is apt. Tippalak funded the startup in part by selling the house she bought before she married.

She arrived in the U.S. in 1987 with her siblings and their mother and went to work in the retail sector. She set aside money and purchased the house as a single woman. It was, she said, her “baby.”

But in 2009, she married Xayarath, a talented chef who learned Thai cooking from his aunt and mother. The couple contemplated going into business.

When it came to siting the restaurant, they researched potential locations throughout the Tri-Cities, looking for the right mix of reasonable rent and demographics.

Space at the Trios Southridge Hospital complex was too expensive. In time, the newer strip mall on South Quillan, near the Kennewick Walmart, caught their eye.

Tippalak was skeptical.

It’s set behind another strip mall and Tippalak worried customers wouldn’t wander that far from West 27th Avenue. She and her husband drove around the neighboring subdivisions of Canyon Lakes and became convinced the restaurant could be a success if they worked hard and keep their dreams modest.

While they were looking at the center, their prospective landlord was scrutinizing more than their credit. He paid an unannounced visit to the Hermiston Thai restaurant where Xayaratha was cooking.

He passed.

Landlord and tenant singed a deal for a restaurant space at the end of the strip mall. One side looks toward Canyon Lakes to the east.

The front opens to the parking lot and offers peekaboo views of Kennewick and the Columbia River.

The view is likely temporary. Pasco-based Fairchild Cinemas plans to open a 10-screen theater across the parking lot on 8.5 acres it owns by the end of 2018.

Tippalak said her fears the site was too far removed from traffic proved unfounded. The neighborhood has been quick to embrace the new restaurant and business is brisker than she initially projected.

While most entrepreneurs dream big, Tippalak’s goals for Tip’s are modest.

“My dream is just to make a living. We’re not dreaming to be rich.”

Tip’s Thai House is at 2909 S. Quillan St., Suite 182, in Kennewick. Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. weekdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 7 p.m. Sundays.

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This story was originally published June 6, 2017 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Eat All About It: Tip’s Thai House spices up Canyon Lakes."