{"id":29552,"date":"2026-09-19T20:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/29552\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T20:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:45:14","slug":"chao-baan-to-close-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/29552\/","title":{"rendered":"Chao Baan to close this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

After seven years of introducing St. Louis diners to the regional Thai cooking of his family\u2019s roots, Shayn Prapaisilp will close Chao Baan (4087 Chouteau) in The Grove after service this Sunday, September 20. The announcement was made on social media and via press release earlier today.<\/p>\n

The restaurant opened in June 2019 on the ground floor of the Chroma development, with a menu that ventured beyond the more familiar curries, pad thai, and spring rolls found at many local Thai restaurants. Instead, Prapaisilp drew inspiration from the foods of his childhood and the regions where his parents grew up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is definitely bittersweet,\u201d Prapaisilp said in the press release. \u201cI spent a lot of time with my grandmother as a kid, and so many of my memories of her are tied to what she cooked. I always joke that I had to open a restaurant to have some of my favorite dishes cooked for me again\u2026 I wanted to give those dishes a place and share a part of Thai food that St. Louis had not experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Chao BaanCourtesy of Chao Baan\"\"<\/p>\n

Reasons for the Closure<\/p>\n

The decision, Prapaisilp says, stems largely from changing priorities, both within the family business and at home. Increasingly, his attention has shifted toward the family\u2019s two international grocery stores, Global Foods Market in Kirkwood and United Provisions in the Delmar Loop, and exploring ways those businesses might serve more of the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found myself drawn more and more to the grocery side of our business,\u201d he said in the release. \u201cThat is still one of my dad\u2019s great passions: finding foods from around the world and making them available here. I understand that passion differently now than I did when I was younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s other restaurants\u2014Oishi Sushi & Steakhouse in Chesterfield, Oishi Sushi in Creve Coeur, and King & I in Richmond Heights\u2014remain open.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of J. Pollock PhotographyCourtesy of J. Pollock Photography\"\"Sue, Shayn, and Suchin Prapaisilip<\/p>\n

The Concept<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Chao BaanCourtesy of Chao Baan\"\"The dining area at Chao Baan<\/p>\n

Chao Baan\u2014Thai for \u201cof the people\u201d\u2014was conceived to showcase the regional cooking that Prapaisilp grew up eating. His mother, Sue, came from Loei province in northeastern Thailand; his father, Suchin, grew up in Yala province in the south. The menu brought the cooking of those two regions together, relying heavily on family recipes passed down through generations.<\/p>\n

From the beginning, Prapaisilp intentionally kept the menu focused, hoping that diners would explore unfamiliar dishes rather than default to Thai-American standards. \u201cThe flavors are full-fledged. There\u2019s no holding back,\u201d he told SLM when the restaurant opened.<\/p>\n

Signature dishes include khao tod nam sod (a crispy rice salad with fermented pork sausage, ginger, herbs, lime, and fish sauce), mieng kham (leaf wraps with toasted coconut, dried shrimp, peanuts, lime, chile, and palm sugar sauce), beef nam tok, and gaeng som (a fiery Southern Thai soup).<\/p>\n

Chao Baan also became known for its annual Dumpling Dinner. What began in 2022 as a one-night charity event sold out in less than 24 hours and evolved into an annual gathering of local chefs celebrating Asian food and culture, with proceeds benefiting organizations including the Asian American Chamber of Commerce of St. Louis and The Very Asian Foundation.<\/p>\n

Photography by Kevin A. RobertsPhotography by Kevin A. Roberts\"20190610_ChaoBaan_0128.jpg\"Khao tod nam sod, a customer favorite at Chao Baan<\/p>\n

The Future<\/p>\n

Prapaisilp says his immediate focus will be Global Foods and United Provisions, as well as determining how the family\u2019s grocery businesses can grow and evolve. <\/p>\n

As for Chao Baan\u2019s space in The Grove, there is no successor to announce yet. Prapaisilp says the family hopes that another restaurateur will eventually take over the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to a great operator coming in and reimagining the space for the next chapter of a great restaurant in the Grove,\u201d he said in the press release. \u201cWe have nothing to report at the moment, but we\u2019re excited to see what this space transitions into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Until then, the Prapaisilps hope that longtime customers will return for at least one more meal\u2014and perhaps one last plate of khao tod nam sod\u2014before Chao Baan serves its final dishes on Sunday.<\/p>\n

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After seven years of introducing St. Louis diners to the regional Thai cooking of his family\u2019s roots, Shayn Prapaisilp will close Chao Baan (4087 Chouteau) in The Grove after service this Sunday, September 20. The announcement was made on social media and via press release earlier today. The restaurant opened in June 2019 on the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[261],"tags":[438,439,9305],"class_list":["post-29552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-thai-restaurants","tag-thai-restaurant","tag-thai-restaurants","tag-the-grove"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117299659736810710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/restaurants\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}