Kru (190 N. 14th St.) has started a spring pop-up called Laab Bar that has transformed the Thai restaurant’s bar area into a casual street food concept that will run through the end of May.
The three-month pop-up is serving Thai street food and casual bar snacks alongside sake, wine, and Thai beers in the bar and front room, while Kru’s regular menu continues in the dining room.
Highlights of Laab Bar’s menu include som tum corn salad, speed boat wings, chicken satay with peanut sauce, and carbonara khao soi noodles.
Laab Bar also offers a lobster happy hour daily from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. with whole lobsters for $29, plus $9 house drinks and $49 bottles all night.
“Laab Bar grew out of the pop-ups we’ve been doing over the past few years, often collaborating with friends in the industry. Many of the dishes are inspired by those earlier pop-ups and the kind of food we love to cook when we’re in a more relaxed, bar-style setting,” Chef Ohm Suansilphong told Greenpointers.
“Over time, Kru has become a place people think of for a proper dining table, traditional, more refined and special occasion Thai food, and we love that. But, we also hear from our regulars in the neighborhood that sometimes they just want to stop in for a drink, share a few dishes, and not feel like they’re committing to a full dinner,” he continued.
“Laab Bar lets us keep the same care and quality while making it more approachable and fun to hang out. We wanted a place where people can walk in, have a glass of sake or wine, maybe a Thai or local beer, share some snacks, and not overthink it.”
On Wednesday, March 25, the Lab Bar pop-up is hosting a special event called “Women in Sake,” celebrating women in the sake industry and highlighting breweries with female leadership.
The evening will feature a Noto Peninsula sake, supporting breweries from the region heavily affected by the 2024 earthquake, plus a few of the bottles from Japan that are not normally available in the United States.
Kru is also launching takeout and delivery next week for the first time ever, and the Laab Bar menu will be offered. “Not only do we hope to see our neighbors more often at Laab Bar, we’re also excited to be able to deliver to them at home,” the Kru team said.