Pioneering Laotian restaurant Thip Khao was burglarized in Columbia Heights early Wednesday morning and is closed today for service. The restaurant shared the news with an image of their broken front window.
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Chef and co-owner Boby Pradacith, who runs the family restaurant with his mother, chef Seng Luangrath, says liquor was stolen from the front bar and the dining room was “trashed.” He says the police are investigating whether the break-in was racially motivated, as crimes against Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals and businesses have been on the rise nationally. The restaurant hopes to reopen tomorrow.
The team at Thip Khao have been active in raising awareness around violence and discrimination against the AAPI community. On Sunday, Luangrath is hosting an AAPI Women Lead charity dinner at the restaurant with female talents from Thamee, Purple Patch, Otabe, and more. Pradacith says they’re working quickly to restore the dining room and repair the window in the meantime. When reached for comment, he was prepping for a sold-out EmbraceRace charity dinner at modern Korean restaurant, Anju.
“We’re hoping what we’re doing can bring some awareness and shed some light,” says Pradacith of the fundraisers.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
