Two more eateries are vacating Downtown Allentown Market after the popular eating destination recently changed its operating hours to breakfast and lunch only.
La Kang Thai Eatery, known for its Thai and French cuisine concept, closed for good Monday at the market, on the city’s ArtsWalk at 27 N. 7th St. The new hours didn’t “fit with their business plan for the market location,” Jeff Vaughan, spokesman for market owner City Center Allentown, told lehighvalleylive.com Monday morning.
La Kang Thai was the third regional venture for owner Anthony Valdez, a Bronx native now living in Hanover Township, Northampton County, and business partners, Nakkarawoot “Noah” Krueawong of Nazareth and Ratchaphol “Paul” Rojratana of Bethlehem.
The partners opened in July 2023 in space that previously occupied Loaded Plantain. They took to the business’ Facebook page Saturday to share the news with loyal patrons and teased about possible sites for a future relocation.
“Leaving Downtown Allentown Market. Thank you all for your business!” the posting states. “... Stay tuned for more locations! Hope to see you soon!”
Randevoo Sushi Bar, which shuttered at the market earlier this month, cited the same reason for closing. The eatery featured modern dining with a twist on traditional Asian-inspired cuisine. It had just opened a few months prior in January.
The market’s new operating hours also didn’t that business model, Vaughan said.
The decisions of those two market vendors to close also follows the departure of two others — Casa Criolla and Bar 1838 — at the end of March. Those two eateries also cited the market’s new hours as the reason. Both catered more to evening crowds, Vaughan had said.
The market on April 1 changed its hours to a 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday schedule. Previously, vendors operated into the evening hours and offered dinner options on select days. The market additionally was previously open on Saturday and now is closed weekends, according to the new schedule.
Vaughan said the move came as lunch traffic increased and the city’s downtown area added a growing amount of new dinner options to the mix.
Pictured is a "drunken noodle" dish with with Duck leg confit. La Kang Thai Eatery was listed as permanently closed Monday, April 15, 2024. Patrons, however, still can sample signature dishes by the eatery's partners. They continue to operate La Kang Thai-French Cuisine in Palmer Township; and La Kang Thai Noodles Bar in Hellertown.
Other ventures
It’s not all bad news for the quartet of vacating businesses, however.
All four continue to operate thriving existing ventures. At least one also is planning a new ice cream concept opening later this year.
Randevoo has another location along Main Street in Downtown Bethlehem and continues to operate a food truck, according to its website.
La Kang Thai Eatery continues to operate its two other ventures: La Kang Thai-French Cuisine, which opened just prior to the start of the pandemic in March 2020 along South Greenwood Avenue in Palmer Township; and La Kang Thai Noodles Bar, which opened about two years ago along Main Street in Hellertown.
Casa Criolla owner Michael Collado and his wife, Mayra Collado, of the Bethlehem area, now continue to operate Latin American restaurant, Casa del Mofongo, along Main Street; and Casa del San-Gwich, along Broad Street, both in Downtown Bethlehem.
Casa del Mofongo’s Bethlehem site initially was an expansion of their Allentown eatery of the same name in 2019. The Collados in 2007 opened the initial Casa del Mofongo site along Hamilton Street in Center City Allentown, where they ran it for more than a decade. The March 2020 shutdown at the start of the pandemic and demolition of the Hamilton Street building by City Center Investment Corp., were factors in the permanent demise of the Allentown site, Michael Collado had said.
City Center Investment Corp. is the real estate development firm working to revitalize the city’s downtown. One of the firm’s projects also was the Downtown Allentown Market, which opened in fall 2019. The couple went on to open Casa del San-Gwich in October 2022.
Bar 1838 co-owners Manny Rodriguez of Upper Macungie Township; Rick Pongracz of Bethlehem; and Samantha Younes of Allentown opened at the Downtown Allentown Market in 2021. The pair took to the business’ Instagram page prior to their March closure to announce the news to patrons.
Pongracz then told lehighvalleylive.com there were no plans to relocate Bar 1838. Rodriquez and Pongracz, however, did announce plans for a new ice cream venture.
The pair are launching Batter Up by Batch Microcreamery, 307-311 E. Third St. on South Bethlehem, sometime in June, Pongracz said this week. The space is new construction on the main level of Peron Development’s five-story mixed-use building, Third and Taylor Apartments.
Batter Up will become Rodriguez and Pongracz’s sixth business venture of its kind. The pair in 2019 initially launched Batch Microcreamery at the Downtown Allentown Market, before shuttering that space three years later in an expansion effort. They then opened their first brick-and-mortar store at The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley in Upper Saucon Township.
The pair additionally operate stands at the Trolley Barn Public Market in Quakertown; a seasonal scoop shop during the warmer months at Shepherd Hills Golf Club in Lower Macungie Township; and a mobile food truck for private events.
Younes additionally owns Zahra, which continues to be a vendor at the downtown market; and Aladdin, serving up Middle Eastern cuisine in Allentown.
Samantha Hristofas, owner of Zahra, serves up hummus at the Downtown Allentown Market on Sept. 17, 2019. Saed Hindash | For lehighvalleylive.com
More coming and goings
The departures of Randevoo Sushi Bar; La Kang Thai Eatery; Casa Criolla and Bar 1838 follow another popular business that vacated the market earlier this year.
Khanisa’s The Pudding Bar co-owners Khanisa and Sean Darby in late December decided not to renew their lease. The couple opened in October 2022. They instead moved to a sole e-commerce operation, Vaughan had said.
The downtown market has space for nine vendors. However, Vaughan said only three bays currently remain available for leasing. This indicates at least two are being negotiated by the market’s owner.
“City Center is talking to various operators who are interested, but are not ready to make an announcement at this time,” Vaughan said.
Aside from Zahra, there’s Chez’s Delicatessen; Pasta & Pies; and Johnny’s ArtsWalk Diner. Zahra is the market’s last remaining original tenant.
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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.