In 2010, they bought into a partnership with a different Thai restaurant in McKinney, and when the original owners decided to move back to Thailand, the mother-daughter duo became the proprietors. Trepetch and her family moved to Austin because her husband started a job there, and in 2018, Trepetch and her mother opened Spoon + Fork in Austin. In 2020, they relocated their McKinney restaurant to West University Drive and opened under the name Spoon + Fork.
“Very fortunate for us we got a lot of customers from the previous location,” Trepetch said.
Before opening the first location in Austin, Trepetch was multitasking late at night. She was trying to decide on a business name and making a list of things she needed to get for the restaurant.
“We tried to stay away from ‘Pad Thai,’ ‘Bangkok,’ ‘Thai Kitchen,’ anything everyone else has as a restaurant name,” Trepetch said. “I was already in bed and thinking I needed to order new spoons and forks for the restaurant, so I wrote that down, and then I thought, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I woke my husband up to tell him.”
She added Thai people eat with a spoon in one hand a fork in the other, so those facts solidified her decision.
Trepetch grew up in Bangkok and said the recipes they use in the restaurant have been passed down through her family for at least 50 years.
“When I was young, I ate at the ‘big house’ every day. It’s where my extended family lives, which was about 10 minutes from my house,” she said. “There were a lot of aunties who lived and cooked there. My mom cooked there as well.”
Trepetch compares Bangkok to New York City in that it is a melting pot of different cultures; thus, the food she serves has origins that reach beyond Thailand, such as Japanese and Chinese cuisine.
Customers are often surprised by the variety of the menu.
“I have a lot of customers who have only tried, in terms of Thai or Asian food, fried rice or pad thai, and they didn’t know about anything else on the menu,” Trepetch said. “There is nothing wrong with pad thai or fried rice; we’d just like you to be a little more adventurous; it’s fun. If you don’t like it, I’ll take it back and give you your fried rice.”
Must-try items
Thana encourages guests to be adventurous and try new things, such as these menu items.
- Panang salmon avocado ($17) is pan-seared salmon with Panang curry, coconut milk, bell pepper and avocado.
- Pad kee mow (“drunken noodle”) ($13) is a rice noodle dish that includes egg, broccoli, onion, bell pepper, Thai chili, garlic and basil.
- Thai basil combo ($16) is a stir-fried dish featuring Thai chili and basil, bell pepper, onion, and scallion bamboo.
3905 W. University Drive, Ste. 500, McKinney
972-547-0436
www.spoonandforkkitchen.com
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily
