Thanin Viriyaki
Asiannights owner Niya Nakasane
The age-old phrase “dinner and a show” has nothing on Asiannights.
On any given night, at any given time, you could walk in on an EDM set by a DJ well known in Asian music circles, like DJ Taiypp, who has a show coming up there in April. Not exactly an everyday occurrence here in Fort Worth.
Another night, you could stumble upon, as we did recently, a rowdy college graduation party. Over their plates of pad krapow and bowls of tom yum soup, diners sat and watched the amusing revelry unfold; some even joined in, sharing drinks with the celebratory partyers.
And if you’re lucky, you’ll be there the night one of the restaurant’s owners, Niya Nakasane, performs a set of Thai pop numbers, shimmying and shaking in glittery sequins, while the crowd sings along. It’s quite a sight watching her perform one minute and deliver your crab fried rice the next.
Asiannights is one of the most unique restaurants in Fort Worth — and it’s also one of the city’s best- and worst-kept dining secrets. Local chefs and foodie types have known about it for years and tried to keep it for themselves. Social media has a way of spoiling secrets, though, and with some of Asiannights’ live performances going viral on TikTok and Instagram, the rest of the world was bound to, sooner or later, catch on.
Obviously, there are plenty of restaurants and bars in Fort Worth that serve food against a celebratory backdrop, but most of the time, the food takes a backseat to the entertainment. Here, at this modestly decorated spot that straddles the border of Fort Worth and Haltom City, the food is outstanding; you come for the pho and fried pork belly, and as a side, you may get to witness, or partake in, some entertaining razzmatazz, be it Laotian karaoke or a private party that spills into the rest of the restaurant.
“We don’t run this like a business-business,” says Xayen Chant, an Army veteran who owns the restaurant with Nakasane, his wife of about 10 years. “It’s very much a family here. Everybody knows everybody. They come in, sit at their favorite table, and we already know what they’re going to order. I think it’s that level of comfort that makes people want to have their parties here or come see a show here or just come for the food.
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Seafood clay pot
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Papaya salad
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Crispy pork belly
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Lao-style larb
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“But there’s usually something fun happening here, so it ends up being food with a show,” he laughs.
The laid-back vibes of Asiannights hark back to when the business opened 25 years ago. “Originally, it was just a bar,” Chant says. “A lot of the people who were coming here back then are still coming now.”
Through the years, Asiannights became one of the few venues in North Texas to host touring Lao and Thai singers, musicians, and DJs, which the restaurant still hosts today. “It’s a small circle of places that book these acts,” Chant says. “We’re one of only a few in Texas.”
A cousin of Chant’s opened the restaurant and ran it for several years, primarily as a bar but sometimes food would be served. Six years ago, Chant and Nakasane, both of whom hail from Laos, took it over after Chant’s cousin decided to let it go. Nakasane had already made a name for herself at Asiannights as a frequent performer — so, Chant says, it made perfect sense for her to take over as an owner.
“We really felt like we could do something special with it,” he says. “We wanted to showcase Thai and Lao cuisine — the food we grew up on, but keep the live entertainment because that’s what we were known for at that point.”
To develop and execute their large menu of Thai and Lao staples, the couple turned to the people they felt could best handle that challenge: their family.
“We hired my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my sister-in-law,” Chant says. They were all working at other Fort Worth Thai and Lao restaurants, including Thailicious and the nearby Sikhay. “I thought, why should they be working for someone else when we had the opportunity to do something ourselves? We convinced them all to quit their jobs to work here,” he says. Both Chant and Nakasane’s sons from their previous marriages work there, too, off and on.
Asiannights’ sprawling menu encompasses both known and somewhat obscure Lao and Thai dishes. They’re best known for their lightly crispy pork belly, lemongrass-studded Laotian sausage, and wide selection of curries.
Those who take a deeper dive into the menu will find so much more to admire, from the kuay teow kua gai, a mountainous serving of flat rice noodles stir-fried with chicken and eggs, to goong ob woonsen, a hot pot brimming with shrimp, crab meat, glass noodles and assorted veggies, to the pla rad prik, a dish of deep-fried tilapia topped with chiles and garlic.
The menu also includes a half-dozen pho options, several variations of papaya salads, dozens of other rice and noodle dishes, specialty drinks (both boozy and not), and desserts such as a beautifully presented mango sticky rice, the rice for which is usually arranged in the shape of a heart.
“These are my wife’s recipes and her family recipes,” Chant says. “It’s what we do here, our vibe here — family, one big family.”
Asiannights Lao Thai Cuisine & Bar, 2905 N. Beach St., anlaothaicuisine.com
