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Thai Pop, the restaurant that started as a pop-up, is now open on the corner of Broadway and Historic 3rd Street in Downtown Rochester.

Credit Bharath Wootla
Credit Bharath Wootla
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Thai-born Chef Annie Balow has transformed the restaurant to "instantly transport you out of town..." The bar remains a big part of the space but in a much brighter, fun way. They're also serving craft cocktails.

Credit Bharath Wootla
Credit Bharath Wootla
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In their press release, Shari Mukherjee, Rochester resident and contestant on Master Chef season10, said, "Annie is truly an inspiration and I’m not kidding when I say one of the best chefs locally! Whenever I’ve had her food, I’ve always been blown away by flavor—and impressed by how well balanced everything is.”

Chef Annie Radio Interview From 2019

Would you like to get to know Chef Balow better? Click play to hear an interview she did in 2019 as she first started work on a brick-and-mortar location with Tessa Leung (who you may know as the SXSE Brewing Co. in Pine Island. Just click play.

 

Curious about the menu? Here's a small sample...

Thai Pop - Click for link
Thai Pop - Click for link
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They're taking reservations (via OpenTable), walk ins are welcome.

Thai Pop took over the space previously occupied by Nellie's On Third (and Grand Rounds before that). For some time, TP had been operating out of the Down Under space below their current location.

According to YELP, the Top 4 Rochester, MinnesotaThai Restaurants Are...

1. Pho Chau

Google
Google
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1014 Broadway Ave N, Rochester, MN

2. Mango Thai

Google
Google
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318 S Broadway , Rochester, MN

3. Asia Fusion

Googl3e
Googl3e
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2711 Commerce Dr NW, Rochester, MN

4. Pho Tai, Rochester, MN

Google
Google
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1726 37th St NW

Will Thai Pop soon be added to the list? We'll keep checking and let you know.

As always, if you have a comment, complaint, or concern about something I wrote here, please let me know: james.rabe@townsquaremedia.com

Now Let's Fill Another Restaurant Space

It is great news Thai Pop moved right into the old bank building on the corner of Broadway and Historic 3rd Street...there's nothing sadder than a great location losing a business, and then not replacing it.

Such is the case with the old Chuck E. Cheez location next to Trader Joes behind the Apache Mall along 16h. Here are some ideas that've been thrown around to fill that big empty space.

11 amazing ideas for what should go in the old Chuck E. Cheese store in Rochester

If you are new to Rochester, Minnesota, you may not even know that at one point all of our kids were celebrating birthdays with their friends at the very popular Chuck E. Cheese store. Back in June of 2020, the company announced that they were closing additional locations throughout the United States and unfortunately Rochester showed up on that list of closings. Since then, the restaurant location by Trader Joe's has been sitting empty and looking sad. We asked people all over Rochester what should go in this spot and here are some excellent answers that would be perfect additions to Rochester.

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