Can this stylish yet approachable new entry help jump-start Victory Park’s desolate dining landscape?
By by Todd Johnson D CEO JUL-AUG 2010 WHY NAGA: Much has been made of the once ballyhooed Victory Park development and its fall from grace. Gone are many of the luxury retailers and restaurants such as N9NE and Nove. Only a handful of brave and traffic-deprived souls survive. Case in point: Try walking the main esplanade. Vacant storefronts and empty parking spaces confront visitors. One almost expects a tumbleweed to roll by. But lately, Victory Park has been trying on a new look. Shucking its Gucci for the Gap, the urban center is focusing on wallet-friendly tenants: a pizza joint, the return of the Hard Rock Cafe, and most recently Naga Thai Kitchen & Bar. For an affordable Asian restaurant, Naga has quite the pedigree. It’s the brainchild of restaurateurs Jeffrey Yarbrough, who had much success with the groundbreaking Liberty Noodles in the 1990s; Tom Chawana, founder of Nandina; and Lam Promwanrat, partner in Jasmine. Kitti Lirtpanaruk of New York’s Spice Thai Restaurant Group com
