Yaya’s Thai Fusion & Steaks is the new kid on Veterans Boulevard in Kenner, quietly slipping Thai street-food cravings onto the same table as classic American steakhouse cuts. That means tom yum shrimp pizza sharing menu space with ribeyes served alongside fried rice. Chef Urairat “Chef Rai” Matise and partner Chris Matise run the kitchen, and Matise says the menu is “it’s what we cook for ourselves, and for each other.” The tight lineup has already drawn attention for early hits like drunken noodles and a papaya salad with pork rinds that can be ordered at a “U.S. hot” spice level.
Thai Flavors Meet Steakhouse Cuts
As Ian McNulty reported for NOLA.com, this is not a place where the menu sits neatly in one category. Tom saap, a pork-rib soup described as “a light, clear, aromatic and tangy-sour soup with lemongrass, kaffir lime and galangal,” shows up next to tom yum-inspired pizzas and steaks plated in familiar American steakhouse fashion. McNulty also notes that the kitchen turns out tom yum shrimp pizzas alongside more traditional tomato-and-cheese pies.
Chef Rai’s Kenner Kitchen…