Artist rendering of the plans for Bai Tong

Make it 31+. Just as we put the cap on the roster of new bars and restaurants destined to open around Capitol Hill in 2017, there is one more to add to the list. And the new project will also put an empty Pike/Pine space back into motion.

Bai Tong Street Cafe is currently under construction at 12th and Pike in the space left empty when Boom Noodle closed last summer after a decade of shifting concepts by its tech-powered investors behind the Blue C sushi restaurants.

Bai Tong is also part of a larger restaurant family with three locations in Washington including Redmond, Tukwila, and Issaquah. Noi Lapangkura and JJ Chaiseeha’s family of restaurants also includes locations in Oregon and Hawaii.

UPDATE: Lapangkura tells us the business has come a long way since her family started in on Pacific Highway S in 1989.

“Bai Tong has always been a family place,” she tells CHS. “We think, with the demographics on Capitol Hill, this one will be different.”

Lapangkura, who got her masters at Seattle University and is familiar with what has been a booming Pike/Pine food and drink scene, says the “street” version of Bai Tong will bring some family favorites to Capitol Hill along with simpler rice and curry dishes along with a full bar. Expect late night hours on Fridays and Saturdays and a selection of quick, ready for pick-up and go offerings for nighttime quick eats.

The “elegant, authentic” addition to the E Pike and 12th Ave food scene will add to Capitol Hill’s already strong Thai presence including nearby Soi which debuted just blocks away in the summer of 2015 at 10th and Union. Meanwhile, another take on Thai opened in December in the old Bauhaus space on E Pine where the ghosts of the Capitol Club are also part of the scene at Sugar Hill.

Bai Tong is expected to open at 12th and Pike by April. You can learn more at baitongrestaurant.com.