Austin Thai Favorite Spoon + Fork Picks Solms Landing for Hill Country Debut

Spoon + Fork Thai Kitchen is set to open its first Hill Country restaurant inside the Solms Landing development in New Braunfels, taking a 2,625-square-foot space at 2292 Sophie Lane. The Austin-founded chain, known for dishes like green papaya salad, chicken satay and pan-seared panang salmon avocado, will become the latest tenant to sign on at the sprawling mixed-use project just off Interstate 35.

The New Braunfels location was first reported by CultureMap San Antonio, which noted that a project filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation states work on the restaurant is expected to be complete by February 2027. Spoon + Fork was founded in 2018 and is owned by Thana Trepetch, who previously owned a Thai restaurant in McKinney before opening the original Spoon + Fork in Austin. The chain now operates four locations total, two in the Dallas area and two near Austin, with New Braunfels set to become its fifth.

A Growing Menu Roster Heads South

Beyond its curries and green papaya salad, Spoon + Fork's menu includes tom kha, edamame and yakisoba, giving the New Braunfels location a broad spread once it opens. Trepetch grew up in Bangkok in a large extended family, and according to Community Impact, she named the restaurant after the traditional Thai dining custom of holding a spoon in the right hand and a fork in the left. She co-owns the concept with her husband, Timothy, and her mother, Mona Tapaneeyakul.

The brand's expansion pattern has favored fast-growing suburban retail centers. Community Impact's reporting shows Spoon + Fork landed a restaurant incentive agreement from the Kyle City Council in December 2022, securing a 100% sales tax rebate for its first three years of operation before opening at Kyle Crossing in September 2023. The chain also expanded into North Texas with a Frisco location in April 2023, following its original McKinney restaurant and its first Central Texas entry at Belterra Village in Austin.

Inside Solms Landing's $500 Million Buildout

Solms Landing itself is a 98-acre master-planned development at Creekside Crossing and Sophie Lane with an estimated total project valuation of roughly $500 million, built on a former industrial site next to Resolute Health Hospital. State licensing filings registered in August 2026 show two retail building shells totaling 13,758 square feet going up nearby at Sophie Lane and Marie Bluff, carrying an estimated construction cost of $5.17 million and a target completion of June 2027, according to Comal.News.

Spoon + Fork will join other tenants already tied to the project, including Swig and Jeremiah's Ice. Utah-based drink chain Swig previously announced plans for a drive-thru along the Creekside Crossing corridor inside Solms Landing, as Hoodline reported, marking Swig's second drive-thru location in New Braunfels. Not every announced tenant has stuck, however: Grain & Berry was previously named as a Solms Landing tenant but is now absent from the development's rental brochure, and CultureMap said it reached out to the site's broker to confirm the smoothie chain's status.

Why New Braunfels Keeps Drawing Restaurant Chains

The interest from outside chains tracks with New Braunfels' rapid growth. The city's population reached an estimated 122,492 people by mid-2025, up 35.5% from its 2020 Census count of 90,403, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Comal County saw a 27.8% population increase over the same period, driven mostly by domestic migration, while the city's median household income climbed to $90,284 by 2025 — a figure that ranks in the top 5% among Texas counties.

That growth hasn't guaranteed smooth sailing for every restaurant operator in town. Dual side-by-side locations for Fatburger and Round Table Pizza closed earlier this year at the Marketplace shopping center on I-35 after less than two years in business, following parent company FAT Brands' Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Meanwhile, downtown New Braunfels has leaned into historic adaptive reuse for its dining scene, transforming the 1887 Dittlinger Roller Mills into Saludos Cocina + Bar and the 1929 former city hall into the 200-seat Old City Hall Restaurant & Bar, which opened in February.

CultureMap reported that Spoon + Fork did not respond to a request for an opening timeline, so it remains unclear exactly when Hill Country diners will get their first taste of the chain's tom kha and satay. For now, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing pointing to a February 2027 completion date offers the clearest marker of when the Sophie Lane restaurant might open its doors.