Kon Tiki Ports, Dallas, TX (restaurant)

Name:Kon Tiki Ports
Type:restaurant
Street:9100 N. Central Expressway, Suite 115
City:Dallas
State:TX
Zip:75231
country:USA
Phone:214-987-2333
Status:defunct

Description:
Like so many forgotten tiki landmarks, this one starts with a matchbook.

This one matchbook recently sold on Ebay for an astounding $56.00 (not to me).

In all of the research I’ve done looking for tiki locations in Dallas, I’ve never come across any mention of this place. I can’t find any mention of it on-line or in the Dallas News archives. Here’s what we do know:

This Kon Tiki Ports had no affiliation with the Stephen Crane locations.

Caruth Plaza (where it was located) was built in 1980, so the restaurant most likely existed during the 80’s and was probably short lived.

The location (Suite 115) is now part of a Sports Authority store.

Maybe some native Dallasites remember this place? Please chime in.

Don't remember it, but the matchbook art - a Chinese junk - suggests Chinese food more than Polynesian restaurant.
They may have hoped catering would be big part of their business - corporate events, etc. 1980's = bad timing for opening Polynesian restaurant, though.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-09-01 18:14 ]

That is true L.L. But consider this, they could have sold Polynesian food along with Chinese. Why? Well, from reading what Dennis said this company might have been a family restaurant who when ordering their match books (and probably menus and such) just picked an oriental design because that's what was available. Now this is just hypothetical, but this printing company was probably a cheap one who didn't have a lot of designs and used the same basic layout. That way they could quickly crank out the goods for the customer. They (the Kon Tiki Ports) probably had the choice of a Chinese Junk (or other oriental items such as Geisha, a pagoda, or what-not) or a palm tree. If this is the case (lets hope so) then more investigating could bring up more evidence. Any one contact city records?

Another scenario that is suggested by the date and place is that upon the closing of the Dallas Ports of Call (and the entire Stephen Crane chain), some Chinese employees decided to go into business for themselves, much like the folks from the Kahiki that opened the Tropical Bistro in Ohio.

I think you're right about the matchbook art, Unk. If they ordered from a catalog of generic designs for typical restaurants, that suggests that they were a small, thinly capitalized start-up, without the budget (or inclination) to develop their own individual concept art/logo.
Kenike's probably right that they weren't around long. I did a search (I'm sure Kenike did, too) and they never made it onto the radar at 'D' Magazine. Heck, I've seen Chinese restaurants in old Dairy Queen buildings get reviewed by 'D', if they managed to stay in business a couple years.
I may be able make it to the Dallas Records Bldg., sometime soon. If so, I'll see if I can find out anything.
Kenike looked for them in the Dallas News archives. Maybe the library has archives of the Dallas Times Herald that might have something. The Herald closed in the early 90's, but was the other major Dallas daily paper, until then.

Another possibility: Maybe they ran out of money, or got into a partner dispute, before they ever opened the doors for business. Maybe the matchbooks were printed, but ended up being souvenirs of a restaurant that never was.
Or... (putting on my conspiracy hat) maybe someone printed matchbooks of a never-was tiki restaurant (with plausible address and ph.#) to sell to credulous collectors on eBay... for $56!

Yet another observation: If it operated in the 80's, it probably wouldn't have used the area code with the phone number, because all of Dallas and its suburbs was 214, and still used 7-digit dialing. Unless they expected patrons to call them long-distance, I suppose. It wasn't until late '96 that growth required many Dallas suburbs to be switched to the 972 area code.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-09-02 16:53 ]

Well, I guess I'm wrong in that last post.

Canton Enterprises, Inc. filed to operate in Dallas County under the assumed name, "Kon Tiki Ports", on 4/11/80. No further filings. No image of the document available online, but maybe it's at the Records Building. Anyway, that gives us a closer idea of the time it would have been there.

On 2008-09-02 08:05, bigbrotiki wrote:
Another scenario that is suggested by the date and place is that upon the closing of the Dallas Ports of Call (and the entire Stephen Crane chain), some Chinese employees decided to go into business for themselves, much like the folks from the Kahiki that opened the Tropical Bistro in Ohio.

I'd almost be willing to bet that at least some former Ports O' Call employees were in on this venture. It's almost too coincidental that a restaurant called Kon Tiki Ports would open 2 years after Ports O' Call closed. I wonder if they also had the Ports concept of themed dining rooms.

On 2008-09-02 17:32, Limbo Lizard wrote:
Canton Enterprises, Inc. filed to operate in Dallas County under the assumed name, "Kon Tiki Ports", on 4/11/80. No further filings. No image of the document available online, but maybe it's at the Records Building. Anyway, that gives us a closer idea of the time it would have been there.

Great research Brian! That confirms at least one fact. Maybe we can track down the owners of that business (assuming they are still living).

So many questions...

On 2008-09-02 18:35, Kenike wrote:
...Maybe we can track down the owners of that business (assuming they are still living).

So many questions...

Got some incorporation document info. And, most importantly, a name and address of a registered agent. Not certain if he was actually just acting as the agent for the owner, handling the incorporation, or if he was the owner. I believe the name is Filipino, and he or his son is still reachable (his son was a "junior"). Give me a couple days to see what more I can turn up. If I hit a dead end, I'll dump what I have in Kenike's lap and let him finish the sleuthing :)
Stay tuned...

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-09-03 06:04 ]

On 2008-09-01 19:28, Unkle John wrote:
...they could have sold Polynesian food along with Chinese.

Bingo!
The 1981 Dallas Yellow Pages ad:

The registered agent listed on the incorporation filing for Canton Enterprises, Inc. (Kon Tiki Ports) was not the owner, who apparently was Frank Yet Lau. I ran the agent's name, and found he applied for an assumed name in Dallas County for a tax/bookkeeping and a business management services business. So I think he may have only been involved in filing for incorporation, on behalf of the owner.

Predating and overlapping Kon Tiki Ports by many years, there was Yet Lau Restaurant.

Here's the Yellow Pages ad, from 1979:

Now, here's the ad from the same 1981 book as the Kon Tiki Ports ad, above:

Hmmm. "New"? Did Frank Yet Lau sell his first restaurant to Jade Palace, Inc., and then start Kon Tiki Ports? (The library was missing the 1980 book - drat!) Yet Lau's last ad was in the December 1989-90 Yellow Pages. There was no Kon Tiki Ports ad in the 1982 book. Called my father, and he said he remembers Yet Lau Restaurant having had a 2-story rear section, where the owner (or someone) lived. (My father was a contractor, and he built a little steak restaurant right by it, in the mid- or late 70's.) All the buildings along this bit of Northwest Hwy. were razed, and replaced with new buildings, but I can't remember exactly when. But that may have been the time and reason Yet Lau closed.

Okay, online records show Frank Y Lau filed for (or updated info on) assumed names on:
China Town Cafe (10/16/81)
Yet Lau Restaurant (8/15/83)
Yet Lau Restaurant (7/19/89)
So, seems he still owned it till the end.
Corporations may have had to do with keeping restaurants legally separate, limiting liability, joint ventures, etc.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-09-12 08:50 ]