![]() I told her, "I'm glad you are here! I'd really like you try this food and here is my deal: If you don't like it, you don't have to pay a dime. She came into the restaurant knowing that I wasn't Vietnamese and was obviously skeptical. One time, I had a Vietnamese woman ask our server, "Can I speak to the chef who is cooking my 'Vietnamese food?'" She used air quotes when she said Vietnamese food and spoke in a somewhat condescending tone. I don't read Yelp because it would make me pull my hair out, but I remember reading one that said something along the lines of, "Yeah, I just can't pay that much for Asian food." I think a lot of people are smarter than this, but there is still a percentage of diners who think this way. ![]() We charge $11 for ours but we should really be charging $16 for a bowl, but people would go bananas if we did that. The food cost of our pho is 50 percent-we're not really making our margins on pho. That particular soup is great up here because there is so much crab. Bún riêu, which is a tomato-based crab soup, is another one of these other dishes. It's a sweet and sour fish soup with a tamarind base. Canh chua cá is another one of these soups. Its lemongrass-y, porky flavor is really accessible for a lot of people. I love pho but there are a bunch of other Vietnamese-style soups that I like better, so it has been fun to explore those. I think it is so much fun recreating Vietnamese dishes that people aren't used to and trying to get them as perfect as possible. I ferment my own locally grown mustard greens to use instead of the traditional capers. I use Pacific Northwest-grown oysters for my popular steak and oyster tartare, too. ![]() The mushrooms that grow here are even more amazing I braise those in Shaoxing wine. We haven't done salmon yet, but it is something that I've had in the back of my mind, since I go salmon fishing all the time. ![]() For example, I'm working on a Vietnamese dish right now that uses sea cucumbers grown in the Puget Sound. The ingredients that are grown in the Pacific Northwest really lend themselves to Vietnamese cuisine. Fortunately for me, the building blocks of French cuisine are applicable to at least the basics for a lot of other foods. At the time that I got into cooking, French cuisine was what you learned. I lived and cooked in a French restaurant in China for eight years. I went this route because it was all about learning and continuing my growth as a chef, and staying connected with Asia. Vietnamese food is what I'm interested in right now.Īt my restaurant in Seattle, called Stateside, I start with Vietnamese food as a baseline for my cooking and I take some liberties in Chinese and French directions. I guess I could have opened a French restaurant or a fine dining restaurant with that much serious French training, but what's the fun in doing something safe like that? I have strictly worked in French restaurants for 23-and-a-half years, at times under chefs like Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges. I'm the guy who always went to the Asian grocery store and wanted to know what was in every single bottle of sauce and condiment. ![]()
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