The Fighting 44s

Asian restaurants, especially in the Midwest, have to strike a balance with access to quality ingredients and spices, cooking dishes to a certain level of quality and authenticity and catering to the tastes of the local community all while making a small profit.

If a cook can’t get something like fresh tamarind leaves, then the Issan sour soup is just not going to be sour. If the food is listed as “spicy” but it’s Korean spicy not American spicy, patrons may not come back because damn, that’s hot. Outside of Flushing, NY, Chinatown in Manhattan or Cupertino, CA and other predominantly Chinese communities, have you ever been to a Chinese restaurant that didn’t offer Kung Pao Chicken and/or sugar for tea? Some restaurant goers will throw a fit if one of the two are not not explicitly displayed. So how many compromises, substitutions and obligations does a restaurant has to go through before they reach a level they are comfortable on a culinary and financial sense? Or do they realize, “Wow, these college kids will eat just about any slop we charge $6. We’d still make out ahead and send Grace to college!”

I had a special opportunity with some food enthusiasts in the Kansas City area from 3 different food forums to have a special menu of Thai dishes lovingly prepared and presented by Wilai Rojjana, her cook and staff at Thai Orchid in Mission, KS. It was organized by someone else who just moved to the KC area, enjoyed the food at Thai Orchid and worked with Wilai to organize this very lovely meal. During the meal, Wilai and her staff named and described each dish. They were a little worried about the level of spicyness and our comfort level. While the dishes were spicy, it was well-balanced spicy that gently built up as the evening progressed. The chronic sinus infection I’ve been slogging through since February seemed to have lifted. I was sniffling and people were wiping brows by the end of the meal. Since the people joining the meal were of the sort that were adventurous in food, it seemed from my end ot the table, the level of spicyness was just right and we enjoyed it very much.

The menu:

tod po pia (Thai spring rolls)
som tum (payaya salad, northern-style/Isaan-style and one central-style/Lao-style)
lab moo (minced pork “salad”).
sai grog esan (Esan/Isaan sausage, served with sliced Thai chilis and sliced ginger)
pla chu chee (catfish with chili sauce)
kai yang (Grilled chicken, cut up, with a Thai-flavor marinade)
nam prig platu (Shrimp paste dip, mackerel, veggies)
po tak (“Thai Seafood bouillabaisse”).
sa koo tua dum (Tapioca, black bean, and coconut pudding)

A more comprehensive review complete with food porn was written up here(1) and here(2). But all I can say is “Daa-yaam! What do I got to do to get this good stuff because Aaron was saying this ain’t what they usually serve?” Apparently, if you want it Thai-style, replete with fish sauce funk and spicy hot-hot-hotness, you will have to ask for it. So it doesn’t hurt to ask, especially if it’s a place you’ve eaten before and established rapport. I don’t know how many times I’ve given up on a place, thinking they just served watered-down food of a region. I would have to say the po tak soup and the pla chu chee catfish were my top favorites, but everything was just wonderful.

It seemed while it was a good business practice to cater to a bunch of food freaks for frequent repeat business, I had gotten the feeling that this was a chance for the restaurant to step outside of the same old Americanized dishes and do something different. While the rich suburban soccer crowd is the enemy with their demands for pad thai with no peanuts on table 6, the folks at Thai Orchid eagerly rose to meet the challenge of making something that they would prepare for their friends and families. They wouldn’t have to quite worry as much(thought they still did) that our group wouldn’t like everything and I would imagine the financial risk of purchasing food materials for 1 night meal vs a complete re-vamp of the menu is considerably lower.

So this experience got me thinking about the different types of menus a restaurant might have. The regular menu has the standard fare that typifies the style. For Indian, it would be chicken tikka masala and tandoori and General Tso Chicken for Chinese. The other is the special menu that those in the know, loyal customers, know the kitchen can prepare. One of my new “go-to” places is Jen-Jen’s in Overland Park, KS, is touted by some local foodies as totally authentic Cantonese food. In my book, the food they serve is real. Not the $6 lunch menu buffet, but real eating Chinese food as if I was 1100 miles away, back in the republic of Flushing, NY. The regular menu IS the special menu. The second time I went, in addition to the regular menu, they offered my dining partner another one page menu. I glanced it over real quick and I said, “We don’t want anything on this menu, just look at the regular one” Even though Jen-Jen’s is touted as “authentic Hong Kong cuisine” though in reality it’s probably a poor man’s Tsim Sha Tsui, they have to bend to mainstream American tastes and offer this flimsy one page menu. It was depressing in a way, but in reality, this restaurant was saying, you’ll have it my way or get the one page menu!

Some Caucasians who have also noticed the different types of menus offered and say, “That’s racist! Why don’t they give me the special menu?”or “This is America, all menus should be in English” True, some of these special menus are often not in English and these folks are busy enough worrying about rent, anal health inspectors and the latest drama story why the cook was late to flip through their English dictionaries just so the same people can look at their special menu and say, “Ewww, what is that?” Some customers won’t be interested in ordering what’s on the special menu because it’s outside their comfort zone and some will order it but can only eat a little bit because it’s too flavorful or it’s not what they are accustomed. In most cases, the customer is not satisfied and the restaurant loses out. The 2 menu system is just a way to streamline the whole ordering process and give the majority of the people what they want.Granted, there are instances where some Caucasians appreciate the flavors and textures of some home dishes and unfortunately, they get treated badly by waiters who refuse to serve them the good stuff. It’s really too bad because everyone misses out.

I have to admit, with the rise of the celebrity chef and the popularity of cooking in our pop culture, I have a romanticized notion of the the cooking world. I’d like to think many mom and pop joints open up because there was a vision to serve good food and to do it with pride and send Gracie to college. Kin Lin is a budget Chinese restaurant that caters to the UMKC area with inexpensive but in comparison to McDonald’s, healthy food choices. Owner Jeff Ruan and his wife sees his place as a “safe place with nice food because he wants his daughter to have a place like this to go to”(3). While I’ve never eaten there and Kin Lin would be last on my list of places to eat out, I have to give the Ruan family business props. Though the food is not haute Chinese cuisine, they found their balance between food quality and price to serve the community they chosed to locate their business. All these restaurants have their niches and it’s just a matter of taking some effort to find the one that leaves your belly full and some cash left in your wallet.

References:
(1) http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=100289
(2) http://moodyfoodie.livejournal.com/14792.html?mode=reply
(3) http://media.www.unews.com/media/storage/paper274/news/2007/03/05/Culture/Food-Review-2758027.shtml

Note: vsoy is not in “the biz”, just a food fan looking for good eats.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2007 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Food & Wine, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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