A tacos truck that took America by storm |
The conference was all about world street food and comfort food. The guest list was impressive, Ruth Reichl (the editor of recently defunct Gourmet Magazine), Masaharu Morimoto (Iron Chef and former head chef at Nobu), Rick Bayless (Master chef specializing in Mexican cuisine), Bobby Chinn of Discovery Channel and even our own Mohan Ismail (executive chef at the pan-Asian Rock Sugar in Los Angeles). Up to seventy international street food chefs, commentators and experts were at hand at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley to show and tell the sold-out 700 guests, which paid about $1500 each for the three days of eating and learning, all about comfort chow. It was a little bit difficult for me to see our street food like they do. You see, our street makan, is simply..makan, to me. I don’t see chicken rice, bak kut teh, nasi lemak, bak chor mee, dosai or lor mee etc..as street food. Many in the west see street food as carts hawking all sorts of tacos, wraps, hot dogs and kebabs. The concept of a hawker center to our western foodies and friends is mindboggling and fascinating- the idea of having “up to 200 stalls located under one huge well ventilated shack, where each stall sells one specialty in a space no bigger than 8x8 feet, fitted with fresh water supply, drainage, electricity and gas” thrilled many there. Some have had a brush with it before, the others yearn and we,have it good here. When it comes to Singapore, many in the west see it as the ultimate street food haven, with heritage flavours unconsciously preserved through the evolution of hawker centres, thanks in part to the many international media revelation over the recent years about it. Our team brought up the usual roti prata, laksa and mee goreng and attempted renditions with rendang, not quite the real story of Singapore hawker makan, but we had to make do. But there was one star of the event that stood out for what he did in the streets that changed the way Americans looked at street chow. Kogi BBQ
Roy Choi bid adieu to stints at the polished La Bernardin, a cosy executive chef job in Beverly Hills and even help start Rock Sugar with Mohan, to start a taco truck, not just any, but a Korean bbq meat taco on wheels concept. This Culinary Institute of America valedictorian took America by storm and was deemed a “national phenomenon” at the conference with his Kogi BBQ trucks in Los Angeles (LA).
He initially shied away from Asian cuisine for fear of being stereotyped but his beef and short ribs seasoned in Korean style soy, bean paste and chilli tacos, was a calling. He began with one truck and says “there were no business initially, I could hardly sell a few tacos at each stop” (food trucks are only allowed limited operation hours at selected locations). Then the few that came, saw, ate and liked, took pictures and told “the whole world” in the social online networks, especially Twitter. It spread like wildfire and become what Newsweek calls “viral eatery”. The sea of response was overwhelming.
When Roy was speaking at the seminar, he went all teary eyed and lumpy in his throat when he told about how three thousand folks showed up in a suburb in anticipation of his truck when someone twittered about their movements. “Kids were jumping on trampolines, folks were gathering with sodas and beers in hand, families were cheering up on their roof tops…just waiting happily for our tacos.”, before he re-composed and continued with his cooking demonstration on stage.
I had a go at his bbq meats, not once but thrice ( I forgo-ed the taco shell for the usual reasons) and I realized why Ruth Reichl, when I asked, said it was “simply delicious” (food gurus like her won’t usually use ‘delicious” unless it was more than unctuous). It tasted like a good bak kwa but done with very well tenderized beef short ribs and less salty. I can understand why folks in LA would want to wait 2 hours for his tacos. And this Asian tacos maven is only beginning to realize his being- Roy has unconsciously created the “Angeleno” cuisine in LA, shadowing even what Wolfgang Puck has done with his “new California cuisine”. It is fast becoming the food of the micro regional populace of LA where Roy said where “people come together to celebrate and grieve and …food central to emotions and fusing of traditional flavours is a natural evolution.” I made a pact with Roy, that if given the chance, I will put otah or perhaps even roast duck, rendang or bacon bak kwa into his tacos. But first he has to visit Singapore and see how good we have it here with our hawker centres. Let me know when, buddy and thanks for your recipes, I’ll show it in our website soon. |
