Nominated as one of the Best Chef in New York City for the 2010 James Beard Awards , Craig Koketsu fostered his passion for precision, knowledge, and flavor by working with acclaimed chefs. Currently the Executive Chef for Quality Meats and Park Avenue, Koketsu came to New York from Northern California to work under Gray Kunz and later with Christian Delouvrier at the famed restaurant Lespinasse.

NAC: Congratulations on being nominated a semifinalist for the 2010 James Beard Awards for Best Chef in NYC…the Oscars of the culinary world. What does it feel like to be in the same category as Wylie Durfresne, Michael Anthony, Naomichi Yusuda among other great chefs in the big apple?

I know it’s a cliché, but it’s definitely an honor just to be nominated, especially in such esteemed company. It’s also very humbling.

NAC: It’s inspiring that you worked your way up by good old fashioned hard work and by not attending a fancy cooking school. I read that you spent most of your time learning how to cook by copying recipes from cookbooks and cooking them for your girlfriend (now wife). What kind of recipes would you gravitate towards and which recipes were the most successful?

I was really into making crepes at that time, because they were simple, delicious, and very affordable to make. I like the versatility of being able to make one item that we could eat for dinner and dessert. It was all about frugality and simplicity in those days.

NAC: Having had an apprenticeship education under great chefs like Gary Kunz and Lespinasse’s Christian Delouvrier, can you share some culinary or life lessons you learned from these masters of cuisine?

I was very fortunate to have had the chance to work with such culinary forces, as Gray and Christian. From Gray, I learned the importance of discipline and precision-that the difference between something good and something great is only a matter of a few degrees. From Christian, I learned the importance of leading with a big heart. If you have a genuine love for what you do and those around you, everything else falls into place.

NAC: Park Avenue is one of my favorite restaurants in New York. I love the idea of a seasonal restaurant. I can’t wait to try the Miso-Glazed Lobster and the Nantucket Bay Scallops with Pomegranate and Shiso on your Winter menu. What goes into planning and shaping the different menus for each season? What is the process?

It’s an ever-evolving process. If I told you, I would have to kill you.

NAC: We know you have a Japanese background and a Korean American wife, how does your background play into your cuisine at home and at your restaurant?

My familiarity with Asian ingredients definitely influences the menu development, but I also enjoy finding flavor inspiration from around the globe.

NAC: New Asian Cuisine loves that you are a regular on twitter. We especially like the food photo posts. How do you think twitter/facebook is changing how chefs interact with their customers?

It allows customers a little insight into the creative process, as it’s happening. Our guests love to know what happens “behind the scenes” and this allows them a small peek into what goes on outside the dining room.

NAC: Originally from Northern California, can you recommend any restaurants and dishes to try in the bay area for our subscribers?

Fat Apple’s in Berkeley for their apple pie and milkshakes

NAC: What’s next for you besides opening the next Park Avenue Spring? Any cookbooks on the horizon or cooking reality shows we should watch out for?

The Hurricane Club, a modern interpretation of a Polynesian supper club, will open this summer at Park Avenue South and 26^th Street.

NAC: Why did you decide to become a sommelier?

SINGH: I originally started off waiting tables and would learn about wines to work the floor. It’s a fascinating subject to study. I liked it. I went and got a job at a wine store and so, naturally, discussion revolved around wine. I found out about the exam, and then it took me seven years to pass. I think the image of a sommelier is somebody who is older, not Indian. There’s a little bit of skepticism, but I don’t really find any hurdles. Maybe I don’t pay attention to it.

NAC: What’s the best part about your job?

SINGH: No two days are ever the same, there’s never a lack of excitement. In the culinary world, I get to meet people from all over the world. It’s very exciting.

NAC: What were meals like in your house when you were growing up?

SINGH: My mother is an extremely great cook. She’s very passionate. We’d have these chaotic, large family gatherings around food, and the kitchen was in the garage. My mother would drive to the countryside to get live chickens. It wasn’t like with my American friends where dinner was already cooked and it was clinical and organized. I would watch movies and wonder why it was so calm and serene.

In my family, we wouldn’t start cooking until people arrived. At 7:00 my mother would start cooking, and then we wouldn’t eat until 11 or 12. I remember my childhood being very loud. I think I’m now the exact opposite. I want to make sure everything is done and prepared. I have absorbed my mother’s hosting skills, but it’s a little more organized. I remember a lot of screaming and yelling. It was abit crazy. My husband is Jewish, and is used to more organized dinners. I remember taking him to meet my family for the first time and he didn’t know how we could hear each other!

NAC: Did your mother influence your cooking at all?

SINGH: I cook everything, and my mother was always trying some kind of experiment with something. My brother and I were like her guinea pigs. She was always getting some cooking gadget or trying a new recipe. She just got obsessed with certain types of food. I think I have that blind faith as well. I want to learn how to make things too. My husband watches me tackle different types of cuisine. The more adventurous foods; going beyond meat and potatoes. One day we’ll have Korean food, the next day something from Morocco, then Indian food. I like to keep things exciting. My husband grew up with a mother who microwaved her food. I went to Argentina for a week in February, and my husband was completely helpless. If I go out, he can’t fend for himself. He used to eat cereal three times a day.

NAC: What’s your favorite wine? Do you have any advice for novice wine drinkers?

SINGH: I don’t really have a favorite wine. It depends on the mood in what I’m into right now. Right now, for summer, I like crisp, light, white wines. I’m definitely more into the mood pairing than anything else. For people who want to learn more about wine, I’d say get out there and don’t be afraid! If you don’t know how to pronounce it, don’t worry about it. The rest will just fall into place. It’s all about just enjoying it. It’s about going to a restaurant, traveling, having an experience. That’s what it’s really all about.

NAC: What do you think about the up-and-coming Indian wine culture?

SINGH: It will be interesting to see what happens with wine culture in India in the next ten years. Indian culture is just so hot lately [as a trend in the Western world], and it’s really encouraging to now see it being reflected in the media. I think we’ll see a lot more interesting with wine. India has an encouraging wine industry, and I think the wine drinking culture itself will grow as well. Indian food goes really well with wine; Riesling and Gewurtztaminer go well with it. Beaujolais, pinot noir; it’s a matter of balancing things out.

New Asian Cuisine sat At The Table with this cookbook author, television personality, and owner of the renowned, eponymous string of “Roy’s” eateries, to find out how he keeps cool and heats thing up in the kitchen (and the backyard!) to get the very most out of summer.

NAC: You recently, in partnership with Anheuser-Busch, offered a special food and beer pairing menu at your restaurant. Did you create the menu first and then pair beers with your dishes, or design the menu around the beer?

YAMAGUCHI: It was a combination. I made a menu first of the food items that I enjoy and thought I would enjoy making and eating, and then when Anheuser-Busch gave me the list of beers, I selected a few that I thought would be really great with food. Once we tasted the beers, we thought about the types of flavors that would compliment the beer. This is not my first time doing a beer pairing. I enjoy drinking beer.

NAC: What are your favorite beers?

YAMAGUCHI: I really enjoy drinking the Michelob Honey Lager that Anheuser-Busch puts out. I think that’s a terrific beer. You can drink it with food, or alone. It’s a sweeter beer so, naturally, something spicy is a good contrast. I enjoy it with barbecue. Especially with babyback ribs!

NAC: What are your favorite summertime dishes?

YAMAGUCHI: All I do is barbecue when I’m at home. I do simple things. I enjoy barbecuing ribs, which I’ll marinate in butter, granulated garlic, white wine vinegar and Hawaiian salt. Marinate the ribs for a few hours and then just grill it, slowly, so that I can get more smoke and get the flavor of the wood. Or I’ll do my own teriyaki with ribeyes, which I enjoy more than any other steak. I marinate that in my own teriyaki, or I do one with my own sweet and savory rub that has Hawaiian salt, peppercorn, garlic, lemon zest, parsley and more herbs. I like doing chicken also with granulated garlic and butter, Hawaiian salt, lemongrass and ginger

If you use a stronger wood when you smoke something at a lower temperature, there’s a big difference in flavor because the woody flavor gets infused into the meat itself.

NAC: You’re known for pioneering Hawaiian fusion cuisine. What inspired you?

YAMAGUCHI: Basically, my type of cooking comes from my childhood memories of my father’s cooking. His meals used the flavors of what Hawaiian cuisine was when he was growing up. Be it soy sauce or wasabi or tomato flavored beef stews. I’ve taken the root of what he made at our dining room table and incorporated a lot of the bold Asian flavors that I discovered when I traveled through Asia. I actually started working at a French restaurant in the late 70s, early 80s, and then when I started on my own, I incorporated the French sauces with the old Asian flavors. In Hawaii, we use a lot of seafood; it’s a very integral part of our menu. Also, there is a high quality of ingredients being grown here; the produce, the herbs. So [Hawaiian fusion is] bold Asian flavors, French sauces, utilizing fresh fish and fresh, local produce.

NAC: We thought that ‘fusion’ was a considered a four-letter word!

YAMAGUCHI: People used to say that ‘fusion’ was a no-no word, but when you really think about what fusion is, fusion is what this world is made out of! It’s cross-cultural. Even in certain cultures, there has always been fusion, a mix. People go from place to place, and bring their own cooking, and then things start to change. People travel throughout the world and bring something and take away something. There has always been this fusion going on. It is a natural progression in life and it continues into the modern age.

NAC: With a background as an American pastry chef, how did you end up opening an Indian restaurant?

CARLUCCI: I was pastry chef for 20 years, and then I ended up teaching because I broke my leg and couldn’t go into the kitchen full time! I couldn’t not work, so I started to teach. And it was a student who brought food to class and a couple of other things that made me fall in love with the home cooking of Indian cuisine. Suddenly, I was more aware of my friends who cook Indian at home. There was suddenly a windfall of Indian home cooking. The homestyle parathas, (Indian breads) keema matter (ground lamb with peas), those were some of the first couple of things that I fell in love with.

NAC: Lassi is almost as famous for its small size as it is for the food!

CARLUCCI: There are only five seats in the actual place. I only wanted three so that whoever was at the counter would have tons of space, but then a magazine mistakenly said that we had five, so we added! If people are coming in and want to sit, you’ve got to seat them.I do most of the cooking at the restaurant, but I have, altogether, about ten people on staff including front and back of the house. We do get an enormous amount of press for such a small place, but I didn’t try to get it; it carried over. I got a lot of press as a pastry chef, so I get a lot of press now.

NAC: How did you design your menu?

CARLUCCI: A couple of the home-cooked dishes inspired the menu, but the menu changes every day. And I didn’t take anyone else’s recipes; I tasted the food and then worked on the recipes myself. A lot of Indian home cooks are very much about their recipe. I’m a chef, I have been for years, so I thought, ‘hey, let’s figure this out.’ We add new things to our repertoire all the time. The keema matar, the butter chicken, the chana punjabi (chick pea stew) and methi chicken make recurring appearances. Those are the four things that stuck around. Because we change the menu every day, things rotate in and out. We always have all the paratha, the lassis, always a chicken dish, a lamb dish, a fish dish, and a bunch of veggies.

NAC: Does any of your pastry training ever sneak onto the menu?

CARLUCCI: There’s always a dessert on the menu. Anything from traditional to, if I’m in the mood, well, you’re getting a mascarpone chocolate chip coffee cake. It’s not always very Indian, but I’ll make whatever I’m in the mood to do or whatever is available marketwise. Sometimes I’ll put an Indian bend to it, but sometimes not so much. A nice fresh fruit with something creamy will always go well after Indian food; something to cool the spice. There’s something ethereal about some Indian flavors. How they layer their spices is different from how we’re used to doing it in American or European techniques. I don’t consider myself a former pastry chef. I just get to add ‘chef’ onto my title.

NAC: Staying true to the restaurant’s name, you offer quite a few types of lassi. Some of them seem pretty unusual.

CARLUCCI: The mango, the cardamom and the rose lassis are very traditional. The lemon is done [in Indian cooking] but the way we do it isn’t very traditional. We don’t just add lemon juice; we make our own lemon curd. We garnish it with a little rooh afza, which is a pineapple and rose based syrup. It’s usually served over ice as a summer drink. Also it’s really nice because for a lot of our Indian clientele, it rings very home for them. Not a lot of people use rooh afza in restaurants; it’s usually a home ingredient. The coffee lassi we ended up doing because I have always had a love for coffee yogurt. A lot of the stuff we use here are pastry ingredients. In our rose lassi, we don’t use rose water, we use a rose compound that’s a typical pastry ingredient. For coffee, we use one of my fancy pastry coffee syrups. The vanilla lassi is not at all traditional. We came up with that because we have a lot of kids that come in here since we’re next to a big school.

NAC: Do you have any favorite summer dishes?

CARLUCCI: Indian soups are amazing and we have right now a tomato soup on the menu that I love. The tomatoes now are big and red and gorgeous. We cook them down with carmelized onions and ginger and a little bit of turmeric. We do a bend on chats, the Indian layered salads. It’s a lot of sweet and sour layered onto hot and cold and smooth and crunchy, so we incorporate a lot of the local ingredients with that. We’ll do a tomato salad on top of a really nice organic fingerling potatoes that we cook down in tamarind and then put the chutneys and rice on top. We work a lot on that for the summer. We do a lot of greens, great mustard green dishes. They’re really beginning to come into their own. I roast the peaches for the lassis. We do roasted strawberry and peach lassis.

NAC: What should our readers know about Indian cooking?

CARLUCCI: I think there’s a tendency for a lot of American cooks to be intimidated by Indian spices. I think there’s also a tendency to grab pre-mixed spices, and there’s nothing better than making a spice mixture of your own and really playing around with it. It’s just like any other cooking, you find out how you like something. I will always like things with a lot of garlic, but not everyone will! If you’re not really familiar with the ingredients, figure out your own palate, and don’t be scared to experiment. Everyone thinks everything about Indian food is spicy and full of turmeric. And it’s not! Do not be afraid of new ingredients. Indian seems very intimidating to everybody because it hasn’t been in the mainstream as long. If I can walk out of pastry and into opening an Indian joint, anyone can do it.

NAC: How would you describe your personal cooking style? How does it reflect your personality? Your upbringing?
Wong: My personal style has evolved over the past few years and will continue to, I imagine, as I get to have new experiences. Top Chef was a fantastic exercise in the fact that I learned a lot about what mistakes I was making as a chef, both creatively and physically in the kitchen. I would say that my food is focused on balanced flavors, while still being visually appealing. My background in art and design (my previous career) has been helpful when deciding how I want a dish to look, as well as working with chefs like Marcus Samuelsson and Jean Georges. I think above and beyond all things visual, the food has to taste good. This means proper seasoning, while balancing textures, temperatures, and flavors. My mom has always been an avid cook and the fact that the parents support my career is tremendous and means the world to me.

NAC: What are your favorite comfort foods?
Wong: Rare, bleeding ribeye and extra crispy french fries. Mac and cheese (super guilty pleasure). Anything with bacon.

NAC: If you could only eat one thing for the rest of the week, what would it be?
Wong: Sashimi or steamed vegetables. I just flew in from Vegas this morning and I always come back from there feeling like a Butterball turkey. I need food detox.

NAC: What did you learn about cooking from your experience on Top Chef?
Wong: Everything. I was fortunate to have a great group of competitors who now happen to be some of my closest friends. I think we all learned a bit from each other. Any advice or criticism I received from the judges was great because it’s the little details that are sometimes so easily overlooked. Part of the challenge is really learning how to work under time constraints with limited resources. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger; know what I mean?

NAC: What did you learn about yourself from your Top Chef experience?
Wong: How to maintain calm under pressure. How I could refine my cooking by simplifying my flavors. And most importantly, how it’s all water under the bridge. ‘Top Chef’ didn’t define me as a cook, and it is certainly not the last food experience I’ll ever have. It was all something to grow and learn from, and I think the audience responded fairly well to who I am as a cook and individual. I learned a lot about human nature through being in that fishbowl for a month. Losing was good thing.

NAC: Our current issue is all about comfort foods, and includes a feature about instant ramen noodles and the stuff college kids put in it to spice it up a little–everything from peanut butter to hot dogs to Texas Pete hot sauce. Any interesting ramen additions of your own?
Wong: Because I’m a salt freak, when I was a kid I used to actually just cook the ramen and drain all the water from it and mix in the chicken powder for savory noodles. I think one of my favorite additions to ramen is a sort of like a dan-dan sauce. You basically sauté some ground pork or beef with garlic, chili, and ginger and add plenty of chili oil. Instant spicy meat sauce. For those of you who are fortunate enough to live in Los Angeles (and I mean that very loosely), it is home to the best ramen I’ve ever had…Daikokuya in Japan town. I make my boyfriend take me there every time I visit him in LA. Get the extra pork flavor. I simply cannot find ramen this good in NY. I dream about it.

NAC: What are you up to now? Any big plans for the future of your culinary career?
Wong: I am still working at The French Culinary Institute full time. Heading down to Miami for 8 weeks to film Top Chef 3 [Wong works behind the scenes with the production company]. Working on a book and TV show. Doing a lot of consulting and appearances around the country. Looking forward to spreading the gospel of pork worldwide.

Try Lee Anne Wong’s Pan Seared Rib Eye Steaks, Salsa Verde (recipe)

NAC: Coming from a family of chefs and restaurateurs, how has it helped shape your interest in cooking?
JH: My family owned a line of successful Japanese, Korean and American restaurants in Korea, and my mother taught me the significance of the taste, smell and presentation of food. I was introduced to a wide spectrum of international foods and dining styles at a very young age. Also, we usually had many guests coming over for a lot of different parties at my house. Preparing food for them and treating your guests well is something I have learnt over the years.

NAC: We know you have a degree in business administration. What made you change your career?
JH: As the only son in the family, my father always wanted me to gain experience in the United States. So, I came to the States in 1988, and after earning a college degree in business administration in California, I knew I wanted to stay here and build a career. I was trained to be a stockbroker but I wasn’t comfortable with my job so I pursued a career in the world of fashion. I was the CEO for a fashion company called PMJ Co. Inc in LA. But 7 years in the business didn’t ebb my passion for food and I wanted to open a restaurant . I opened Zip Café in 2002 in a historic building near the Arts District in LA. Due to popular demand, we opened Zip Fusion in Westside location and in Corona as well. I am now looking forward to the launch of my fourth restaurant “e3rd Steakhouse” now.

NAC: How has your background in the fashion industry helped you in your career?
JH: Tremendously. When I was the CEO, every day we had to create 500 to 600 different styles for buyers. It’ s similar in the food industry as well. You need to be creative to sustain your business. We experiment a lot of different things every day to create innovative dishes that look, smell, and taste good.

NAC: The Los Angeles community honored you as a “Mover and Shaker” in Los Angeles. Can you tell us more about this?
JH: The Los Angeles Center City Association honors 15 individuals every year as ” Movers and Shakers” in LA. When they told me at first, I thought it was a joke. But the city actually acknowledged the fact that I opened Zip Fusion in a historic building and made it a cultural spot for Californians. Nobody must have thought anything could happen in that location. I am honored to receive the title and it has been an exciting challenge for me.

NAC: What is the concept behind Zip Fusion?
JH: “Zip” means home in Korean and that is the inspiration behind the opening of my restaurant which has an influence of Japan and Korea. The concept behind Zip Fusion is to create a comfortable place for people who are open-minded and ready to accept and try new flavors. Our dishes are a combination of different cultures, and anyone can enjoy a meal at Zip Fusion without spending a lot.

NAC: Zip Fusion is known for its hospitality. Why is it important to you?
JH: Hospitality is the key word at all Zip Fusion locations. I want to make sure that my customers are not only having a good meal but also a wonderful time. I want them to be happy. This in turn will bring us more customers, and that’s our only way to grow.

NAC: How did you and Sean come together to open up a restaurant? What is your normal working style and what are the challenges of working together?
JH: I was always looking for a chef who isn’t afraid to go a little bit crazy-someone who understands tradition, but also wants to blend tastes in totally original ways and can show off the best of California products at the same time. Sean fits this description very well. He is very artistic and is not limited to one style of cooking.

The biggest challenge we face while working together is balancing finances and ingredients. As an entrepreneur, I have to cut him in the areas of materials. We cater to the general public and not high class clients, and we satisfy their need by creating different cuisines but keeping the cost down. We have to be realistic and have a balance of flavors and money. Sean and I respect each other’s working styles, and this has been going quite well for both of us.

NAC: What’s the most popular dish in Zip Fusion? Can you share its recipe with our readers?
JH: Seaweed salad, Shrimp Ravioli, Spicy Calamari are some of our very popular dishes.

NAC: What’s next for you?
JH: I need to get a little rest (laughs). I had no plans of extending my restaurant but it just happened. Now, I want to make sure that my new restaurant which will open in 2007 is focused on making customers happy as well.

NAC:How did you enter the world of cooking? What is your inspiration?
Philippe Chin

My grandfather was one of the first Chinese restaurateurs in Paris and my dad was a great cook too. I always used to stand beside my dad while he prepared intricate Chinese dishes for us. This helped me develop a sense for different seasonings, combinations, and possibilities of traditional Asian cuisine. At the age of 12, I decided I wanted to be a chef so I joined a culinary program, L’ Ecole Hosteliere de Paris in France. I was selected as one of the top ten students in the country. After I graduated, I worked in France until 1986 and moved to Philadelphia to become the chef of La Cocotte in West Chester. I then served as a chef at various places as Chanterelles, Partridge Inn, Philippe on Locust, Chin-Chin, Wrap planet, 210 at Rithenhouse Hotel, Pastel on Central in Georgia and CuiZine in Aiken, South Carolina

NAC: Can you tell us about the creation and concept of your restaurant, CuiZine?
CuiZine is a 150-seat restaurant with an uptown cosmopolitan bar, terrace dining and artfully presented fine cuisine. We offer selected global flavors and spices to create the very best international dishes. My main goal is for our guests to experience CuiZine’s global appeal. I combine the very freshest ingredients, local or organic when possible and prepare them in a way that best brings out the natural flavors. We always prepare new dishes that keep us fresh and give our customers our best every night.

NAC: Are you working with any new spices or cuisines nowadays?

I am trying to capture the world in CuiZine. We pair classical French techniques with ethnic spices from around the world. It is a fun place to come and get a taste of various global flavors. There is an element of surprise because people know they can come to CuiZine for quality food and a different menu each night.

NAC: What’s your favorite dish and what do you recommend at CuiZine?
Blackened Ahi Tuna Steak is my favorite. I’d definitely recommend this dish to anyone who comes to CuiZine. It has an Asian influence as it’s served with sushi rice and sweet and spicy mango sauce. The seasoning and the fruit flavor really work well together and our customers love the blend.

NAC: What’s the best part of your job?
Creativity!! After that, it’s the people around you. It’s not only about your customers but also your staff. You have to be a “people person” to be a successful chef.

NAC: What interests you outside of cooking?
Art is my escapade. I don’t consider myself a great artist but I love painting and working on metal sculptures. I usually give them away for auctions to raise funds for charity. I also love riding my motorbike, it gives me a sense of freedom!

NAC: How do you celebrate Asian Lunar New Year?
For me it’s a lot of red envelopes (laughs)!! Well, I am just planning for a quiet dinner with my girlfriend and a big bowl of wonton soup!

NAC: What’s next for you?
For now, I am concentrating on the success and growth of CuiZine and am also working for the Charleston For now, I am concentrating on the success and growth of CuiZine and am also working for the Charleston Food and Wine festival scheduled for early March 2006. I might work on a cookbook sometime in future.

Born in Singapore, award-winning chocolatier Choo was a flight attendant before becoming a chef–an experience that nurtured a passion for international cuisine.

NAC: Describe your journey from flight attendant to chef.
KC: It was a tough decision as I took a significant pay cut. Working in the kitchen is also a tough job for female and it certainly is not as glamorous as being a flight attendant.

NAC: What’s your cultural background, and how does that (and your family) influence your food?
KC: Having been born into a Chinese family in Singapore, I feel that it was a great advantage for me having been surrounded by all kinds of food in our culture like Malay, Indian, Nonya, Singaporean, Chinese, Thai etc. plus both of my parents are amazing cooks and my mom actually used to run her own food store in Singapore.

NAC: Why did you choose pastry?
KC: Working with pastry allows me to be extremely creative, playful and it is a never ending learning process. I love that there are no limitations!

NAC: Your pastries showcase a talent for both art and architecture. Do you have any particular aesthetic influences? Particular artists?

KC: I love modern architecture, I absolutely love it ! Yes, it does influence me in a certain way. Sometimes I find myself being inspired by looking at modern furniture designs or buildings.

NAC: What is your process for creating a new dessert?
KC: I imagine combining certain ingredients together and try to imagine whether or not they would go good together. Then after i have decided, I will do a tasting myself to find out if the combinations actually work.

NAC: How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day?
KC: Working like crazy and finding the time to have a simple dinner with my husband.

NAC: What’s your fantasy Valentine’s meal?
Having a nice relaxing dinner right on the water with the glass floor that you can see through. I enjoy listening to the ocean and love smell of the sea.

NAC: Do you have a favorite dessert?
KC: Anything with bittersweet chocolate, passionfruit , mango and mascapone.

NAC: What baking/pastry tips can you offer our readers?
KC: Patience is key!

NAC: Tell me about the Asian tea garden that’s at your restaurant. Why did you decide to incorporate it? Who designed it?
KC: I want the customers to feel that they are in a different world when they come into the garden and to feel comfortable with the ambience.

NAC: Your family is very well known in the culinary world. Your grandfather owned the legendary Raphil’s, your mother was Miami’s premier restaurant publicist and your stepfather is an award winning cookbook author. Can you tell us how they have
influenced you?
JK: My stepfather, Steven Raichlen, has been a great influence throughout my culinary journey. He got me interested when I was very young. My chores were to break down leftover roast chicken to make stock! I’d say my training started when my stepfather took me to restaurants where we made a game out of guessing what was in our food. I was a very mischievous kid, so I was grounded many times. And as punishment, I was given tedious prep work for recipe testing. But I enjoyed it so much. I never let anyone at home know how much I liked their punishments (Laughs).
Also, when my stepfather went around to 32 countries to do research for his famous book “Barbeque Bible”, he came back with interesting barbeque recipes from Southeast Asia as well. This really intrigued me and inspired me to focus on grilling as well as travel around
Southeast Asia.

NAC: You’ve traveled and worked in many places. What took you to Hong Kong? And how did you manage to handle a restaurant as the Executive Chef at an age of 23?
JK: I was offered the position of Executive chef for Miami Spice in Hong Kong. The restaurant was opened based on my stepfather’s book of the same name. I had a language as well as a cultural interpreter in Hong Kong who helped me understand the environment and run a kitchen with an all Chinese staff. Managing a restaurant for me is being able to gain respect of co-workers. This was my approach in Hong Kong as anywhere else.

NAC: How do you define your cuisine? What inspires you to create them?
JK: I’d define my cuisine as “Asian food cooked through the eyes of an American.” It’s not Asian fusion. I always want to draw a parallel line between Western and Asian cuisine. So, I associate Chinese cuisine with French since both are more sauce based and have an elaborate style of cooking. Japanese cuisine has a theme similar to that of Italian food. Both emphasize fresh, simple and clean flavors. For me, Chinese dishes stay in the spirit of Chinese cuisine and Japanese dishes in the spirit of Japanese cuisine. So, it’s not exactly fusion cooking. Rather, my menu is fusion. It has a great variety of Asian cuisine, almost like a photo album of my
travel in Asia.

NAC: Though you are a non-Asian, you are well known as an expert in tofu dishes. What got you interested in tofu?

JK: Tofu is like a blank piece of paper. It’s all about the texture since it does not have much flavor. Tofu is easy to flavor and that’s why I love cooking tofu dishes. I usually make my own tofu or use Chinese tofu and marinate them. When I started to play with tofu dishes and added them to my menu, I was surprised that quite a few people ordered it. It was more popular as an appetizer than an entrée. Many of my customers are Asians and vegetarians. But it’s not only Asians who are fond of tofu, once a Western businessman ordered a tofu dish and even called me to the table to talk about it. With the advent of protein-oriented diets, I think tofu is a nice option. Steamed Tofu with Cashews and Miso is one of my favorites.

NAC: What was your most unforgettable culinary experience?
JK: Sitting in Kyoto in one of the temples called Daitokuji-ikkyu and waiting for a 12 course tofu menu cooked by one of the monks!! And what was more interesting is they have been doing tofu meals since the1400s. They cook these meals to supply extra revenue to
support monks.

NAC: What is the most popular dish at Pulse?
JK: Sake Grilled Beef Short Ribs (recipe). They are really good! To prepare it, we braise the meat with shallots, garlic and sake. Then we debone the meat and take out the fat so it’s just a chunk of meat. We grill it and then add an oyster base sauce and it turns out to be really delicious.

NAC: How do you plan to celebrate Mother’s Day?
JK: I am taking a day off and spending the day with my mother. She loves when I cook, so I am planning to cook for her; maybe a barbeque dish.

NAC: What’s next for you?
JK: Maybe a cookbook sometime soon!

NAC: As the eldest son of 12 siblings, you did many odd jobs to support your family? Can you please tell us more about it?
TT: I had to leave school to support my family when I was eleven. My first job was of a floor-fan cleaner in a factory in Bangkok where I worked for 14 hours everyday. My father had a Thai food café then and I helped him as well. I then worked in a number of places as a welder, a construction worker, a busboy, a wheelbarrow maker, a boxer, an auto mechanic, and a tennis teacher. I basically did everything I could to make our life in the slums better in anyway possible.

NAC: What was your most memorable or significant incident of that time?
TT: We usually got to order pink noodle soup from the noodle vendor in the slums. I remember how we asked the vendor to give us extra broth. So, for our next meal, we cooked rice and added that broth to it and divided it among ourselves. That was how we tried to keep our stomachs full. As a chef, I have created my own recipe for pink noodle soup and I find it amazing that it’s my daughter’s favorite noodle now.

NAC: When did you come to the United States and what was your first job in the U.S.?
TT: During the Vietnam War, I worked as a switchboard operator at the Windsor Hotel in Bangkok and as a bellhop at the Narai Hotel. I met many Americans there and was pretty much influenced by their lifestyles so I decided to come to the U.S in 1972. I started working as a busboy in a restaurant in LA. Though I only had 4th grade education, I had always taught myself English in Bangkok. That helped me a lot. I used to spend hours reading the dictionary, page by page and watched American movies whenever I could. I also used to stand in front of the mirror and mimic words that I learnt. My mom thought I was going crazy so she even went to the temple for 2 years to pray for my health! I am glad to say I took time out to complete my education at Palos Verde College in Southern California.

NAC: How did you go from being a music producer to a chef?
TT: While in LA, I worked as a manager for a band that played in a restaurant. I was their music producer by night and the cook of the restaurant by day. I realized I enjoyed cooking. It’s in my blood, so I ended up opening my own restaurant Tommy Tang’s in West Hollywood in 1982.

NAC: How did you become known as the Godfather of Southeast Asian cuisine?
TT: When I took a job as a manager/chef at a Thai restaurant in Hollywood, Thai food was totally unknown to Americans. There were only a few Thai restaurants and usually only Asians went to those restaurants. But after a year, it was a different story – Thai food became very popular in LA. We had celebrities such as Queen, Orson Wells, Cher, Tom Cruise, and Robin Williams as our loyal customers. My wife and I opened another restaurant in New York in 1986 which made me the first bi-coastal chef in the U.S. By that time, newspapers had already started quoting me as the Godfather of Southeast Asian cuisine.

NAC: Can you tell us about your line of seasonings and sauces?
TT: I developed my own line of seasonings & sauces in 1988. It was one of the first Thai products introduced to the supermarket industry. People especially loved the honey ginger sauce and lemongrass hot sauce flavors.

NAC: What is the “Village Pond” project?
TT: Village pond is a project for poor Thai farmers to help them sustain themselves. The project raises money to build ponds in Northeast part of Thailand to raise fish for the locals. I am proud to say this project has supported many poor farmers in that area.

NAC: How do you manage to handle so many projects, restaurants, cookbooks, traveling, TV shows etc, at once?
TT: You clone yourself!! It’s all about hard work and dedication. I basically work 18 hours a day, six days a week.

NAC: What’s next for you?
TT: Another cookbook and a TV show !!