Earlier this month, my wife and I took a little food-focused vacation with another couple, our closest friends of thirty years. When I say little, it lasted only a couple of days. And we didn’t go far, just a ninety-minute drive from home. But it was fabulous. Just that short break from daily routine was a quick opportunity to escape the obligations of daily life, recharge, and immerse ourselves in some fabulous meals.
We went to Philadelphia from our home on the Jersey Shore. And left saying, “We’re so close, we should eat here a lot more often.” Over two days our little group enjoyed cheese steaks (of course), pizza, Filipino food, pastrami on rye, and an assortment of Israeli dishes—hummus, baba ganoush, labneh, lamb kofte, lubne, and more—so good I was emotionally transported back to my days covering so many news stories in the Middle East as an NBC News producer decades ago.
But the high point of our trip was dinner at Kalaya, recent winner of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant in America. And it truly lived up to the accolade. Dinner there was one of the best meals I’ve had in years. More than that, it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. First, the service was impeccable‚ not in that formal, phony way you’ll often endure at restaurants trying to convince you how special they are. But in a personal, relaxed, attentive, and especially informed manner. Informed was the key.
Kalaya serves Thai food you’ve likely never seen or tasted before. The menu is based on the dishes of southern Thailand, where chef/owner Nok Suntaranon grew up and where, as a child as young as seven years old, she would prepare the chili paste her mother sold in the local market. In an appearance on my podcast, Nok told me her family was dirt poor but they ate like kings, especially the extraordinary and abundant seafood of the southern Thai coast.
And indeed, at Kalaya I enjoyed a stunning fish—whole branzino steamed with, among other things, lime, fish sauce, and cilantro. The combination of flavors, a delicate, almost sweet balance I had never experienced before, was extraordinary. As was everything else we enjoyed in the Thai style of multiple shared plates. The dumplings were amazing—so delicate they were assembled with tweezers and bursting with flavor. There was wok cooked crispy tofu, goat and lamb curry, a beef tenderloin stir fry that was incredibly tender, even a half-chicken that rewrote my expectations for what is usually a pedestrian dish, each balanced perfectly and brilliantly between spicy and sweet. Each extraordinary.
Then, I saw something on the menu I simply had to try. A dessert of sticky rice with durian. Durian is a fruit I'd read about for years but never tried, never seen, never found on any menu anywhere. It’s famous—more like infamous—for its odor, described as like sewage and so foul it’s said to be illegal to bring one onto public transportation in Thailand. If that isn’t true, I don’t want to know— it’s too good a story. Anyway, here it was on the menu. Durian with sticky rice. I ordered it. Eagerly. To the concern and consternation of my tablemates. And you know what? It wasn’t bad.
Our server explained they didn’t use the smelliest kind of durian, and with pieces of the fruit cooked in a sauce and combined with the rice, the dish reminded me of the rice pudding my grandmother used to make. It didn’t taste like grandma’s, but it was actually good. I can’t quite describe it—the closest I can come is banana-like. Two of my three companions gave it a try. No one spit anything out, though I was the only one who became a fan.
It was a great meal. And a great couple of days, the kind of getaway that’s grown in popularity in recent years. The quick trip in search of great meals has clearly become a growing trend, spurred by social media. See enough pictures of friends eating well in intriguing places and you’re motivated to do what they’re doing. It’s also a response to work related stress, and the economy—two days close to home is so much cheaper than the annual week or two you’ve got to fly to.
So, give it a try. We’re already planning our next one.
On the next Culinary Characters Unlocked podcast dropping tomorrow, chef and restaurateur Spike Gjerde, who is obsessed with changing the way we eat. And who says farm to table is more or less dead. Wherever you get your podcasts:
YOUTUBE
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT4Zovt2BsSuh98FvyEwcFA
APPLE PODCASTS
SPOTIFY
AMAZON MUSIC
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/28353fc5-11df-4a3e-8481-f989eb4aeaab/culinary-characters-unlocked
CASTBOX
https://castbox.fm/channel/Culinary-Characters-Unlocked-id6566109?country=us
PODBEAN
https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/k2n6g-31b0b8/Culinary-Characters-Unlocked-Podcast
Eat well,
David
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