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It’s been quite a while since I’ve eaten
at a new Springfield restaurant with really exciting food. Food I’ve
never had before or that’s an especially outstanding version of
something I have had. Food so good that I start mentally reviewing my
upcoming schedule before the meal is over, trying to figure out how soon I
can come back. Food so good that I order extra to ensure that
there’ll be leftovers to take home. That’s been my experience at the two-month-old
Mekong CafО. It’s exciting, but there are also aspects that
seem familiar, and not just the menu items found in other area Southeast
Asian restaurants. Hmmm, let me think — where else in Springfield
have I had that kind of experience? Not the most recent but certainly one
of the best was my first visit to Magic Kitchen [see “Springfield
Magic,” May 17]. Realizing that, it was not a huge surprise to find
that the Mekong CafО’s chef/owner, Somsavinh Mahnee (known
locally to friends and family as Win), has ties to the Magic Kitchen dating
back to its earliest days as a tiny diner on North Grand Avenue. Win first came to Springfield from Laos in the early
’80s. Initially, as he concentrated on improving his English, he took
janitorial jobs. Before long, however, Win began working for Gay and Dang
Amorasak at their first minuscule Magic Kitchen location: “I cut up
vegetables, did preparations — everything but cook.” Dang, who
cooked while Gay managed the dining room, was notorious for not letting
anyone else do any of the cooking — or have access to his recipes.
Eventually, as the restaurant became overwhelmingly popular and overwhelmed
by customers, Dang permitted family members, and only family members, to
cook. When the Magic Kitchen moved to its current location,
on Peoria Road, Win moved with it. Becky Croteau, a server during that
time, says that Win was frequently an eye of calm in the midst of
turbulence: “It’d be chaotic out front and crazy in the
kitchen, but Win always had a peaceful smile on his face, even when
everyone else was falling apart. He was just so nice.”
Win worked at Magic Kitchen for more than seven years,
also attending Lincoln Land Community College. He moved to Carbondale to
finish his degree in electrical-engineering technology and returned to
Springfield to work at Data Specifics. Although Win enjoyed electrical engineering,
he’d been bitten by the restaurant bug, and dreamed of opening his
own place and being his own boss. Not only would he use what he’d
learned at Magic Kitchen, but he’d also make from his native Laos,
food he’d learned to prepare when cooking with his mother back home.
Laos is a narrow landlocked strip of a country. Its
long eastern border lies alongside Vietnam. Cambodia abuts its southern
edge, and China and Myanmar (Burma) both lie to the north. The
country’s western border is defined by the Mekong River, which
separates it from Thailand. Laos is in the middle of Southeast Asia and
home to most of the peninsula’s mountains, a primary reason that it
remains relatively wild and unpopulated. “If you like nature,
you’d love my country,” Win says.
Southeast Asian food differs from country to country
and region to region, but the various types have their similarities. As
Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid point out in their book Hot Sour Salty Sweet, a parallel with
Mediterranean food can be seen: Spanish, Italian, Greek, and Moroccan
cuisines, for example, are quite different, yet they share many flavors and
techniques. (Incidentally, Hot Sour Salty Sweet is far more than a collection of recipes. Beautifully
photographed, filled with information and stories about the region and its
people, it’s an excellent book for anyone who’d like to learn
about Southeast Asian culture and food.) Americans are notoriously unfamiliar with world
geography, a fact brought home to me while teaching cooking classes. The
“Thai and Vietnamese Sampler” class filled and had a waiting
list almost before I could blink, but far fewer people signed up for
“Flavors of Southeast Asia” a year later. I didn’t
understand why until someone who’d been in the “Sampler”
session told me: “I wish you’d do another Thai class —
that’s what I really like.”
“Well, uh, the Southeast Asian class has mostly
Thai dishes in it,” I lamely replied. “There are Vietnamese
things, but . . . ” She was surprised; she had no idea that either
Thailand or Vietnam was in Southeast Asia — and she was old enough to
have been around during the Vietnam War. When I told Win that, he laughed. “I almost
named this the Southeast Asian CafО. I guess it was good I
didn’t.”
Regardless of the name, Win’s cooking is
wonderful. Some of the dishes are Magic Kitchen staples (“I
didn’t cook, but I watched very closely,” he says) but bear his unique stamp.
Win’s red curry is fabulous — a bright, addictive explosion of
flavor. The pad thai is exceptional. The Thai egg rolls are the best
I’ve ever had.
The Mekong CafО’s Laotian dishes, however,
are what really set the restaurant above the ordinary. The Laotian curry
beef with noodles is a big bowl of flavor — a perfect mix of thin
rice noodles, spicy meat, and shredded lettuce that adds texture, taste,
and lightness. Then there’s the Laotian chicken-wing appetizer.
Cooking or finishing meat or fish in a savory caramel sauce is unique to
Southeast Asian cuisine. Sugar loses some of its sweetness the darker it
caramelizes. Mekong’s wings are tossed in a dark-brown sticky sauce
that’s sweet but not cloying. This chicken really is finger-lickin’ good. The
food is slightly less spicy than Magic Kitchen’s; you’ll
probably want to bump it up a notch when ordering.
Admittedly, I haven’t tried everything on
Mekong’s menu, even though it’s relatively small: I just
can’t resist reordering the things I’ve had. It’s good
that the menu is limited: encyclopedic Asian menus are too often studies in
mediocrity. Win wisely offers only dishes he knows and does well. “I
just like to cook,” he says. “I want to share my food and have
people enjoy it.” He plans to begin offering Laotian specials in the
near future; his descriptions had me salivating. Pictures of the Buddhist temple in Win’s small
hometown in northern Laos decorate the sign out front and are prominently
displayed inside. They’re symbols of his home and faith — the
sources of that peaceful smile. Mekong CafО doesn’t have a liquor license,
and Win is still working on a bring-your-own permit. Don’t let that
stop you. If you must have a cold brew, order carryout. Just go — the
food’s too good to miss.
Mekong CafО (1308 S. Second St., 217-391-2511, www.mekongcafe.net) is open 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday..
Send questions and comments to Julianne Glatz at
realcuisine@insightbb.com.
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2007.
