Lucky Chow

(tranquil music) - When you're telling stories about food, a side of nostalgia is always a treat.

In this episode of Lucky Chow we visit several places where legacies of Asian American food and cooking are being preserved, but only so that they can evolve and thrive into the future.

Whether it's taking on the leadership of a craft noodle company in Hawaii or honoring mom's recipes at one of Brooklyn's hottest restaurants, preserving the heritage you grew up with is a way of preserving the taste of home or of a bygone era.

(upbeat music) (music fades) (peppy music) I've been a fan of Sun Noodles for a decade, since they first started making artisanal ramen noodles for chefs like David Chang at Momofuku and Ivan Orkin of Ivan's Ramen.

In Honolulu, I got an insider's look at their saimon line, where they produce the soft wheat egg noodle used in saimon, the classic but slowly disappearing Hawaiian dish.

When Hidehito Uki left Japan for Honolulu as a teenager on a risky mission to sell ramen noodles, he had never heard of saimon.

It was quite a shock to discover that no one in Hawaii ate ramen.

So he adjusted and manufactured the noodle that everyone around him was slurping.

First stop is Saimon Palace, where I met Hidehito and his son, Kenshiro, to discuss how the evolution of sun noodles is driven by the taste of nostalgia.

- So, this is one of the original Saimon Palace.

And as far as the soup and toppings and noodles, they carry, they carry original style.

- [Danielle] Okay.

- You put the soy with the mustard, pick up the noodles and a little soy and mustard.

Put it in here.

(slurping) (Danielle giggling) - And you just enjoy it, you know, when it's hot.

And here in Saimon you have these teriyaki sticks, which is like a common saimon and teri sticks, and you just eat it together and, you know, it's light, it's delicious, it's hot outside.

- This is the perfect sort of summer dish, you know.

Even though it's hot, it cools your body down.

It's so refreshing.

And I love the pork, the char siu pork.

- Yeah, char siu pork, together with Chinese, some Japanese, some Portuguese, it's all in one melting pot.

So, quite special.

- Which is really the culture of Hawaii, right?

And it's just a place where a lot of immigrants have come and made it their home.

And I think this is the perfect dish to sort of represent how all of these cultures, like the Japanese, the Chinese, as you said, the Portuguese even.

- Yeah, just everything.

- How did you come to Hawaii?

- We had opportunity to start a noodle project.

But project was canceled, so there is one small machine left at the Honolulu Harbor.

So, my father gave me opportunity to start a noodle business if I am interested.

So yeah, and I raised my hand, " Yes, I wanna try."

- My grandpa also had a noodle business in Japan, so that's where really he learned how to make noodles and, you know, it's within kind of the family.

That's when he came out to Hawaii.

It was really 'cause he knew the knowledge of making noodles and coming to Hawaii and sharing that, so yeah.

- So, I'm just curious, you know, what's, what's next for your company now that you have expanded into California and into New York.

What's the, what's for the future?

- Our goal is to educate or introduce different types of noodles.

Or we even educate the people in US to create their own, you know, style.

Like he always say, if you go to Texas, Texas is a famous of beef, right?

- Right.

- They can use, they can create something with a beef soup.

You know, ramen.

So that's the culture we should make in the future.

- I think that what you're doing is so wonderful, 'cause you're preserving the heritage of Hawaiian culture in this one little bowl.

- Growing up, my sister and I, as a family business, we really grew up around the factory, the office.

And you know, summer breaks were working in the factory.

And when you got your driver's license, you were delivering noodles to restaurants.

And so we were always kind of involved.

And you know, when you see your parents just working 24/7 and you get to see that, you know, really in real time, you, well, we developed a sense of just, like, appreciation and for everything that they've given us.

And it wasn't really until I went to college, and that's when I moved to Washington and saw my dad expand the business to California.

And this dream just gets bigger and bigger.

And when I come home it's always exciting 'cause there's developments.

But that's really when I said, you know, I told my mom I wanted to be a part of the company and I just joined and helping in whatever way I could.

And he, my dad always mentions, you speak English, you were born in Hawaii, you're Americans.

And he's from Japan, but we have a beautiful craft that we have.

How do you get it to many more people?

How do you share this passion that he has with many more consumers in America and the US?

- Right.

- That's probably been the number one goal for my sister and I is to share this love.

Family businesses are special because everything at the dinner table, whether it's at home or 24/7, it's always about work.

And obviously it all gets personal.

I think my family and my parents have done a fantastic job of educating my sister and I.

Although we have a great business, it's all about the family.

- Yeah.

- I never forget that.

We do have challenges as a family and as we grow, but the one thing that he's always mentioned to us is, noodles is what we do, but the real goal of him and the vision is create an organization where employees feel like ohana, which is family.

Feels, you know, supported and successful and that we challenge them.

So that for us, if we can build an organization that you're proud to work for, that's really what he wants us to continue in his legacy.

So, that's special for us and something that we respect.

This place is called Palace Saimon, and as the shirt says, they've been in business for 75 years.

And as a family business, when we, you know, get involved, it's places like this that we need to be supportive of.

And as long as they're successful and the community is successful, that makes the noodle successful.

And it's really important that we support more of these shops to continue the legacy.

- Yeah, so saimin's not only disappearing in Hawaii, it's not even available on the mainland.

And your goal is to make it as popular as ramen.

(laughing) That's wonderful.

And I have no doubt that you will.

- [Danielle] When the ramen craze overtook America, Hidehito was able to realize his original dream.

But as he and Kenshiro look back at what Hawaii has given them, they wanna preserve the saimon culture of their adopted hometown for the sake of their own family, as well as their ohana, the community their business has created.

(soft music) (oil sizzling and spoon scrapping) - [Danielle] In Brooklyn, where he was born and raised, James Beard-nominated chef Calvin Eng is a rising star.

And he's the first to admit that he owes much of his success to his mother who taught him how to cook the home style Cantonese American foods he grew up with.

He is now part of a new wave of Chinese American cooks who are embracing their heritage and re-imagining the dishes they grew up eating.

His red-hot restaurant Bonnie's is named after his mom and is on the forefront of new, modern Chinese cooking.

- Do you have a sense of what you guys wanna make today?

- Yeah.

Wanna make kind stuff we had with.

- That fish with the sauce.

Saucy fish.

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah, (indecipherable).

- Hama, soy.

- Okay.

- And the steamed eggs, soft steamed eggs.

- The steamed eggs, yummy.

- These are like, that's inspired by something that's on your menu.

Well, that inspires.

- No, definitely.

Oh.

- The flat type.

- Oh really?

- I remember I did R and D trying to replicate.

Not replicate, but like, come up with the dish using Hama, with the shrimp paste and cabbage and, like, roasting it in the cast iron and then finishing in the oven, like tomato paste and everything.

It was disgusting.

(laughing) - Was Calvin always interested in food when he was a little kid?

- Yeah, he always stay next to me.

And then he put everything together.

You know, he loved it.

That's the way he cooked it, everything together.

- [Calvin] Make sure none are broken.

Can't buy broken eggs.

-[William] No, I mean literally, your mother is my mother and we, I've become that and you will too.

This is what you can-.

- Oh, I do that too.

- Yeah so, we all become our mothers.

Bonnie on the QC patrol.

(tranquil music) $32 for all this food, you cannot beat these markets.

(giggling) - [Danielle] We head back to Calvin's childhood home to get a glimpse of the mother-son dynamic at work, both in and out of the kitchen.

- [Calvin] Say thank you, pup.

(tranquil music) - So I didn't really grow up cooking Chinese food because like you, I had a mom who was so good at it, so I was always really intimidated by it.

Did you grow up cooking alongside her?

- No, right Ma?

I feel like I always hung out in the kitchen and tried to learn everything.

- So, you were really interested in it?

- Yeah, but I don't think I really started to document it and care so much until very recently, though.

- What kind of triggered your sort of newfound interest in the food you grew up with?

- I think it was probably during the time when I was working in Chinatown and being surrounded by all the shops and restaurants that I used to go to growing up as a kid.

And then finally wanting to dive deeper into the food of my culture and heritage.

- Calvin, did you grow up eating Chinese food every single day when you were growing up?

- Yeah, pretty much every single day was rice.

It was Chinese food.

Maybe like once a week she would make something different, something special.

- Did you always know you wanted to be a chef?

- No, absolutely not.

I feel like in high school it was time to apply to a college.

Culinary school just happened to be the only place I applied to.

- Really?

- Yeah.

(giggling) - Like, I knew she wanted me to go to college and get a degree, but I never knew it was gonna be in culinary.

And I feel like I had to lie and say that I was gonna school for hospitality.

- Why did you feel like you had to tell your mother that you were studying hospitality and not actually cooking?

- Because I didn't think she would be proud of a kid who was going to college to become a chef.

- Yeah, because it isn't enough the chef, right?

In Chinese people, the old people, they don't make money.

It's a half job, it's taught in the kitchen, not getting a degree.

- I'm not wrong about any of that still.

(laughing) - Now with Bonnie's, you call it a Cantonese American restaurant.

What does that mean?

- The flavors and ideas and the philosophy will always have to be Cantonese first, but the ideas and the technique and the ingredients that we use can kind of come from all over the world.

And I was born and raised here in Brooklyn.

I never was trained professionally in a Chinese kitchen.

How I prepare things, how I do things will always probably be American.

But I do understand Cantonese flavors and the philosophy behind it all because of her.

I mean, the mission of Bonnie's from day one was always to educate people on what Cantonese food is and what it can be.

- How would you describe the flavor profile of Cantonese food versus, let's say, a Sichuan food or Shanghai-ese food?

- Yeah.

I feel like, I always say it's like savory and umami forward, and minimal ingredients allowing the main ingredients to shine, and very seafood forward and heavy.

- You mentioned that you've never, prior to your first gigs in Chinatown, you've never really worked in a traditional Chinese kitchen before.

- No, as far as like, the way we operate, the way we do things, is probably very Western still.

Yeah, we use a wok.

Do we use it properly?

Who knows?

I feel like I always tell people and always say that nostalgia is my favorite ingredient.

And it's true, because I always like food that takes you back to like a certain point or certain memory in your life.

I feel like from day one, the mission of Bonnie's was always to educate people on what Cantonese food is and what it can be.

And that's a big part of us being part of, like, the evolution of Cantonese food and doing things a little bit differently and doing them our way by being who we are, which is Cantonese American.

Americanized Cantonese, Americanized Chinese food existed for so long now in America.

And that's a big part of American history, American Chinese food history.

- Where do you find your inspiration?

- Right here.

(upbeat music) - Was Mom very important in the R and D process?

- I definitely ran a lot of things by her.

She probably had no idea what I was asking them for.

- [William] Right.

(Calvin laughing) - But I definitely asked a lot of questions.

I'm like, so the brands that you like to use, or things like that.

- [William] Look how beautifully smooth that is.

So, it's really like custard.

- Yeah, basically we want this to be as smooth as possible.

So even how she covers it specifically to prevent, like, the condensation from dripping onto it while it's cooking.

- [William] Right.

'Cause you, when you pull it out, you want this gorgeous, smooth surface.

- [Calvin] Yeah.

- [William] Your version at Bonnie's is basically like this, except for the vinegar, which you learned today.

- Yeah (laughing).

It's this, but we put clams in it so the clams open up and kind of are all set inside the custard.

(plates and silverware clanking) (upbeat music) - [William] Wow, this all looks so beautiful.

Calvin, what do we have on the table here?

- So, this is the hubei pan, which is the steamed salted fish, minced pork patty, and it's kind of what we compare to the American meatloaf.

And this is the steamed savory egg custard that we finished with some soy, sesame oil, some herbs.

And this is just a stir-fried cabbage with a shrimp paste.

- Calvin, as you look ahead at Bonnie's, but also just your life in the culinary space, what are some of the things that you think about moving forward, things that you'd like to do in the future?

- I think just mainly continuing the mission of what we wanna do and educate people on Cantonese food and really driving that home in New York.

Because again, there are so many people who I am meeting now who are from the same backgrounds, who are in the same generation or even younger, who want to dive deeper into it as well.

And I think allowing them and creating a platform and a space for people like that to grow is super cool and important.

- Calvin's been cooking for many years.

- [Bonnie] Right.

- First restaurant of his own, already so much attention, so much press.

A James Beard nomination for best emerging chef.

How do you feel about this?

What are you feeling?

- I feel proud of him, so happy.

- You feel proud of him?

- Oh yeah.

I'm so happy too.

- [William] Aw.

- Never told me that.

(all laughing) (tranquil music) - Tucked away in an elegant glass and steel building in Manhattan's meat packing district is the Genesis House restaurant, an outpost of Onjium, the Michelin-starred restaurant in Seoul, Korea.

Like the original, this location is dedicated to the preservation and exploration of the noble class and royal cuisine of the 14th century.

We sit down with Chef Andy Choi to get a better understanding of this ancient cuisine.

While also learning about the ways Onjium is ushering traditional Korean culture into the 21st century.

- Onjium's a restaurant, it's a research center, it has three different levels to it.

The first level is architecture.

The second level would be textiles and the traditional Korean dress, like honbak.

And then the third level is the culinary, which we're associated with.

We actually work with them in terms of creating recipes from old scrolls that they've researched.

- So, in many ways Onjium is kind of like a cultural preservation organization for Korean culture.

- It is.

Onjium focuses on food through the Joseon Dynasty, which was the last dynasty before democracy.

You know, when Korea was divide, the capital was in the north.

And so, a lot of the documents pertaining to recipes in the, you know, royal court were lost.

And it's very difficult to get those back.

And so, Onjium is very dedicated in tracking down what they can and preserving that history.

- What do you think is the most misunderstood thing about Korean food?

- People associate Korean food with spice.

We always have our staff come into the dining room, eat, taste.

Because it's important that they understand what they're serving to guests.

This is a suranche, which is a chilled seafood salad with poached egg and a pine nut sauce, which is very luxurious and velvety on the palate.

- [William] Food we're eating here today and you serve is what's called noble cuisine.

- [Andy] It is.

- [William] Is what does that mean?

- [Andy] Noble is the higher-echelon class back in the Joseon Dynasty and in the dynasty before that.

And so they would be inside of the imperial court.

And the imperial court cuisine, which the emperor and his family and they ate, it was very similar to the yangban class or the noble class, cuisine as well.

This is our goldongban.

It's a style of bibimbap, which is one of the most widely recognized Korean dishes.

It is a balance of harmony and convergence for the springtime.

We used seven different namuls, or vegetables, and they're each prepared in a different manner.

This is our soojeung gye, which is our chilled mung bean salad.

So, the mung bean noodles we make in-house, and we prepare nine different vegetables and garnishes that go along with this.

This is one of the most famous imperial court dishes.

- [William] What are the seven different techniques of these vegetables?

- [Andy] The seven different techniques on the vegetables are, we use grilling, steaming, poaching, and blanching as well.

But then what we do is we season them all on their own.

And so each vegetable has their own special seasoning, whether it's a perilla, whether it's sesame, whether it's a scallion or ginger, or ginger or garlic.

We use different seasoning techniques, so it converges into one sort of seasoned dish.

And it's really about the vegetables.

The rice that we use is Queen Gold number three, which we source out of Korea.

- Wow, this is really elegant, like a, like a mini masterpiece.

- Thank you.

When you go to Korea, there's many different levels of food, whether it's street food, comfort food, or fine dining, and spice is just a small portion of that.

- Has cooking here and sort of immersing yourself in this culture, what has that done for your own kind of personal identity, or identity as a chef?

- You know, it's nostalgic, right?

Because it's flavors that you've had, you know, as a kid growing up, but it's also, you know, new.

Because this isn't your normal everyday Korean food, but it invokes a passion out of you that you don't, never thought was there.

I mean, you've had the passion for food.

You've had the passion for cooking and everything.

You love the lifestyle, but this is different.

It's very, it's transcending to another level.

- [Danielle] On the shores of Waikiki lies the historic Halekulani, or House Befitting Heaven in Hawaiian.

Since it makes celebrating Hawaiian culture a core tenant of its mission, we visit its beachside bar, House Without a Key, for sunset cocktails.

We're seated under a 130-year-old kiawe tree with views of the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head.

We meet Allison Chu, a former Miss Hawaii, to learn about hula dancing, which is performed every night, and meet Chef Jarrin Otake, who takes us out on a culinary tour of his creative interpretations of Hawaiian classics.

- It's a Japanese flair to a local favorite.

So, basically we have sashimi-grade ahi.

We cut into saku blocks, which is a square block.

And then we sear it very fast and very high heat.

And then we have a lot of tobiko to give it the contrast of flavors, textures.

And then the tobiko brings out the freshness and it has some spice from the daikon, the freshness from the local ahi that we bring in as well.

This is my interpretation of the Laulau.

Laulau is a very traditional Hawaiian dish.

So, basically it's slow-cooked pork and fish wrapped in a bundle with a lu'au, which is the leaf of the taro.

And it's wrapped again with a tea leaf.

The Laulau always comes with a little piece of pork and a little piece of fish.

So, you have different textures and flavors.

This is a very classic dish that we offer here at Halekulan, which is our steam snapper.

Then we steam it with a little puree of ginger.

We finish it off with some Shiitake mushrooms, and then we splash it with some peanut oil and drizzle a soy sauce on top.

We also have a little taste of our island flare with our desserts.

So, we have our liliko'i key lime cheesecake.

Liliko'i is actually passion fruit.

So, we blend it with a little twist with the sharpness of the acidity of the key lime, and a nice richness with the cheesecake in different textures and flavors.

Very nice.

Macadamia nut creme glaze to tie everything together.

This is the famous coconut cake at Halekulani.

We splash the cake with a little amaretto, and then we cover the cake with a shredded coconut.

Plus we have a vanilla en glaze and the raspberry coulis to tie everything together.

Hawaiian means to me is teaching people about the culture.

Giving back to the community.

But more so, it's food with soul.

Just to keep that legacy going of aloha, that loving spirit and what we can do for our guests and for our families, and teach our next generation to come, of course.

(peaceful music) - Aloha.

- Aloha.

- Hula is all about telling a story.

It's about perpetuating our culture.

- [William] There's obviously a deeper meaning.

So, what do some of those motions mean?

And maybe you could even show us, if you.

- Yeah, sure.

I mean, there's a lot of kona.

So, kona in Hawaiian is a hidden meaning.

For example, like this could be flowers, and flowers symbolize a lot of things in Hawaiian.

It could be talking about children, or keiki, or even rain Traditionally people did hula in order to perpetuate thousands and thousands of years of storytelling, of chanting, describing legends and things that occurred in their families or on the islands.

And now in modern-day Hawaii, we're able to share that story or parts of that story of what happens in today's times and sharing it with our malihini, or our guests and our visitors here.

- [William] What are you hoping the audience walks away with?

- [Allison] I hope that they would feel.

and understand through my movements and my own feelings of what I'm trying to portray and telling that story.

And then for them to enjoy this beautiful place.

Hawaii is my home.

There's really no place like it in the whole world.

(peaceful music) - [Danielle] Looking backward in order to see the way forward, a new generation is using the lessons of family and legacy to chart the evolution of Asian American food.

In their hands, nostalgia is inspiration for the traditions that they will make their own.

(peaceful music) (music slows and fades) (rolling, peppy music)