Her restaurant’s focus on seafood is redefining traditional Thai cuisine, one dish at a time.
“ I think of Thailand as a office of abundance,”Jennifer Saesuesays , ducking her head down in the mouth .
A litany of wiring and mussy kitchen ledge compose a very alert Saesue , who is likely in a trap of some sort . “ We ’re in a little cubby hole , ” she chuckles . “ If I stand up my head is touching the roof . ”
Saesue is nestled deep inside the kitchens standoffish Cheeks , her celebratedThai restaurantlocated on Bond Street in New York City . “ Thailand is a diverse office , ” Saesue exclaims proudly . “ We ’ve been lucky enough that [ Thailand ] was never colonized , but we live with everyone in . ”
Jennifer Saesue, co-owner of Fish Cheeks in New York City.|Photo courtesy of Jennifer Saesue
“ How would you name Thai nutrient to someone who is completely unfamiliar with it ? ” I involve .
Saesue pauses thoughtfully .
I can see why it might take her a min to reply ; after all , Saesue ’s dealing with the commotion of a kitchen that invariably bangs and clank behind her .
Thai food , she tells me , is influenced by many unlike culture . Her don , for instance , was born in Thailand , “ but ancestrally he ’s one hundred per centum Chinese . ”
Saesue ’s passion for her issue matter is apparent : She like a shot plunge into a rapid account of how a large portion of Thai intellectual nourishment is influenced by Chinese cooking . She explicate that many evoke child , curry , and dome dish are thought of as classically Thai , but , in realness , their origins can be trace to another culture . Khao Man Gai , for case , is aHainanesedish but can be line up in Singapore , Taiwan , and Hong Kong . Massaman curry , Saesue say , is n’t exclusively Thai , but something you’re able to receive in Malaysia .
Saesue and her parents were gestate in Thailand . Her father hail from northern Thailand and was majestic to be the guy who knew which station served the best version of any given dish . Having this repp , of form , required constant culinary excursions around Bangkok in search of new dishes to experience . Forever seeking their next great bite , Saesue ’s founding father imbued his love of hunt for Modern tang in his girl at an former years .
Photo by Andrew Bui
She once recalled a vivid storage of her Padre giving her raw Pisces the Fishes for the first fourth dimension at age eight . She knew she was n’t exit to wish it even before trying it , according to her interview withChasing Sunshinein 2020 , but her father was adamant until she give in . This , she points out , birthed a learning ability in which being candid to trying everything at least once is something that still lead her today .
Saesue strike back to the States at the pinnace eld of 12 and begin working in kitchens when she was in high-pitched schooltime . Her career began like many others — she became a server to score some fast hard currency . Saesue work in several restaurants across New York to rapidly learn the inch and out of the game before falling in beloved with the industry all told .
Yet — despite her newfound culinary prowess — something was still amiss . Saesue observe an all - too - familiar design across the restaurants she knead at . Despite the teemingness of cultural diversity determine in Thai food for thought , Saesue was somehow forever swimming in a ocean of Pad Thai everywhere she went .
Photo by Andrew Bui
“ The older generation has this set menu that works , ” Saesue explains . “ You get three or four types of noodle , you get your rainbow curry , and then you get your fried Elmer Leopold Rice . Open a Thai eatery anywhere with those on your fare and you ’re one hundred pct going to be okay . ”
That set menu concept never stopped plaguing Saesue . She refused to accept the idea that all of Thailand ’s nicety and diversity could be summed up in a few dishes . The lack of authentic Thai food around New York haunted her like a high-risk dream .
“ I appreciate everything that ’s been done before me to break down barriers [ when ] enter Thai cuisine to the US . But we owe it to ourselves and the cuisine to bring attention to the fact that Pad Thai is n’t the only affair we eat , ” Saesue exclaims passionately . “ [ Thai ] culinary art does n’t live on a one - page bill of fare . ”
Zacapa Rum Master Blender Lorena Vásquez.|Photo courtesy of Zacapa Rum.
The next decade of Saesue ’s life was devoted to breaking down that archaic rule . She sought to open a restaurant that showcased Thai food across New York in all its resplendence , highlighting the ingredients and bag from her childhood back home . She took on an unofficial role as a culinary embassador and pedagog driven to teach the macrocosm more about Thai cuisine . Her hard work eventually culminated in Saesue open her first eating place at just 23 years quondam , an impressive feat , even among classically trained chefs .
While her first eating place did n’t quite pan out , Saesue was driven to fulfill her sight no matter what . She stay on to crop in Thai restaurants across NYC until she met brothers Chat and Ohm Suansilphong in 2015 atObao , a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant . The trio bonded over a shared vision of have their own Thai restaurant for over a class before partnering to open Fish Cheeks in 2016 .
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“ I feel like we needed to present more information about Thai cuisine in a way that mold for the Thai residential area and the country , ” Saesue say .
Fish Cheeks , Saesue notes , has a spotlight on seafood , “ because there ’s no Thai eating place [ in NYC ] that focuses on that , and seafood is such a big part of Thailand . ” The menu is designed to be crime syndicate - style , with a department for plates to nosh on and another for plate to share . Each knockout on the menu , Saesue explain , is a hard - won victory . The peeved fish smasher , for example , is her favourite item . “ I had to fight my partners on it , ” she says . She dives into a story about the fish and how it went through several iterations before it could be served on the menu .
Photo by Andrew Bui
She suppose citizenry were going to get freak out by the Pisces the Fishes head . The team worked to and fro render different translation of the dish and accommodating guests the best they could , but finally decided to serve the fish whole .
Today , Fish Cheeks is proud to be a Pad Thai - free zone . “ There are so many other things considerably than Pad Thai that I can look on one bridge player , ” Saesue says .
Indeed , Saesue never seems to wear out when it follow to trying out new ingredients and spins on authoritative knockout . She tells me about a new stunner she ’s create — a play on the traditional Carica papaya salad that many people associate with Thai solid food . Saesue waxes poetic about dissimilar types of pawpaw salads before explaining the new version will contain fermented Pisces and raw blue crab , two extremist departures from traditional papaya tree salad that ’s typically serve with peanuts .
“ That ’s going to be a little smelly , and it ’s very weird . Some people can cover it . Some [ might think ] it ’s disgusting , ” Saesue says . “ But I ’m going to do me and I have nothing to prove to anyone . ”
The invariant need for innovation does n’t just offer to Saesue ’s intellectual nourishment either . Despite a pandemic rage across the body politic , Fish Cheeks replicate its number of diners and acquired the blank space next door during this period . That new space set about her think about expanding beyond NYC , so she began visit restaurants in Los Angeles .
She noticed the same telltale radiation pattern across LA eating house that irked her so in NYC .
“ LA already has a mass of Thai eating house [ and ] people are familiar with those taste , ” Saesue explicate . “ But there are n’t many Tai eatery like us in LA and I palpate like we would thrive there . ”
Her squad is currently looking for a space in LA and may have already ascertain the unadulterated fleck .
“ We ’re lead to see where everything goes , ” Saesue suppose excitedly .
