Progressive cuisine at Embeya refers to exotic, unusual flavors or ingredients and refined techniques used to prepare and present Asian food. An inspired cook at heart, Chef Thai says this : “To be progressive you have to know tradition, only then can you build upon it”. At Embeya, Chef builds upon his experience in tradition and skill or flavor and style to bridge a refined version of cooking to his native Vietnamese and Southeast Asian dishes. That is the heart behind Embeya and Progressive Asian Cuisine.

The past is what molds a present and future.  Chef Thai grew up in a very traditional Vietnamese family eating Vietnamese and southeast Asian flavors and ingredients such as thai chili, fresh herbs, noodles, and fish sauce, or rice and brothy soups. Some of his other native flavors may be considered a bit more unusual to the American palate such as dried shrimp, heart, and other animal innards, or snake, eel, and fermented ingredients. As an adult, he has found himself in many highly regarded kitchens that practice refined French techniques, like the art of making a delicate sauce to bind a perfect dish, how to turn a vegetable, or how to make the dish appear flawlessly …meticulously manicured. He learned to process whole animals with skill, speed, and precision, all the while utilizing every part possible. It was within these kitchens that he found respect for process and ingredient and the desire to push further.

Today, many of Chef’s dishes have been committed to memory not by recipe, but by the smell of the stock, to the taste of the sauce and the sound of the crispy crackling flesh of the fish. These flavors, these smells, these ingredients are extensions of His family and childhood. They are committed to heart and memory by love.

I sometimes laugh with the guests about family familiarity in dishes such as the papaya salad which has beautiful shredded strands of firm young papaya, house made beef jerky that has just the right amount of sweetness and heat, paired with traditional Vietnamese herbs and dressed just so..or the sauce alongside the spring roll, these are all dishes, flavors, and ingredients Thai grew up with. Nobody but me (and now you) would ever know that the peanut / hoisin sauce that compliments the spring roll with pork belly, rice noodle, fresh herbs, and pickled accoutrement is a refined version of his sister Thu’s sauce. The ‘thit heo kho’ (meat pork stew) is a classic in Southeast Asia and specifically Vietnam. Pork belly is cooked low and slow and accompanied by equally tender quail eggs that stay creamy in the center to bring all the flavors of the stew together. A bowl of that with the simplest side of steamed rice and I am one happy camper. Nevertheless, they are all dishes that can be found on any given family supper Sunday in the Dang household back in Virginia, where momma Dang and the rest of the family prepare a feast for all ten of her children, her children’s children, and other friends of the family.

Even with hearty homestyle flavors like these, however, Thai takes care to ensure the finest of ingredients are in the papaya salad and that the jerky is properly cured within the four walls of his kitchen. Those spring rolls? Hidden beneath rice noodle and herbs, you’ll find perfectly pickled cucumber using simple ingredients with Japanese pickling techniques known as tsukimono.
Chef Thai is taking his flavors of home and heart to heightened, more refined levels. Take for instance the Garlic chicken. This elaborate process starts with deboning a whole chicken and treating it “Peking Duck style”. The chicken is brined over night then sewn, somewhat surgically, back together for easy cooking. Chef dunks them in a hot pot of boiling water for just a few seconds to tighten up the skin. They are then hung and brushed with care every few minutes before roasting them to release all the moisture within the skin to allow for ultimate crisping with a juicy, flavorful center. The traditional side of finely sliced scallion is reinvented by topping the roasted chicken with scallion confit and a touch of salt and pepper. Simply a beautiful dish.
The cuttlefish is another refined dish that redefines cuttlefish from what some may recognize as Squid’s ugly, less tender and far less tasty step brother, and reintroduces it as a must-have star of the dish. The whole cuttlefish simmers in sesame oil until the nutty smell from the oil fills the air and the fish becomes tender. The fish is cooled and cut into fine ribbons to stylistically and proportionally match the size and scale of the heirloom carrot and yamaimo (raw Japanese yams) that compliment the dish. The yamaimo, or yams, are blanched and marinate in a pickling solution of yuzu juice, salt, sugar, and zest. This cold dish is topped with crunchy fried lotus and a dusting of black garlic that has been dehydrated and fermented for depth and complexity. There is height, color, and multi/dimensional flavor. What a vibrant and textured dish.

While my mouth is watering here, I will mention one more deserving dish. This is something that may look simple, but explodes with flavors of chili and the sea, and has some complex steps within production. The baby clams with fried garlic, fried shallots, chili, lime, and black pepper are balanced by salt, sugar, and fish sauce. This too is served cold, chopped and paired adjacent to rice crackers which are prepared from scratch at Embeya. These crackers start as ground rice paste and left over night to dehydrate. The form of the paste changes to that consistent with a sheet of paper. The sheets are then dropped into a fryer to puff, kind of like a pork rind would. The crackers are used to scoop the clams and compliment the flavors from the fried Thai basil leaves. This is the quintessential play on two opposing textures of the airy crunch from the cracker and softer more delicate clam. So simple, yet not.

At Embeya, we deliver heart, soul, and good product. The menu is ever changing and developing with new renditions of interesting ingredients and flavor suited for all who simply love good food. See you there.