Kin Shop
Spare a thought for poor Harold Dieterle. Sure, he won fame and fortune on reality TV and runs a successful, well-reviewed restaurant, but he can't escape Top Chef. His obligatory appearances on the show convey all the enthusiasm of a man attending a funeral for his ex-girlfriend's cat. Here's hoping he's found the file to sever the chain. Kin Shop, his new venture focused on updated Thai cooking, is one of the most exciting restaurants to open in 2010.
We started with scallops and snap peas with coconut in a lovely peanut-mustard sauce, a straightforward-sounding dish that turned out to be quite complex, the delicate crunch of the peas poised against the meatiness of the scallop and fattiness of the coconut. That balance of flavors and textures is essential to Thai cooking, and Dieterle --- assiduously manning the kitchen while we were there --- nails it.
Our next dish, while good, was less successful. The pan fried crab noodles had nice salty heat with a lingering smoky finish, but the ratio of noodles to crab could use some tinkering: too often we dipped in only to pull up nothing but vermicelli.
The star of the night was the goat neck massaman. Served on the vertebrae with the tendons and piled with shallots, yam cubes, and mustard greens, it does not make for an attractive dish. At first glance, it's difficult to tell what has been set down in front of you. But get past the looks and you'll find what may well be the most tender protein being served in New York. Forget about a knife: a strong glance could pull the meat apart. And then there are the flavors, whose sweet richness grows more intricate with each bite. It's the sort of cooking that makes --- or remakes --- a reputation.
We started with scallops and snap peas with coconut in a lovely peanut-mustard sauce, a straightforward-sounding dish that turned out to be quite complex, the delicate crunch of the peas poised against the meatiness of the scallop and fattiness of the coconut. That balance of flavors and textures is essential to Thai cooking, and Dieterle --- assiduously manning the kitchen while we were there --- nails it.
Our next dish, while good, was less successful. The pan fried crab noodles had nice salty heat with a lingering smoky finish, but the ratio of noodles to crab could use some tinkering: too often we dipped in only to pull up nothing but vermicelli.
The star of the night was the goat neck massaman. Served on the vertebrae with the tendons and piled with shallots, yam cubes, and mustard greens, it does not make for an attractive dish. At first glance, it's difficult to tell what has been set down in front of you. But get past the looks and you'll find what may well be the most tender protein being served in New York. Forget about a knife: a strong glance could pull the meat apart. And then there are the flavors, whose sweet richness grows more intricate with each bite. It's the sort of cooking that makes --- or remakes --- a reputation.
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