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Ever since he took the crown on "Top Chef Season 1"—opening cozy Village nook Perilla soon after—Harold Dieterle has had a strong interest in bringing bold Thai cooking to NYC. But an interesting thing happened along the way for the Long Island-raised chef. That restaurant, named after a variety of Asian mint, veered more into New American territory with only muted Eastern influences. (Wonderful crudo, hanger steaks and whole fish won him stars and a loyal neighborhood following.) Enter the decidedly Thai Kin Shop, a slightly more casual restaurant opening soon in the former Philippe Chow Express on Sixth Avenue. We spoke with Dieterle—who's balancing the opening with an August wedding—about regional Thai cuisine, the latest "Top Chef" season and what seems like the world's most-famous duck meatballs.
The term "casual Thai" has popped up here and there when describing Kin Shop. I cannot help but think Bangkok street stalls....
I think from a run-of-show perspective, it's going to be very similar to Perilla. It's just the type of place that we like to do. As far as the food goes, it's going to be very regional. It's not going to be all dishes straight from Bangkok. There's going to be some Isaan-style dishes and dishes from the north—Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai—and then a lot of heavy seafood dishes that are very Phuket and Ko Samui-style.
And you're not going to be lining up a range of proteins to go with every dish. As in, shrimp going with 17 different curries.
What I find very frustrating is the whole "choose your own adventure" aspect of Thai restaurants. At some point, someone has to say: "I've been cooking this food long enough, I think I know what kind proteins go with which curries."
How's the menu going to be organized?
We're talking big dishes, we're talking soups, we're talking salads and appetizers and noodles. A lot of different curries. Some chef's specialty stuff which will rotate pretty frequently.
What are some of the dishes floating around your head?
I'm doing a broiled river prawn dish with a Phuket-style black pepper sauce. I'm thinking black cod broiled with a yellow bean paste. We got a fresh egg noodle with a pine mushroom broth, a poached duck egg and some greens.
Is it fair to say that duck meatballs will not be on the menu? [Note: Ever since Frank Bruni called the little bastards "irresistible" the media has not stopped writing about them]
The duck meatballs will not be on the menu. But the duck meatball mix will be making an appearance somewhere.
You've got to be a little sick of talking about duck meatballs at this point.
I am, but whatever. People like them so it's fine. It's whatever.
We talked in '07, when you opened up Perilla, and it seemed that you would have more Thai influence than it ultimately became. It's very much a New American restaurant. What happened with that?
I think the big thing that happened was that I didn't feel like I was in the position to do the dishes the way I wanted to. I needed another trip to Thailand to really get things focused. I got to go there again probably about a year and a half after we opened Perilla.
What's the name Kin Shop mean?
Kin Shop, it's a double entendre. Kin means "to eat and drink" in Thai but it's also like the kin restaurant of Perilla.
Are you familiar with the Microsoft Kin?
No, I'm not.
Microsoft Kin was this mobile device that launched maybe six months ago. It was geared towards tweens and high schoolers. It was supposed to be a social media phone or something. It totally bombed. It was an unbelievable disaster. So I didn't know if you were familiar with it when you were thinking of names, but I'm definitely hoping for better results for you guys.
Yeah, I hope so, I hope so. I'm hoping for good results as well.
I have to ask about "Top Chef"...are you still watching at all?
I'm trying to get away from it. I'm trying to get rid of it like a rash.
This season is particularly ripe...
No, I'm not watching. I mean, it's a great show, it's taken off. It certainly helped my career out tremendously. I'm just not that interested in watching it anymore. I'm happy with what it did for my career and I love all the guys who do it but, I don't know, I can just think of other things to do on a Wednesday night at ten o'clock than watch that show.
Are you in touch with Tom still?
Yeah, Tom's awesome. We try to get together and go out fishing a couple times a season. He's got a nice boat. He's a good dude.
Photo by Natasha Ryan
