(light rhythmic music) - [Announcer] Welcome to Atlanta, where the city's diversity is celebrated through its unique culinary landscape.

Today our talented SCAD students accompany host Cody Sanders to visit Talat Market's Chef Parnass Savang where they'll experience Thai food with a Georgian twist.

The students will take a breather in the bamboo forest, then joining them in the SCAD kitchen, our chef and host will help them to prepare a meal that feels like home.

(lively music) From the first bite to the last, we're discovering the soul of the city one dish at a time.

This is "Chef ATL."

(lively music ends) (ambient music) - Oh, are you all like excited to go to Talat Market?

- Yes, I've heard so many good things about it.

- Yeah, wait, T-Bone, aren't you Thai?

- Yes, of course I'm Thai.

I came straight from Thailand.

(laughing) - Will it be be the first time you eat Thai food in?

- Yes, it's gonna be the first time I eat Thai food in the States.

- Oh, my gosh.

- I'm so excited.

- That's gonna be so great.

- Oh, yeah.

Wait, where were we supposed to meet Cody to take us there?

- I don't know.

- Did we get lost?

- Hello, friends.

- Cody.

- Hey, how's it going?

And here I am.

I've arrived to join the crew.

How y'all doing?

- Fantastic.

- Pretty good?

- Yeah.

- Are y'all excited for Talat Market?

- Oh, absolutely.

- Y'all are in for quite a treat.

Parnass has made something amazing out of that restaurant.

- Sorry, how do you know Chef Parnass?

- Chef and I used to work together back in the day, and then we became roommates while he was creating Talat Market.

- That's so cool.

Oh my God, I'm so excited now.

- [Cody] Yes.

- [Parnass] I was kind of like the only Thai person in my grade.

I didn't see anybody else as role models, so I just kinda felt like I was a second class citizen.

The reason why I wanted to do the restaurant was because I wanted to cook this food.

No one else was doing this kind of food how I've seen in Thailand.

That's the fun of cooking this food and owning a restaurant that's constantly evolving and changing, 'cause we're all constantly evolving and changing.

Korean food was getting hot.

Japanese food is hot.

I feel like Thai food can be there too.

- It smells so good.

- Yes, all righty.

- Hey, what's up guys?

- Hey, how are you?

Hey, come on in.

- Thank you so much.

- Hey, pleasure.

How are you?

- Hi.

- Hey, Cody.

- Good to see you, my friend.

- Parnass.

- Cody.

- It's been great.

How are you doing?

- I'm good.

I'm excited to cook for you guys.

- Me too, me too.

(bright music) - [Parnass] We've got sticky rice.

- [Lailona] It's like a little present.

- [Parnass] It's like little, it's like rice Play-Doh.

(indistinct) - Don't sweat the technique.

- Come on now.

- [T-Bone] Oh, chef.

What's that called that you just dipped in?

- It's inspired by like a dry rush that I had in Chiang Mai.

- Oh, in Chiang Mai.

- The galangal dip.

But this is just like, it's a nice relish that you can eat with sticky rice.

- So it's inspired by like the Northern part of Thailand?

- [Parnass] Yeah, yeah.

- Oh.

- This is one that we have to have on the menu as well.

Yum Phonlamai is the fruit salad.

There's many iterations of the fruit salad.

Sometimes we use a different dressing or ingredients based on the season.

So this is like an homage to my mom's side of the family.

- I do have a question.

This guy has been looking at me.

- [Rod] Yes.

- [Lina] For a long time.

- [Rod] Yeah.

- What is it?

- That's that crispy rice salad I was talking about.

- Ooh.

- Ooh.

It's so cold.

- Crispy rice salad is all in the menu all the time, but you know, you can't have beets on there all the time 'cause they're not always in season.

So we use whatever is in season.

That's kind of our philosophy on our food.

And so when we can find ingredients that are used in Thai food but are grown in Georgia, I try to take advantage of that.

And it really makes these dishes, Thai food sing.

- Rod and Parnass, I know you guys know each other, but for our friends here, how did you guys connect initially?

- It was, we were in our own adventures.

I was trying to get a visa to work in Thailand and it didn't work out.

And I was like I hit up our old chef, Jeff Wall.

He got me to work in Decatur in Kimball House and then had a family meal once.

And it was really this family meal that this gentleman made the famous meatloaf, his meatloaf.

- Oh wow.

I remember that.

- You remember that?

- Yeah, I do actually.

Delicious.

- It was so good.

And I was like, "Who is this guy who made this?"

And it was Rod.

He's just so good, so good in the kitchen.

- I had moved to Atlanta to become a chef, kind of reached a burnout period.

And that is when I kind of went to Kimball House and I was like, "One last run."

And then I met him after a little while and kind of the first iteration of the popup was successful and we decided to kind of move forward from there, so.

- Rod, you mentioned the popup.

I was fortunate enough to run service that first night, and it really was a magical evening.

It felt like the start of something really special and now we're here in this beautiful space.

- Yeah, I think the excitement of it all kind of kept driving things.

It was kind of like owning your own restaurant.

It was just me and him kind of cooking.

Nobody else kind of like, "Do this, do that," you know?

I think we were doing something so different and unique at the time that once the word kind of spread, we started getting little write-ups and- - The big write-ups.

- Big write-ups.

- Well, so Creative Loafing was like a local magazine.

There's a picture of me like this.

I wasn't angry.

I was really happy to be there.

(group laughinG) But we were on the cover and you would see like stacks of that just in front of businesses and homes.

That, I think that was the turning point.

- Yeah.

- Of our momentum.

That was when we skyrocketed.

And he was a great supporter and just a rock to our partnership.

We're like brothers now.

(ambient music) - Pork jowl, what is pork jowl?

- So just the cheek meat of the pig.

- [Lina] Oh.

- So this is just one thing that works really well with our charcoal grill and everything, so.

- Oh man, this food is phenomenal.

And Parnass, obviously you have a connection to Thai food, obviously, Thailand, and I know that you and Rod went on a trip to Thailand.

I'd love to hear a little bit more about that too.

- And I wanted him to have a richer understanding of why I'm cooking this food and why it's so important for me.

And I brought him to Northern Shang Mai in northern Thailand.

And then we went to Bangkok, brought him to where my mom and her siblings and her mom and dad grew up in that fruit market where they sold pineapples back in the day.

And yeah, everywhere you go market is part of the Thai person's daily life.

So I mean, that's why the Talat Market makes so much sense when you like, repeat something that it's like emphasizing your excitement in it.

(gentle ambient music) - So, quick question, what is this that's in the- - Oh, this is very special.

That is bamboo.

(group exclaims) - You can eat bamboo?

- That bamboo, I harvested myself.

- Wow.

- Really?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

- When I was doing the popup back in the day, you know, Cody, we lived together in Candler Park.

- Yes, indeed.

- You know, after work I wanted to reflect on the day.

There was this like, hidden garden in this park.

And everywhere there was bamboo.

It was such a magical time.

- We called it the secret spot, actually.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Wow.

I'm so surprised that like, we have a bamboo forest here.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Wow.

- A lot of bamboo all around town.

But there's one bamboo forest that is near a trail.

(gentle ambient music) These bamboo trees are older than any of the bamboo that I've seen in town.

- Really?

- Yeah.

And when you go there, it's gonna be like walking amongst giants.

- Wow.

- In the beginning days of the restaurant, through the pandemic and then beyond, I have always been, even in the popup days, I've been fascinated with Thai desserts.

It's egg white custard, basically.

It's got palm sugar.

- [Parnass] It's so good.

- Coconut cream.

- Whoa.

- Young shredded coconut in there.

And then it's steamed, you know, so it's very light, delicate.

Perfect way to end a meal.

- Ooh.

- I love this dessert.

I've made it quite a few times.

- Wow.

Very good.

- I hope you guys enjoy it.

- Oh, we are.

Yes, not a problem.

- It's good.

A really creamy and perfect sweet.

And like, fluffy inside.

- Yeah, it's really light.

- It's a very interesting texture.

- I love Thai desserts.

They're very unique.

You know, yes, they do have some sweeter desserts, but a lot of them have a nice balance to them, you know?

And I hope I found a good balance with this one.

- This is a coconut dessert, so it really highlights the fresh coconut cream and milk that we do in-house.

With Talat Market, I looked at other restaurants that have stayed through the test of time.

You're constantly evolving.

And as people, were always evolving too.

And when we get five year mark, I want to take a deeper dive and what can we do to go the another level, you know?

It never stops.

- Yeah.

- [Rod] Yeah.

- It's a shame that we inhaled the crispy rice salad because it was so good.

Would you guys actually want to come to SCAD Studio so you can help us make it 'cause I would love to be able to just whip that up.

- I got it.

I mean, I'm free tomorrow or whenever.

- And I'm so excited to check out like bamboo forest because I want to see it like with my real eyes, because I don't know that we have bamo forests here.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You gotta go.

You guys gotta go.

(water trickling) I grew up watching my dad like literally work himself to the bone.

When I work, I have my dad's image and I'm like, "Oh, I'm not working hard enough."

But time forces you to sit down, go run, go meditate, go walk into a forest and let it inspire you and relax.

(gentle folk music) Bamboo is just so beautiful.

I love eating it.

I love watching it.

I love being amongst it.

And that's a great place for me to kind of like self-reflect and see what I can do to make what I'm doing better.

Just having a balance is, it's very important.

And I learned a lot of that from Rod.

- Walk me through your experience growing up at Danthai, at your family's restaurant.

- Growing up, working with my mom and dad, that restaurant was not just a restaurant, it was literally daycare, like where I explored my hobbies and met friends.

All of my life was really in the restaurant.

The food that my mom and dad cooked, in the beginning, they were cooking more from their taste buds, harking back to what they were used to eating in Thailand.

We had more esoteric dishes like mi krop, but, you know, they presented that to the community and things started like, "Oh, they don't really care about the way the napkins are folded, so we're just gonna cut that out.

And we're just give them paper napkins."

"Oh, they don't really like this dish, the pad kra pao, the basil stir fry, so we'll just replace that with something like fried rice."

My mom and dad didn't really eat that food, but it paid for my brother and I to go to college.

After service, between lunch and dinner, they would make their food that brought them home and made them feel happy.

But yeah, I started cooking out of like, not knowing what to do.

And, you know, this was when YouTube came out.

2007, 2008.

- Early YouTube era, yeah.

- And I was becoming a junkie.

(Cody laughing) There were so many like documentaries and you could learn so much on the internet.

I stumbled upon Gordon Ramsey and I just fell in love with like the professionalism and the craft.

And I was just like, "I could apply that to my mom and dad's restaurant.

Maybe I can be that guy to like help smooth out the restaurant, make it better, go to the next generation."

That started getting me interested and I started like going in there instead of waiting tables like, "Mom, can I help you roll those spring rolls?"

- [Cody] Hello.

- Can I help you maybe like marinade that chicken for the fried chicken wings?

Like, so like this interest of food started like coming out and then, you know, at that time my mindset was like, "Oh, Gordan Ramsey, yeah.

He wants to be the best.

Michelin stars, right."

And I just started like pursuing that.

- Yeah, I'd love for you to get into kind of going from Valdosta State to this journey that you took going to New York City.

- So yeah, when I was working at Valdosta, I was trying to be the best, the best.

So like everybody else was like, didn't have that mindset.

So I was like thinking I was, you know, hot stuff.

(Cody laughing) And then I went to culinary school and just everybody thought like me and everybody wanted to be the best, the best.

And then after culinary school, going to, you know, New York City to do my internship there and just getting yelled at and just making so many mistakes, that's where I kind of developed thick skin, but I'm human (gentle music) and I was in the city by myself, didn't really have time to make friends because I was working so much.

- Hmm.

- And so, I went to Thai Temple to rekindle that connection of like, "I am somebody" and, you know, just like going to this Thai store.

And the person at the counter started like, spoke Thai.

And that language made me feel like home.

- Hmm.

- And I am a first generation born in America, but grew up in Georgia, but I'm Thai.

So the natural inkling is to cook the foundations of Thai food.

And then just kind of going with like, how food is naturally, how it naturally evolves, which is like, all right, I don't have this ingredient from my home country.

What's the second best thing that's close?

And it's like, even better or not even better, but just like works in that frame.

- Excellent.

So, I definitely have vivid memories of you examining rejection therapy when we lived together.

Let's hear a little bit about rejection therapy.

- Okay, so there was just a time where I was just like really into these TED Talks and there was this guy named Jay Jang and he was doing ridiculous things like going up to an officer and asking for money.

And of course, he would say no.

And that really for some reason, inspired me at that time.

(chuckles) I am a quirky person.

I like that.

- Mm-hmm.

- Those things.

And I started like doing those things.

I did like 70 of them.

(bright music) They're all recorded on my Facebook.

(laughing) - [Cody] Are they really?

- [Parnass] Yeah.

- [Cody] Wait, okay.

So did you record?

- I didn't record them.

I just like, after the fact, I took a picture and made a log.

- Totally.

If I recall correctly, you meeting someone to ask for money at a TJ Maxx or outside of the- - Yes, a TJ Maxx.

- I remember coming home (Parnass laughing) and you saying that at TJ Maxx, you asked a gentleman for money and he was immediately like, "Oh, yes, sure."

And he pulled his wallet out but had no cash.

And he's like, "I can buy you a shirt."

And so you went shopping with him because you were like, "Oh, I don't know, I wasn't expecting this change of goals.

Let's look for a shirt."

And I think you eventually were like, "Nah, I don't want the shirt."

And you just walked away.

(both laughing) - I don't know, when you're giving this, you're like, this is just a thing that I'm doing.

- Yes.

- So.

Yeah, I mean, I felt like that kind of numbed me from like ridiculous requests.

- Mm.

- And then I was just, you know, I think that flowed into like, "Hey, Rod Lassiter, do you want to like do this thing?

I like you, you're funny.

Do you want to do a popup?"

Or like, "Hey, we're gonna sign this."

- [Both] Lease.

- For the brick and mortar.

- For the brick and mortar, but we don't have money.

Like, you know, it was (sighs).

It's crazy.

- Hey, should we do some rapid fire questions?

- Let's get into it.

- Alright.

Pineapple or coconut?

- Coconut.

- Okay.

Fermented or fresh?

- (groans) Fermented.

- Okay, Coldplay or Johnny Cash.

- (groans) Coldplay.

- That does not surprise me in the least.

I know you love Chris Martin.

- He's awesome.

- (laughing) I know.

- Gordon Ramsey or Mattie Matheson.

- Mattie Matheson.

- Okay, okay.

I'd like to see the evolution.

What's a moment in this journey you've had so far that some people might consider a failure that you used as either a stepping stone or inspiration that you found was a gift and not something to set you back?

- My parents, I know were kind of like culturally growing apart a little bit and understanding each other is harder.

Even my support group was kind of like doubting my trajectory.

I was supposed to take over Danthai, my mom and dad's restaurant.

- Right.

- I was supposed to be in Lawrenceville and continue cooking that food because that's what in, you know, I learned that in Thai culture, you take over your parents or whoever is in the family, your parents' restaurant or whatever business.

But I think the American side of me was like, "I don't want that.

I don't see this as a fun growing opportunity for me."

That phase of my life was the foundation of like... (gentle music) All the decisions I made for the Talat Market.

It's...

It's fearless and just like when you do something, just put it out, put it out there 100 hundred percent, 110% if you have that.

- Mm-hmm.

- It's just kind of putting it out there and learning that people appreciate that.

If I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna fail fighting.

- Hmm.

That was beautifully said.

- I'm still learning a lot more.

I'm still young and I'm still in my prime and there's a lot more to explore and I'm excited to see where that is and the new techniques that I find.

And failure is not the end of the world.

It's just, they're notes for what you need to adjust to be successful.

(gentle music) (group laughing) Well, you know, you just, you guys just came back from the bamboo forest, right?

- Absolutely.

It was beautiful.

- I almost cried.

Like that reminds me of my home.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(group laughing) - You guys ready to learn how to make crispy rice salad?

- Yes.

- Yes, I am.

- Absolutely.

(upbeat music) - Well, we have this foraged bamboo that we got.

I'm gonna cut in half First.

- What kind of stores could I find the bamboo at?

- Buford Highway Farmer's Market has it.

I don't really see it at DeKalb Farmer's Market, but any like Asian market really.

So it's gonna look like Stairway to Heaven.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it does.

- So this sheath out there right here, you can't eat that, it's hard.

So you just kind of start from the top and then just run your- - [Lailona] Oh, wow.

- Your thumb underneath and then you extract what you need.

You wanna do it?

- Okay.

(group laughing) - Start from the top.

- Start from the top.

- And then go right to the bottom.

Yeah.

- Whoa.

(upbeat music) - Mm-hmm.

- Easy.

- It looks satisfying too.

- It was so satisfying.

- I don't recommend eating this raw.

I mean, I highly recommend boiling it in salted water.

Pop it in there.

It takes like, what, two to three minutes?

Not long.

We'll take it out.

But when that is happening, we're gonna start just cutting all these vegetables.

(upbeat music) Next I want to introduce you to the star of the crispy rice salad.

It's the crispy rice itself.

- [Group] Ooh.

- So the best rice to use for this method is day old rice.

- Mm, what are some ingredients that we don't have here that you think could also work with this type of salad?

- Anything really, like right now strawberries are in season, blueberries.

Tossing that into it adds some fresh sweetness.

You can do braised spring onions.

- [Lailona] Ooh.

- Or you could add more.

Like, it's really- - Anything you want.

- Up to anything you want.

That's the beauty of this dish.

- Yeah.

- All right, so now we're gonna make the dressing.

I'm gonna add a little bit of this red chili jam into our bowl here.

So you could like, this is house-made.

It takes so long to make but you can buy it at the store.

It won't taste the same as if you make it.

It's just a slight difference, but it still works.

Then we'll cut some lime.

When you look at a lime, it's not bumpy, it's very smooth, that's how you know you get a lot of lime juice out of it.

- [Lina] Oh.

- But if it's a little bumpy it and it's hard, that means you're not gonna get as much, yeah.

- I think that was like two juices right there.

Two lime juices.

- [Lina] I can smell the- - [Lailona] Yeah, like just coming together.

- You smell the sour and sweet.

- [Parnass] A little bit of fish sauce.

- So what is fish sauce?

- It's anchovies that we put lots of salt on there and cure it outside in the sun in a huge container.

And then after a year, they extract the liquid out of that and then- - Wow.

It's a process.

- It is a process.

Luckily we don't have to do that at the restaurant.

I'm gonna add some of this palm sugar in there.

Yeah, it's hard to (indistinct) season palm sugar like this.

(group laughing) So we're gonna shave it until it's very thin so it dissolves very easily into the sauce.

And then we'll taste from there.

I had an idea once with like palm sugar, thinking of a palm sugar ice cream and we topped it with shaved palm sugar like that.

You could do that in the dorm.

Totally do that in the dorm.

Yep.

So bamboo's done.

It's like wobbly.

That's how you kind of know and you feel it.

(group laughing) - It's soft.

- Feel that.

- Yeah.

- It's not firm.

It's just kind of like a dog's tail wagging.

(group laughing) And then so what we're gonna do next is chop it.

You know, when you chop stuff, you want to keep it like bite-size.

Then we're gonna add that into the mixture.

- [Cody] Oh my goodness, Parnass, my wife is gonna be so jealous.

This is one of her favorite dishes in the city.

- Oh, Wow.

Looks so good.

- Enjoy.

- Wow.

- Oh my goodness, thank you.

- [Lailona] Hmm.

- Oh my goodness, you have the crunchiness of the crispy rice and then the leafiness of the all the lettuce.

- It's really good.

Many textures.

- I love this too because there's so many different flavors and textures that on paper before I had it I was like, "How is this gonna work?"

But it just collides in this beautiful way.

- It remind me of my mom's dish like spicy salad that she cooked for me after school.

- Oh.

- And it's refreshing for my tiredness from all day.

- [Parnass] Wow.

- I'm glad I know how to make this now 'cause I'm gonna be making it all the time.

- Yeah.

- Thank you guys.

- Amazing.

- Parnass.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much for guiding us on this journey with where you've been at Talat, how you've made it to be.

Thank you for cooking this food and for having this journey for us today.

We really appreciate you.

- Thank you so much.

- You're welcome, guys.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

(T-Bone speaking in foreign language) - Oh.

(speaking in foreign language) (folk music)