ANNOUNCER: And now "Signature Dish," a WETA original series.

SETH: Today on Signature Dish, we're getting a taste of Thai.

We'll seek out regional delicacies, starting in the tropical south.

All right, chef.

I've had a lot of pad thai, but it's never looked like this.

Wow.

We'll hear some Bangkok street food sizzle.

YAI: After we blend everything, this is the final dish.

SETH: I cannot wait to eat it.

Mmmm!

And enjoy a flavor-packed favorite from the north.

“MAMA”: Little bit, little bit.

SETH: Little bit?

“MAMA”: Not too much.

That's spicy.

(Seth sighs).

SETH: I'm Seth Tillman, WETA producer and DC native, and I love good food!

Nice to meet you.

That's why I'm traveling to restaurants across the DMV.

At each stop, looking for the one thing you just gotta try... that Signature Dish.

I'm kicking off this flavor journey with a trek out to Ashburn, Virginia, and the One Loudoun Development.

It's here that you'll find Sense of Thai, a passion project from chef-owner Pat Pattanamekar.

PAT: I'm from Chumphon, the city of the south of Thailand.

Chumphon is surrounded by the ocean.

So, all along with the beach, you're going to see a coconut tree and the fresh herbs, and the seafood.

And from the south, you're to get influenced by the Malaysian and some parts of the Chinese and the Indian cuisine.

Thai culture, we love eating.

But every time when we go out to eat with my family, especially my mom, she's always saying, "Oh, I can make it better."

And inspire me to say, "Okay, I can cook it better too."

Like my family fighting, no matter what, but when we eat the food, everything gone.

I came here for the studying, just study, hang out with friends, and then going back to Thailand.

SETH: In 2005, Chef Pat received an offer to take over a small Thai restaurant in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland.

PAT: When I see the location, I cannot say no, but I have to talk to my mom and my family.

And luckily, they support it.

SETH: After a decade at the helm of Thai at Silver Spring, Chef Pat opened Sense of Thai in 2015.

PAT: When I start doing the restaurant, it's someone's else concept, I just took over the restaurant.

But for Sense of Thai, I can bring the southern-style cuisine.

I can put my mom, my family, my dad's favorite dish.

It's my menu, it's my dream, it's my life.

SETH: Chef, good to meet you.

PAT: Hi, Seth.

Nice to meet you.

SETH: I had a great drive out here to Ashburn, and I'm excited for whatever Thai flavors you have in store today.

What are you making?

PAT: Today, I'm going to make a special version of pad thai from my hometown.

It's called Chumphon pad thai.

SETH: Chumphon pad thai.

All right.

Well, I've had pad thai maybe 500, 1,000 times, but never Chumphon pad thai.

Uh, what makes it unique?

PAT: It's a lot of the coconut cream, tamarind juice, and palm sugar, and the seafood.

SETH: All right.

So, it sounds almost like kind of a tropical version of pad thai.

PAT: Yes.

SETH: So, how do you get started here?

PAT: So we're going to slow cook and starting from the oil, and I'm going to put the coconut cream.

In the traditional pad thai, like the Bangkok pad thai is no coconut.

And now we're going to put the curry paste.

This one, I imported directly, it's from my hometown.

SETH: Oh, wow.

PAT: Yeah, because different temperature, different soil.

A lot going to come out different flavor.

I want to support my local old-lady business from my hometown.

SETH: Oh, that's wonderful.

PAT: And we slow-cook it, and then we're going to add little of the red onion, and then we're going to put the shrimp to make a curry base.

SETH: We're already getting some seafood in here.

PAT: Yes.

You keep slow cooking.

This is preserved sweet radish, can get a little crunchy texture.

Now we're going to put the most important ingredient for Chumphon pad thai, it's the tamarind juice.

SETH: And tamarind's going to give it a little bit of sourness too, right?

PAT: Yes, a little bit of sour.

And in the tamarind, they have some sweetness at the end of the taste too.

SETH: An ingredient that is both sour and sweet, it seems like it's perfect for this dish.

PAT: Yes.

We use tamarind juice more than other pad thai.

And then you're going to put palm sugar, get more sweet and the good balance, and a little bit touch of the salt.

And then at the end, when everything cook well, you can add more coconut.

SETH: I'm not going to object to more coconut.

PAT: And now this is an important step.

My mom keeps telling me, like, to be the good chef, you have to taste.

Sometimes the sugar not the same sweetness, the tamarind, everything.

SETH: What do you think, chef?

PAT: I think I going to put more palm sugar.

SETH: All right.

Little sweetness works for me.

PAT: Yes.

And it's already spicy, so I'm going to put more coconut.

I want everything to be balanced between spicy, sour, and sweet.

Now, I'm going to be the last step.

SETH: One more taste?

PAT: One more taste.

Yes.

SETH: A-okay?

PAT: It's good.

Now we're going to put rice noodle, and we're going to put the shrimp and still slow cook again.

You can add fresh chives.

SETH: This is starting to look mighty good, chef.

PAT: Yes, yes.

Now we add the crab meat.

SETH: So, this is just an explosion of seafood.

PAT: Yeah.

So, now it's ready for the final step.

We are going to use one egg, and we are going to do, like, a very slim egg omelet.

Then we are going to plate... and we are going to put the shrimp and the crab meat back on top of the omelet.

We are going to put the most of the pad thai inside the omelet and wrap it.

And we serve with the crunchy peanuts, lime, fresh green sprout, and fresh chives.

More chili, if you want more spicy.

And then we ready to enjoy the Chumphon pad thai.

SETH: All right, chef.

I've had a lot of pad thai, but it's never looked like this.

The plating is beautiful.

The cocktail is beautiful as well.

What are we drinking here?

PAT: It's a clarified whiskey cocktail.

It's have the passion fruit on top mixed with the butterfly pea from Thailand, and give it the purple color.

SETH: Oh, wonderful.

Well, cheers.

PAT: Cheers.

Oh, wow.

Mine is good, too.

SETH: You have quite the cocktail bar behind you here.

PAT: Yes.

SETH: All right, I cannot wait to try... PAT: Okay, please try that.

SETH: ...this pad thai.

PAT: You can eat one bite with some of the omelet.

SETH: Wow.

That is just out of this world.

The freshness of that sauce you made, maybe it's the tamarind, gives it that sour note that comes through.

There is a little heat in the curry paste.

PAT: Yeah.

SETH: Some really good sweetness.

It just sings.

It really does.

PAT: And then you can mix all of the topping with the noodle.

And if you want more sour, you can squeeze more fresh lime juice like this.

I love sour though.

SETH: It's almost like a deconstructed pad thai too because I see the peanuts and the bean sprouts- PAT: The crunchy peanuts and the bean sprouts.

It's all kind of fresh, so it can give you the texture of the crunchy, and it's good with the roasted peanuts and the fresh bean sprouts.

SETH: I'm going to make a little mess of this beautifully plated dish you made, chef.

PAT: Yeah.

SETH: I want to get all those flavors in one bite here.

PAT: And you can eat, like, the fresh chives.

Pick it up and eat it.

Makes you have a little bit bitter at the end of the taste.

SETH: You know, Chef, I've been eating pad thai for so long, so to suddenly have a version that just feels completely different... PAT: Yes.

SETH: ...is really something special.

PAT: Yes.

Pad thai is my dad favorite dish.

After he have the emergency heart surgery, when I asked him, "Dad, what do you want to eat?"

The first meal that he told me, like, "Chumphon pad thai."

But now my dad, he passed away three years ago.

I want him to know, like, now most of people love his pad thai.

SETH: It's amazing that a food dish could just have so much personal meaning to you.

PAT: Yes.

When I see people eat Chumphon pad thai, I'm glad.

I want him to see, and it's kind of remind me where I came from, and for me it's more than food.

SETH: Well, that's really beautiful and you really can sort of feel the love that goes into this dish.

And chef, coming out here to Ashburn, this area around your restaurant has just exploded.

But you guys were here from the beginning, right?

PAT: Yeah, we're here 10 years ago and we want to thank all the support from the neighborhood to be good customer.

So, I want to be like the second kitchen of the neighborhood, and I want people to come enjoy the food and have fun with the bar.

SETH: Well, I had a lot of fun and you have unlocked a world of southern Thai flavors that I knew nothing about, and I will definitely be seeing you again real soon.

Thank you so much, chef.

PAT: Kap khun ka.

SETH: Kap khun krap.

My next stop is just off the Pike in Rockville, Maryland.

In the heart of Rockville Town Square is Thai Chef, a colorful ode to Bangkok street food run by a mother and daughter team.

YAI: I grew up in Bangkok.

Bangkok is a sleepless city.

Thai people eat food all day, all night.

So, this is the environment that I grew up.

LISA: I was born in Bangkok, raised actually in Bangkok also for 16 years.

Growing up in Bangkok, we experienced a lot of night markets.

We just randomly go out at night, try some new food, something to eat.

So, I had a thought of bringing that to the DMV.

YAI: First impression for the people who come inside the restaurant, it's a unique decor.

It's a night market theme.

So, some people said that this is a Thai wonderland.

So, I think, "Wow.

Okay."

Second thing, our food is classic, but delicious.

We put the heart on our cooking.

SETH: Yai first joined forces with her daughter Lisa, Thai Chef's resident mixologist, at Aroy Thai, a College Park restaurant that they took over in 2013.

LISA: I was studying psychology at George Mason, but I found out at the last year that it wasn't for me.

So, I jumped in.

It felt natural to help the family business.

YAI: Lisa bring a lot of new style for her generation.

For me, this is a perfect match.

SETH: Also part of the team is Chef Prapai Supatnukul, a long-time family friend of Lisa and Yai's.

And previously, the chef at Aroy Thai.

I'm meeting up with Prapai and Yai to learn about one of their Bangkok night market favorites.

Prapai, Yai.

Nice to meet you.

YAI: Nice to meet you.

SETH: I am excited about fish and obviously some Thai peppers.

What are you making today?

SETH: And so these are the ingredients for the curry paste?

YAI: Yes.

For every dish of the Thai has their own unique flavor.

So, this is the curry paste that is good for do the catfish.

So we start with the galangal.

We add the lemongrass.

We're going to put the dried chili.

Going to add the fingerroot.

SETH: Fingerroot?

I don't think I've heard of that before.

SETH: All right.

Well, I like heat.

And then obviously even more with these Thai peppers.

YAI: Yes.

This is a Thai chili pepper.

We are going to add the red onion and the garlic.

SETH: All right, lots of flavor in here.

YAI: And not done yet.

We're going to have a black pepper.

This is a turmeric.

I'm going to add some water in the blender.

SETH: Once the curry paste is blended, it's time to slice the fish.

SETH: All right, so it's just getting a nice light dredge here, not a big, heavy wet batter.

YAI: Yes, also it'll make the catfish crispy when we deep fry.

SETH: While Prapai fries the catfish, she also finishes the curry paste.

Adding garlic to the blended ingredients, along with dried herbs.

A touch of coconut milk and fish sauce, and giving it all a quick flash in the wok.

YAI: After that we are going to put our curry.

Next, it's a fingerroot.

SETH: More fingerroot going in.

YAI: More fingerroot.

SETH: All right.

YAI: Next one is a kaffir lime leaf.

SETH: And kaffir lime leaf, that's going in a lot of Thai dishes, right?

YAI: Yes.

SETH: That curry paste is waking up my sinuses.

YAI: And this one is a Thai eggplant and a red pepper, young peppercorn and Thai basil.

SETH: Got it, beautiful.

YAI: It's more flavor.

SETH: I love those little baby peppercorns.

SETH: And I think I understand why this is called a dry curry because it's not swimming in curry sauce.

It's just enough to nicely coat that catfish right there.

YAI: Yes.

So after we blend everything, this is the final part.

SETH: It's amazing how fast things cook up in the wok.

YAI: We put the steamed rice on the side.

SETH: I cannot wait to eat it.

All right.

My favorite part of every shoot, the actual eating.

I cannot wait to try this catfish curry.

Of course, a little bit of rice.

And in Thailand, no chopsticks required, correct?

LISA: Correct.

YAI: Yeah, just fork and spoon.

SETH: I am hooked.

That is delicious.

The catfish is nice and crispy.

And the curry, I don't know if it's the fingerroot or the Thai peppers, but it does kind of wake you up a little bit.

It's a very, very vibrant bite.

LISA: It's two different types of heat.

SETH: And this is a Thai eggplant, this veggie here?

LISA: Yes.

So, it has some texture that you might not be familiar.

YAI: It has some little seed, so it's crunchy.

SETH: Oh, yeah.

And besides that crunch, a little bit of an earthiness as well.

YAI: Right.

SETH: Well, I just absolutely love this dish.

And the drinks are equally as beautiful as all the food on the table.

This is your doing, Lisa?

LISA: Yes.

This is Crazy Thai Lady.

SETH: Crazy Thai Lady, all right.

LISA: Correct.

SETH: Named for anyone in particular?

LISA: Right here.

Yeah, it is Kaffir lime and lemongrass-infused tequila.

We call it the "Thai Twist Margarita."

SETH: Ooh, that's a tropical and refreshing sip right there.

Seeing all this beautiful food, you know, has me wondering, street food is just something you find at, you know, just about any Thai restaurant now, but what makes Bangkok night market, you know, street food so unique?

SETH: Well, I definitely feel like the flavors are transporting me to Bangkok.

And I mean, you know, talk about decor.

I feel like I'm not in Rockville anymore.

LISA: So, this is actually a pretty big part of me growing up in Bangkok, going to the night market and just stroll around, trying to get something to eat at night.

So, then we added these little pieces of decor and in the tuk-tuk downstairs, and even the merry-go-round, the horses, it just reminds me of the time when I was a kid.

SETH: Well, I'm glad that you guys were able to translate your experiences in Thailand so beautifully to the plate and the walls and the ceilings around us.

And I can't wait to come back to try this dish and all of these other beautiful dishes here on this table.

Thank you all so much.

YAI: It's our honor for Thai Chef to be on your TV program.

LISA: Thank you so much for coming.

SETH: Our last stop on this Thai tour is Georgetown.

We're visiting Rimtang, a cozy two-level restaurant built inside of a historic row house.

The restaurant was opened by Chef Peter Kannasute, with a kitchen headed up by his mother, Prapit La Femina, who at the restaurant simply goes by "Mama."

MAMA: In Thailand, they have the food around the sidewalk.

You can walk and see about people cooking.

PETER: Reminds me, in Thailand... SETH: Rimtang's menu reflects Mama's upbringing in Don Sai, a district that straddles northern and northeast Thailand.

Two regions where potent herbs and spices give the dishes a distinctive kick.

“MAMA”: And every time that we eat my mom food, oh my God, I'm thinking about how I grow up, I'm going to have food like my mom.

Make people happy.

To take care of my son, I have to open a restaurant.

I decide to someday I open again in America, and my son go, "Oh mom, you can.

You can."

PETER: I start to learn cooking because mom.

SETH: Peter, who became an acclaimed sushi chef after his arrival in the US in 1999, opened Rimtang, his first Thai restaurant, in 2024.

It's the dream, right?

Because I've been dreaming about this for mom.

“MAMA”: Now that everyone come here and go, "Oh, I love your food.

I love your food."

Look like my face go like that.

So happy.

SETH: I'm hopping over the C&O Canal to try Rimtang's take on Northern Thai, and round out this regional odyssey.

Chef, good to meet you.

“MAMA”: Nice to meet you.

SETH: Sawasdee khrap.

“MAMA”: Sawasdee kha.

SETH: You haven't even started cooking yet, and it smells really nice in this kitchen.

Uh, what are you making today?

SETH: Okay, so, we're making a little bit of a chili dip today.

“MAMA”: Yeah, chili dip.

SETH: I like the sound of that.

SETH: All these ingredients have been pounded out to make this beautiful curry paste.

And I'm guessing it's the shrimp paste is the reason I'm getting that nice kind of fermented aroma.

“MAMA”: Yeah.

Yes.

SETH: All right, that sounds good.

So, how do you get started on the cooking process here, chef?

“MAMA”: We have some oil.

Garlic first.

SETH: Every great dish has to start with some garlic.

“MAMA”: Yeah.

Okay, we put the chili.

Yeah, we can put the pork.

We use the kurobuta pork.

It's a good pork.

A good quality.

Now we stir a little bit.

And I make a pork to cook a little bit.

See, aroma coming.

Make your skin good, make you handsome.

Make you, uh, younger.

SETH: Yeah.

I wish food could do that, chef.

“MAMA”: Tomato.

"MAMA": After, we can put the soy sauce.

But not put too much yet to make too salty.

It's not good for your body, to your kidney have a problem that you eat too much salty, right?

SETH: I really appreciate your concern for my health.

“MAMA”: This one make your skin look good too and make you handsome.

SETH: All right.

Well, I'll take all the help I can get.

I was already excited about this dish.

I'll be younger, more handsome and great skin.

I might be eating here every single day, chef.

“MAMA”: Thank you so much.

SETH: All right, guys.

Beautiful Northern Thai spread on the table.

And it looks like we're going with sticky rice as our utensil here?

"MAMA": Yes, uh-huh.

SETH: All right, make a little sandwich and then just dig right in?

“MAMA”: Take a dip.

PETER: Yes, right in.

“MAMA”: Little bit, little bit.

SETH: Little bit?

“MAMA”: Not too much.

SETH: Very strong flavor.

“MAMA”: Okay.

SETH: All right.

That is a killer bite right there.

There is a good amount of heat, you weren't joking.

But I think there's that sharpness too coming from the shrimp paste, those fermented beans, and maybe it's the soy sauce to round it out, but that is a complex bite that is full of flavor.

I love it.

And all these veggies and everything, this is also... you can use to dip as well?

“MAMA”: Yeah, you can eat with the cucumber, uh, steamed vegetable.

SETH: All right, I think I'm going to try a little cucumber.

PETER: I like the way you put the crispy pork.

SETH: I really like the way the veggie works though because you get that freshness too from the veggie and a nice little contrast of textures.

But it is a porky dish, so I'm going to try a pork skin too.

(crunching) Just a crunch explosion.

And these are some other Northern Thai dishes on the table here?

“MAMA”: Yes.

...this one.

And three, called isan papaya salad.

It's different from Bangkok.

SETH: So, that's what I'm seeing right here is a bit crab.

All right, I'm going to try a little papaya first.

But papaya salad, this can usually be pretty spicy, right?

PETER: Yeah, it is spicy.

“MAMA”: Not too much I make for you.

Not too much spicy.

SETH: I appreciate that, chef.

Thank you.

All right, and chef, I need a little tutorial on these crabs here.

“MAMA”: I put a lot for you.

You can take this one.

SETH: All right, and then what do you do?

I'm guessing you're not eating the shell here.

You're just trying to get some of this little meat out?

PETER: Yeah, just bite it and suck.

“MAMA”: And you take a bite.

And just suck the juice inside.

You see?

SETH: Ooh.

"MAMA": That's spicy.

SETH: Yeah, that is spicy and a nice little blast of salt right there.

Oh, man.

All these flavors are just so bold.

And Peter, I'm curious for you, having gotten into the sushi world, were there lessons that you picked up that you could apply to this restaurant here?

SETH: And you really can taste the freshness in the dish.

I don't know, Chef, has the dish turned back the clock?

“MAMA”: Now you- SETH: Am I five years younger?

“MAMA”: You're pink now.

Skin good, good-looking skin now.

SETH: That's the spice doing the work.

This has been an excellent tour around the dishes of Northern Thailand.

Thank you both so much.

“MAMA”: Thank you.

PETER: Thank you.

Kap khun krap.

“MAMA”: Kap khun ka.

SETH: Kap khun krap.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: To find out more about great food in the Washington Metro Area, visit weta.org/signaturedish.