Global Connections

On the Trail of Local Asian Foods

By Sally Eisele / Photography By Sally Eisele | July 10, 2018

Thom Khem braised pork belly from Samsara

The same day I was asked to do this story I got a call from my sister. “The kaffir leaves are here,” she announced with excitement. “You just have to pick them up at the Traverse City Asian Market.”

Anyone who loves a good Thai curry knows that those waxy leaves that float in the bowl are an essential ingredient—a powerfully citrusy aromatic that adds an unmistakable extra layer of flavor to the dish. Lime zest will help, but it’s not a substitute.

I first ate Thai food in Chicago in the ’80s and once I had the taste for it, I craved it. But it took a while for good Thai restaurants to find their way to Lansing, so I learned to make it myself. Resourceful Northern Michigander now, I still do that. Because good Asian food, with a few well-known exceptions, is hard to find up here, in spite of the fact that Northern Michigan is a food mecca. Anywhere you turn, farm stands laden with fresh berries, local produce, honey, maple syrup. At this time of year, it’s all low-hanging fruit for the locals and the thousands of summer visitors to enjoy. But sometimes, I just want a good crispy spring roll. Or a fiery hot curry that explodes in my mouth. A real bamboo shoot that soaks up all the juices.

So just as I was about to head to the market and dig out my well-seasoned steel wok, I was asked to hit the road in search of out-of-the-way Asian food in Northern Michigan. I found two local gems. First stop, Beulah.

MARY’S ASIAN CUISINE

You can’t miss Mary’s Asian Cuisine US-31. It’s a bright yellow food stand, parked right next to the Market Basket, a local produce market that draws locals and tourists alike for fresh pies, seasonal produce and local crafts. There’s a small parking lot, a cluster of shaded picnic tables and a steady stream of customers, most days, who know this local secret.

The sign says “Mary’s Asian Cuisine.” I pull in, wondering what that means. Is it Chinese? Thai? Indian? I don’t get an answer from the menu. In fact, at first I’m just confused. Asian tacos? Bacon fried rice? An Asian Steak Stir-Fry Pita? What is this food? I prepare to be disappointed. I am wrong.

Before I order, I decide to ask one of the customers, a man who looks like he’s on his lunch break addressing a large to-go container at one of the shady picnic tables by the food truck. “What’s good here?”

“I love it all,” he says. “I come here three–four times a week when I’m on a job site nearby.”

On this day, 61-year-old masonry worker Scott VanderHoof ordered the combo, a trio of Mary’s main offerings: pork adobo, sesame chicken and bacon fried rice. Lured by the aromas of star anise, garlic and sesame oil wafting from his meal, I take my place in line and follow his lead.

“I’d like the combo please,” I tell the woman taking orders at the window. “Oh, and an order of your crispy spring rolls with your special hot sauce.”

The woman is 44-year-old Mary Ramey, owner of the food truck, who alternates between the customers and the kitchen, preparing orders and chatting with her obviously regular customers.

Mary is following her dream. She moved to Traverse City 14 years ago from Singapore and lives in Beulah with her husband, James. But she was born in the Philippines. Her father, a Filipino/Spanish chef who passed away two years ago last fall, was her teacher and her inspiration. Her mother is Chinese. Her food is a unique blend of cultures, which comes naturally, She’s not trying to fit into the pan-Asian trend. She is pan-Asian. And she’s also American. It all comes together in a simple blend of offerings that appeals to locals and tourists alike.

THE FOOD

The spring rolls come up first. Fresh from the fryer, the slender, golden cylinders glisten in the sun. I eye them hungrily. I dip one in a light, fruity dipping sauce that bears no resemblance to the often cloying sweet and sour sauce offered up with egg rolls at the fast food court at the mall. I take a bite. The flavors touch off one of those singular good eating moments worth driving all day for. The crispy, wafer-like rice paper wrapper gives way to tender bits of pork and vegetables, flavored with ginger, garlic and a hint of green onion. I take another bite, this time with Mary’s secret hot sauce. Mary makes her own, and she doesn’t want to share the whole recipe. But she tells me it’s got three different kinds of chilis, vinegar, a little sugar and salt in it. I’m sure there’s more, but that’s enough to keep me coming back. The spring rolls come four in a basket, for $5, and I want to eat them all. But I keep going. On to the combo.

The bacon fried rice comes sandwiched between a chocolate-brown pork stew, called pork adobo, and a generous serving of sesame chicken. The pork adobo is a savory stew of slow-cooked pork butt braised in its own juices. It’s in a meaty, stewy gravy flavored with hints of licorice from star anise, soy and vinegar. The pork is melt-in-your-mouth fork-tender.

The sesame chicken is another surprise. I don’t usually care for sweet-and-sour dishes, finding them to be too sweet, too rich. Succulent bites of perfectly stir-fried chicken lightly coated with a bright sauce, tinged with the pungent flavor of sesame oil. Sesame seeds punctuate the dish, adding texture as well as flavor. It is delicious. She makes it to order so that the chicken doesn’t dry out, and it shows.

Let me tell you about the bacon fried rice. It’s addicting. Fried rice is street food throughout Asia, an easy way to stretch a pot of rice with bits of meat and vegetables, flavored by everything from fish sauce to shrimp paste. Every country has its signature recipes. And then there’s Mary’s rice. Inspired by the American love affair with bacon, the dish is generously peppered with bites of egg and crispy bacon.

The thing about Mary is she loves her work and you can taste that. She knows her customers by name. She even knows some of their dogs. In fact, she used to work at a veterinary clinic before she started her food truck. Her husband told her she needed to follow her passion. Four years ago, just as food trucks were becoming a thing around here, she opened her truck in Beulah. And there it is today. On any given day, there’s a steady stream of customers, a ready mix of vacationers on their way to the lake, and locals who know that she serves some of the best food around. Period.

SAMSARA

Back in Traverse City, 28-year-old Samantha Malasy and her boyfriend, Kevin Kom, have a dream too: to share their culture and their food with Northern Michigan and help their parents. You’ll find them at Samsara, a new Southeast Asian restaurant at Chum’s Corners on M-37. The restaurant doesn’t advertise yet because, Samantha explains, “We want it to be a neighborhood restaurant, the kind of place people know about because it’s part of where they live.”

Samsara is a family restaurant in the truest sense of the phrase. Samantha and Kevin work alongside Samantha’s mother, Kirakhone “Kyla” Malasy. Samantha is a Traverse City native but her mom came here 30 years ago as a Laotian refugee and settled in Traverse City with her husband. They raised two children, Samantha and Sara, working in local factories all their lives to make ends meet. Kevin is the son of Cambodia immigrants. She met him at school in California, where they both lived for a while. Instead of pursuing a career in her field, she and Kevin decided to open a restaurant in Traverse City as a way to give back to their parents, to help them retire.

Samsara is a light and friendly place, simply decorated and all about the food. It is not a Thai restaurant. The menu has dishes that are both familiar and unusual. Oh, Thai food lovers, you will find curries. You will find Pad Thai. Thom Khom soups. You will find spring rolls. But it is most definitely not a Thai restaurant. I tried the Kah-Poon, a spicy Cambodian red curry soup with chicken and vermicelli.

Samantha placed a large bowl in front of me and I inhaled, first with my nose, and then with my eyes. There they were, the essential kaffir leaves, floating, with bits of lemongrass, in a large, steaming bowl of rich, red curry, drizzled with creamy coconut milk and dressed up with julienned carrots and sprigs of mint. My first taste told me the curry was made from scratch, from start to finish. Most curries are not. Curry paste is readily available at most supermarkets, and it’s good. I use it. So do most restaurants. Making it from scratch involves ingredients that are difficult to find, such as coriander root, rhizomes and, yes, kaffir leaves. This dish convinced me it’s really the only way to properly make a curry.

“If you really want good food,” Samantha tells me, “you can’t cheat on the shortcuts.” Clearly. Another dish you won’t find easily elsewhere is Thom Khem, a savory dish of braised pork belly and boiled eggs. You won’t find it easily at Samsara either. They only offer it on weekends and it sells out.

Talking to Samantha, I learned some of their secrets. Her mom has a kaffir lime tree. Kaffir lime trees look like lemon trees, and like their citrus cousins, they won’t grow here. Not unless you keep them in a greenhouse, out of the harsh winters. The tree lives inside in the winter. In the summer, a backyard garden supplies fresh vegetables, including bean sprouts and chilis, for the restaurant. They don’t use pesticides. They’re hoping eventually to be certified organic.

They do no formal marketing. Samantha’s sister, Sara, who lives in Warren, is in charge of social media. But the restaurant has a word-of-mouth clientele that is steady enough for Samantha and Kevin to be considering expanding the family staff. They work every day. Kyla can now be found in in the kitchen, chopping ingredients for Kyla’s Egg Rolls, another mainstay on the menu. Sam and Kevin alternate between greeting guests, waiting tables and helping in the kitchen with everything from the cooking to the dishes. Less than a year after opening, Samantha’s parents have both retired. Kevin sends financial support back to his family in California. And the restaurant also helps fund a sustainable family farm in Laos, where Samantha’s extended family lives.

“We’re learning as we go,” smiles Samantha, when I ask her if it’s all worth it. “It’s a trust-the-journey kind of experience.”

I wash the meal down with a pot of green tea and head home from my own journey. Back in my own kitchen, I put my little package of kaffir leaves in the freezer. No cooking necessary today.

IF YOU GO:

Samsara
4025 Chums Village Dr., Traverse City • 231-486-6155

Mary’s Asian Cuisine
Food Stand • Beulah on M-31, near Market Basket

Traverse Asian Market
533 W. 14th St., Traverse City • 231-421-5417