Favor more Flavor
Story by Leah Larson
Photography by Paul Riley
In Harrisonburg, we have our share of McDonald’s, Applebee’s and other chains. In the past, people would have had to look outside of town to add a little culture to their meals. Now, thanks to an array of ethnic restaurants, Harrisonburg has the world on a plate.
TASTE OF THAI
Ponsy Phonelath, the owner of Taste of Thai, opened her first Thai restaurant in Richmond and then moved to Springfield, where she lived as a photographer.
However, she got tired of the traffic and bustle of Northern Virginia, and wanted to move to Harrisonburg. She discussed with her father, who owned the Oriental Food Market (now located behind the restaurant), the idea of starting a business. There was no Thai restaurant in town at the time, and Phonelath could put to use the skills she picked up in Richmond. And so Taste of Thai was born in November of 1999.
Manager Prasert Saesow explains that it used to be much smaller. “It could only seat about 61 or 62 people,” he says. The restaurant underwent refurnishing, which was finished in October 2004. Lack of space is no longer an issue — the restaurant can now accomodate between 170 and 180 patrons.
Tom Phonelath, Ponsy’s husband, is the restaurant’s chef, and the creator of some of its dishes.
“We sell a lot of almost everything,” Saesow says. Some of the more popular dishes include pad thai, pan an curry, and chicken with cashew nuts, according to Saesow. He also boasts of the broccoli sesame chicken — Tom’s own creation.
“The flavor is pretty much authentic,” he adds. “Although we do tone down the spiciness a little bit.” People have developed a taste for it, however, and he says that he now gets more customers coming in and asking for spicier food.
Some of the ingredients they use include rice noodles, crushed nuts and Thai chilies. They also use a tropical fruit called tamarind, which has a sour taste.
Business has been good in the five years since opening. “People come for the quality and variety of our food,” Saesow says. With 71 dishes, plus the chef’s specials adding about 15 more, there are definitely enough selections to satisfy every customer.
BLUE NILE
Engdawork “Work” Arefaine and his wife Hamelmal Shiferaw came to Harrisonburg as refugees from Ethiopia in 1982, sponsored by a small church.They first started a catering business of international food, serving mainly church groups. They also catered for the James Madison University International Festival for four consecutive years — and kept running out of food. “In 2004, we sold everything we had by 4:30,” Work says.
Because of the popularity of their catering business, the couple thought of opening a restaurant. “We’d been planning that for the last five to six years ... we were just waiting for the right time,” Work explains. They began looking for a place two years ago and opened Blue Nile on December 4, 2004.
The restaurant does well with the student crowd, who are not from around here and may want something different. Then there are those who just want to try something new.
Along with the authentic taste come authentic eating habits as well; there is no silverware in this restaurant. Instead, the food is brought on plates lined with injera — which is a crepe-like bread — with food on top. Rolls of injera are brought out with the meal as well, and you eat by breaking off pieces of the injera and using it to scoop up food.
“Once people come have our food, they keep coming back,” Work says. “We don’t fry anything – everything is traditional.” No sugar is added, and everything is well seasoned with a variety of Ethiopian spices.
“A lot of JMU students call us a vegetarian heaven,” he explains. On Wednesdays and Fridays, he and his family follow a tradition where they do not eat any dairy or meat. This is reflected in their cooking with vegetables, “So you get the spices you’d get with meat.”
The Blue Nile also has a variety of popular dishes. “We don’t sell just one — we have chicken, lamb and vegetable entrees.”
One thing Work emphasizes that sets them apart from other restaurants is that their chef is also an owner. Hamelmal quit her nursing job to cook, and she takes great pride in what she does.
In all, the Blue Nile is a tasty hands-on experience well worth trying.
BOMBAY COURTYARD
“I came from the Valley,” says Tony Trieu, owner of the Bombay Courtyard. He grew up in Roanoke, but now resides in Harrisonburg with his wife and two young sons.
This Indian restaurant was opened four years ago in 2001. Since then, business has been doing well. “Any new restaurant, people are going to want to try,” Trieu says.
It’s easy for customers to tell that he loves what he does and is proud of the results. “We haven’t changed a thing,” he explains. Everything is authentic. However, he does understand if people are wary of trying his food. “Curry has a bad reputation,” he says. People seem to think that Indian food will be too spicy, but he is quick to calm these fears. “We buy our own ingredients, such as cumin, coriander powder, turmeric, and when we make the curry, chili is the last thing we add, so we control our spiciness.” They use more dairy products, which is custom of northern India. “That way, the spiciness is very subtle, and not overpowering.”
Some of the popular dishes are chicken tikka masala and a spinach appetizer, in which the spinach is pureed with dairy and spices. If a person prefers a milder dish, Trieu recommends the korma, and the vindaloo for something spicier.
Another feature of this restaurant is that the food is cooked in a Tandoori oven, which resembles a roasting spit. This gives the meat a pleasant, woodsy taste, complementing the spices, according to Trieu.
“There are no preservatives whatsoever,” he says. “When customers leave here, they tell me that they just feel better.”
MACONDO’S
Salsa music meets the ear when one enters Macondo’s. Colorful pictures are hung along the walls, one of which is of La Sagrada Familia, a majestic unfinished cathedral in Barcelona. And suddenly, the claves stop and Bob Marley’s voice quietly fills the room. The different styles reflect the variety of foods found in Macondo’s.
Chef Neri Haianj and his wife Rosa Rivera-Haianj, a JMU chemistry professor who is also the owner, opened this restaurant Dec. 23, 2003. He is from Albania while she is from Puerto Rico — a blend of cultures that is found in their menu as well.
Haianj is proud to say that his food is all authentic. Ingredients include vegetables, especially potatoes, a lot of garlic and white wine. One particular dish, fierce potatoes, is a family recipe made with a special sauce. White wine, sautéed in a pan, is used to cook almost all of his food.
What makes this restaurant unique is that it doesn’t just feature food from one country. “The Caribbean is not just one country; it’s made up of several islands, and they don’t all have the same foods,” Haianj explains. “We take some of the food from each place and put it in a menu.” For example, featured on one menu are a couple of dishes from Argentina, three or four from Puerto Rico, one from Cuba, two from Java and so on.
Some of the popular dishes include jerk chicken and paella, because some people have heard of them but have never gotten a chance to sample these foods. Neri recommends the saffron shrimp pasta.
With so much food from different places, it’s almost impossible to get bored with Macondo’s. Haianj admits that people come back for that very reason. “It makes it exciting for the customers,” he says. More than one trip to this restaurant is required if a person wishes to get a full taste of the Caribbean Islands.