Inspired Cuisine that doesn't Monkey Around

"In a world of "Fusion" food and restaurants popping up everywhere throughout the USA and globally, I realized it has become increasingly difficult if not impossible to find "REAL" ethnic cuisine, “authentic” dishes as they were originally meant to be prepared and eaten.
 

While I have nothing against the “fusion” concept, there are two basic camps:
 

1. CREATIVITY of INSPIRATION: When the combination of ethnic and/or old world/new world recipes using the synergistic values of the best ingredients and methods so the outcome of the Chef’s creation is a artistic and culinary hybrid or signature dish that is unique.  The Japanese concept of ‘Umami’ which is considered the fifth basic taste along with sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.  Fusion done right utilizing Umami and esthetic presentation should bring to the senses unique and higher culinary experience for the epicurean and ‘bon vivant’.
 

2. When the dish created cannot be clearly classified by authenticity, ethnicity, flavors, ingredients or other methods…it is as I call it... “Culinary confusion” which is the classification of most American Fusion efforts.
 

This near void and vacuum sent me on a quest to offer and educate my restaurant guests and clientele in what pleasures old world cuisines and time tested ways and methods of authentic cuisine offer in the way of flavor, freshness, health benefits and outright culinary adventure.
 

I have spent the last two decades living, working and exploring lifestyles throughout Europe, Asia and a significant portion of time in Thailand, enjoying their truly amazing beautiful beaches, mountains, rich culture and cuisines and the unequaled hospitality of the Thai people.
 

During my journey through Asia and Thailand, I was fortunate enough to spend some time in robes as a Buddhist monk that was both an honor and rarity for a westerner like myself.  Because of this experience I was awakened to as side of Thai cuisine and types of food, many of which you will never even find in a Thai restaurant.  Family recipes handed down by generation.
 

More amazing was the history and tradition behind these dishes that offered as many health and medicinal benefits as they did flavors.
 

In fact, in my subsequent research I discovered Thai food in addition to being one of the most flavorful is also one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.

You need only to look at the average Thai person to realize whatever is in their diet has blessed them with a much envied and sought after health and beauty.

One of the key reasons Thailand is fast becoming the world's Health & Beauty Spa destination by not only the Celebrities, Stars and the Wealthy, but amazingly by many whom like in the USA and other western countries that cannot afford proper healthcare and treatment in their own countries.

After spending most of the last 20+ years overseas and returning to the USA I realized the absolute vacuum that existed of Authentic Asian and especially Thai Cuisine  The lack of Authentic Thai Cuisine in the USA made with "AUTHENTIC" Thai ingredients as prepared in the traditional Thai way has driven me to create the MangoMonkey Foods concept.

Why MangoMonkey?

Chef Dom: When trying to come up with a name for the new Restaurant name and business theme I had taken every word I knew that could be associated with Thailand that didn't actually use the words Thai or Thailand.

In the process, I used friends, co-workers and customers as my focus groups. 

One day when I had met with friends to discussed this topic and Mangoes and Monkeys both very common in Thailand were explored.

As I was describing one of my favorite recipes with some excitement to them, I unknowingly made an

"Ooh" Ooh! Ooh! sound!!!  Which according to my friends I do often without realizing.  I guess Darwin was right! 

When my friends stopped laughing... the name stuck... the rest is history. J

Chef Dom is known by Chefs worldwide for his trademarked motto and mantra: "Always be True to the Cuisine®".

This means not only to stay true to the recipes, but to the ingredients themselves.  Their absolute freshness and preparation as nature intended.  To balance flavors so that the desired affect can be share, explored and experienced by our most important critic... YOU. 
 

Chef Dom: "I have always been "Authentic Culinary Purist" striving to re-create recipes as they were originally meant to be by the masters." 

Anyone who has worked with Chef Dom in the kitchen knows his drive for perfection in craftsmanship makes him a frustrated culinary artist that can never fully be satisfied with the status quo during his quest in bringing all of the elements of culinary perfection together.

Chef Dom's restaurant clientele are usually a little spellbound by what some consider as his eccentric approach.

Chef Dom: "Its not so much eccentricity as it is knowing when something is done right, done well and not accepting anything less.
 

We have come to a point in society that we are surrounded by so much mediocrity it has numbed us to the point we miss the possibilities and realizations that things CAN be done right, and we should stop accepting when they are not. 

In large part, this is because in business and society when we make mistakes, no one wants to accept fault. 

What we fail to understand is, as in most things, failure is the foundation of learning to do things right.  When you try to do your best, and you fail, you either quit or try harder the next time.  

The way I look at it, eating is a well-established habit we have all had since birth.  It is also a required habit. 

So why not become the best we can at it and stop accepting what many companies are offering that is substandard.  By doing so we force them to offer better or go out of business.  We call this the “Law of Attrition”… or survival of the fittest.  Seems logical, right?  So why has the world moved away from such logic?  Simple, we allowed and continue to allow it.

What is eccentric about this?!  If you pay good money and get substandard food or products it should make you mad.  Seems logic is now considered eccentric.

In society with increasing pressure and demands on our time and lives, people not only choose NOT to say anything, but sadly enough, accept it.  Only to complain when it gets so far out of hand that it becomes criminal. 

A Chef worthwhile is one that sees food as an intimate calling he MUST share with the world.  Regardless of what culinary training or school they went to.

By far, some of the most amazing meals I have ever eaten were nothing more than straw huts on dirt floors in remote villages throughout the world cooked by men and women who barely speak their own native language. 

However, these culinary masters, over the ages through trial and error, time honored traditions, love of food and nature, their honesty and pride in the ingredients used by taking the best they can find from nature in their surroundings to create and transform simple ingredients into nothing short of culinary miracles is alone proof of a higher power available to those who seek it.

One of the key reasons all of these known and unknown Master Cooks and Chefs achieve their culinary miracles is because they learn and understand the mediums they work with down to a very basic level to their very limits. 

They have an intimate relationship with the fruits, vegetables, meats, proteins, herbs and spices of the ingredients from their very inception into existence.  

They understand, respect and fully utilize the laws of nature and energy to properly cook and prepare these ingredients, all the while knowing their respect of these ingredient’s possibilities and equally important their limitations will allow them to achieve a much greater result.

They are as I say.."Always True to the Cuisine."

For example when I prepare a steak, I have a relationship with it knowing if I give it what it needs, it will give me in return what I need.  No need to negotiate, compromise or argue with it. The proper seasoning, the right amount of heat at the right time for a prescribed period allows me to prepare a meal to remember… or if I fail to respect the principles of this relationship, one I will quickly try everything to forget.

I am the only Chef I know that complains to his clientele about the food I prepare if I cannot achieve optimal results. 

Because I am also not afraid to tell them I want to try harder next time.  Even if they are already very pleased with my efforts.  The first and toughest “Food Critic” is of course myself.

I know that if I am "Always True to the Cuisine", it will always be true to me.  The ‘laws of physics’ and ‘laws of nature’ understand this.  In the kitchen, only the Chef allows these violations through lack of knowledge, apathy, lack of creativity or laziness or works diligently to refuse and eliminate them.

My hope is that as I discover more purity, more truth in authenticity I can share this with everybody so I can awaken their senses, and those seeking this truth.  I hope you will try my food and allow yourself to explore this culinary adventure with me to awaken not only your taste buds and olfactory senses, but the mind, soul and body as well.

So far, the benefit to Chef Dom's clientele is when their meal reaches the table only to quickly realize this authenticity creates a natural perfection never able to be duplicated exactly again his Thai food has no rival in the U.S.

MangoMonkey’s mission is committed to offering the best in culinary adventure, freshness, flavor and health benefits.

Chef Dom:  I will always be true to the cuisine so that you only have to enjoy it.

Ghin Khao! (which literally means 'Eat Rice" but used as the Thai equivalent to "Come Eat!")

Yours truly,

Chef Dom