It's easy to understand my buddy Wally's policy against dining at any place that serves more than one type of Asian cuisine.
It's not an argument about authenticity, he says. Authenticity is a pointless argument in America. The point is vision and commitment. A restaurant that serves only the greatest hits of Asian cuisine must master each one, and almost none gets it right.
Thai Esane, open since June on 12th Avenue South, is the exception that proves the rule about pan-Asian eateries. Esane serves foods from Thailand, Laos, China, Japan and Malaysia, using complex and labor-intensive recipes executed adroitly and with confidence. From wonton soup to Malay noodles to spring rolls, everything that comes out of the kitchen proudly wears its own distinct, cobbled-together personality.
The name of the restaurant, Thai Esane, refers to Lao-speaking people in northeastern Thailand, and the food reflects that. It's roughly equal parts Thai and Lao, with flavors and textures honed to suit the tastes of the Sayasack family over the years they've cooked and served at the very popular King Market in Antioch.
Thai Esane brings an edited menu of King Market staples and more to Midtown, in the former At the Table/12 South Bistro location near Edgehill. Warm woods, soft lighting, Asian art and decor convey the message that while all the King Market favorites are here, the frog legs, fish bladders, squid, green bananas and quail eggs were left behind in Antioch.
Another difference: Thai Esane has a bar, so you can work on a Bangkok Mule while you ponder 11 pages of menu choices.
These are presented via a hybrid of Western and Eastern ways of thinking about food. "Appetizers" and "noodle soups" are straightforward divisions, and it's easy enough to maneuver to, say, steamed dumplings. Four pleated purses of dough cradle a mince of chicken, mushrooms, carrots, cabbage and onions. The wrapper is firm but yielding, and the filling moist and flavorful enough that there's no real need for the accompanying Chinese-style sweet soy dipping sauce.
Also grouped with appetizers are three soups, including a standout Tom Kha Gai. A tangy, chili-hot broth gets a satiny touch of coconut milk. Mushrooms, chicken, bell pepper and green onions — the ingredients are no secret. The greatness of Thai Esane's Tom Kha is in the attention to freshness and balance in a soup that most restaurants treat as either an obligation or an afterthought.
Two papaya salads are among the appetizers. The brave heatseeker might order "Esane style," crunchy shredded papaya in a hot (hot!), sour and bitter tamarind dressing typical of Lao cooking. An occasional forkful of it between bites of something richer is bracing and sinus-clearing. The portion is enough for at least two people.
The noodle soup section is substantive and robust. Pho lovers have an easy decision: Esane makes beef broth in-house, a time-consuming two-day process that's indispensible for good pho.
But ordering pho means bypassing kao soy, which has its own dazzling flavors and an army of fans. Dense with thick rice noodles, pork, fermented soybean sauce, tomatoes, paprika and a twizzle of fish sauce, the play of flavors urges just one more bite, again and again. The portion seems ludicrously big, yet I always seem to finish it.
Among the noodle soups is proprietor Nina Sayasack's favorite menu item, the woefully undersold "chicken noodle soup." The menu was rewritten in mid-September and adds "homemade noodles made daily." It's a better description, but still doesn't convey the work involved in twice-cooking hens, or the rich, intensely flavored result.
Asked about the soup section's head-scratcher, wonton soup, Sayasack explained that her aunt (who oversees the Esane kitchen) suggested adding it to the menu. Do people order wonton soup in a Thai restaurant? "It sells," she confirms. "Sells well." Knowing that Nina herself tries to look over every dish before it goes to the table builds confidence that even wonton soup is worth ordering.
Entrées are grouped not by protein, but by cooking method or service style: pan-fried, deep-fried, with steamed rice (mostly thinner curries), larb and yum dishes.
The link between larb and yum dishes is their salady disposition, and the fairest of them all is the modestly named Seafood Salad. Mounded sweet bell peppers, carrot threads and tender pineapple bits surround lightly cooked shrimp and scallops and steamed mussels. Every bite tastes different, depending on what ends up on the fork: sweet, hot, oniony sting, briny, puckery. What's not here is squid used in the dish at King Market. Sayasack says scallops prevailed over squid at Thai Esane.
Esane does a nice larb, a traditional Thai/Lao combination of finely ground meat, lettuce, cilantro, sliced chilies and red onion seasoned with lime juice and ground toasted rice powder. Each ingredient connects with a different synapse for the characteristic salvo of sensations that transforms Thai food from nutrition to sensory experience.
Tiger Tear Beef Salad achieves the same fireworks on the palate. Thin sheets of seared beef eye of round, seasoned with lime juice and fish sauce play against fruity-hot jalapeño slivers, the bite of onion, firm sweet carrot and bell pepper. Order it hot or not — either way, it's the essence of Thai's typical sweet-salty-hot-soft-crunchy dynamic.
Esane's method of sorting the menu strands a few offerings. Putting Esane Sausage in the "deep fried" section is like putting Baby in a corner. Each bite of this housemade mixture of coarsely ground meat, galangal, lemongrass "and so many ingredients," says Sayasack, is a depth charge of flavor. A dunk of sweetish and fiery ginger sauce is very good, but seems like too much of a muchness. Like all the "deep fried" dishes, Esane Sausage comes with a competent and satisfyingly tangy hot-and-sour Tom Yum soup.
Everyone seems to have a different favorite at Thai Esane. An acquaintance mentioned pad kra pao with pork. It's deeply scented with Thai basil and topped with a poached egg so expertly cooked that the bottom is furiously frizzled to a lacey crunch, yet its yolk is still liquid.
A Malaysian customer of King Market suggested a Malay noodle dish, and it's very popular at both King and Esane. A sweet-salty sauce glowing with chili coats thick, square rice noodles and firm slices of sweet Chinese sausage plus your choice of meat. The finely tuned flavor is matched by interesting textures: the resistant sausage and the pleasantly rubbery noodles. It's a surprise to find Chinese sausage on a restaurant menu — cooking with it is fiddly. Yet its sweet, slightly funky flavor and firm bite are critical to the personality of this entrée.
Another customer praised Massaman curry, a beautiful, comforting stew made with your choice of meat, potatoes and fresh vegetables. Planks of carrot and slices of fresh tomato are cooked until the moment just before they become tender, leaving them with plenty of flavor and snap.
Still others crave Drunken Noodles, stir-fried thick rice noodles, broccoli, bell peppers, jalapeños and gai lan with a choice of beef, chicken, pork or seafood in a brown sauce. Ordered mild, it's comfort food that doesn't challenge.
I've not heard anyone mention pad Thai as their favorite, though Sayasack says it's the most-ordered menu item. Thai Esane's version is very sweet. There's no arguing with thousands of orders sold, but for me it's the weak link in a menu stuffed full of stand-out offerings.
Most of Thai Esane dishes allow you to select the meat variety and the level of heat. Medium is plenty hot, and hot is very, very hot. Then there's "Nina hot." Once Nina gets to know a patron, she grants the privilege of letting her order "Nina hot." It's a respectful gesture — a badge of honor that demonstrates how Nashville and its Laotian population have grown up together over the past four decades.
The great Thomas Keller, owner of The French Laundry, pierced the mystery of restaurant success when he said, "A recipe has no soul. You as the cook must bring soul to the recipe." Soul, the commitment to preparing food that feels true to the taste of a gifted cook, is not the only reason for Thai Esane's successful sui generis pan-Asian menu. But it's the main thing.
Thai Esane is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Delivery available.
Email arts@nashvillescene.com.
