Mr. Baan’s wildly imaginative cocktail menu is built around common Southeast Asian ingredients.
By Nikki Buchanan | Photography by Angelina Aragon
Alex and Sunny Martin, chef-owners of Lom Wong, have turned the cozy space directly behind their regional Thai restaurant into a cocktail bar and mookata – a type of buffet-style restaurant devoted to DIY Thai barbecue and hot pot, so named for the grill-like device used to cook the food. The wildly imaginative Mr. Baan’s cocktail menu, devised by Valley barman Dustin Doan, is built around common Southeast Asian cooking ingredients such as kaffir lime, Thai basil, galangal, tamarind and lemongrass – but there’s nothing common about the drinks themselves.
Named after a yellow curry noodle soup popular in Burma and Northern Thailand, the Khao Soi Cowboy is a splendid example of Doan’s East-meets-Southwest approach. Served in a green bamboo mug, the Tiki-ish concoction mingles blanco tequila with a curry cordial syrup brimming with turmeric, ginger, garlic and chiles. Pineapple juice is added for sweetness, fresh lime for acidity, house-made salted coconut cream for silky mouthfeel and a spoonful of kapi (fermented shrimp paste) for depth, complexity and umami. Finally, the drink is garnished with pineapple and a tangle of crispy noodles – which happens to be the traditional topper for the classic curry dish that inspired it, taking this funky cowboy to a new frontier.
