Daring Dining: Bob Tam is The Chinese Neighbor
Chef Bob Tam has his feet in two worlds, but not because he placed them there. It kind of just happened that way.
On June 1, Tam will host “The Chinese Neighbor,” an exclusive dinner featuring his personal style of East/West cuisine. This special evening will kick off another month of Daring Dining, the new dinner series meant to give Valley diners an opportunity to taste the kind of food our talented chefs might offer if they didn’t have to worry about the day-to-day practical concerns of operating a successful restaurant.
Tam has spent the last two years as the creative — if not downright zany — kitchen personality at Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour, overseeing its bar menu. But at a time when anything with a spoonful of hoisin sauce or a squirt of Sriracha bills itself as “Asian,” the casual, playful nature of Tam’s menu belies its foundation.
Tam knows Asian ingredients and techniques. And he knows how to use them in dishes that reach across oceans to combine Eastern and Western flavors.
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“To me, it makes sense,” Tam says. “I don’t know why it makes sense, it just does.”
Learning about his history sheds a little light on why cultural crossover comes so naturally to him. Tam was born in Hong Kong, and came to the States when he was 6 years old.
“For my parents, it was a land of opportunity,” Tam says. “For me? I wanted to go to Disneyland.”
The Tams made their home in North Beach, on the edge of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
“I barely noticed the change. When we moved here, you knew you were in a different country, but Chinatown is its own environment.”
Growing up in a Chinese family and a Chinese neighborhood, preparing food was simply a daily reality for Tam.
“I never really thought about food as a career, because it was just life. It was just what you do.”
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But as Tam entered his teenage years, his parents encouraged him to think about a career.
“I wasn’t a school kind of guy, and I kind of goofed around a lot,” he says sheepishly. “And my parents said, ‘You know you can make a living out of cooking, right?’ And I was like, “Really? Because I love to eat.’ ”
Though he may not have fully grasped what working as a chef meant at the time, Tam embraced the idea, finding work at local restaurants and experimenting on his own time.
“I would literally try to pry (the burner) open,” Tam says, explaining how he tinkered with the kitchen stove to generate more heat for stir frying. “My parents would get so mad because the flames would start shooting out the sides of the wok.”
When he was old enough, Tam entered the culinary program at City College of San Francisco, learning Western technique while continuing to experiment with Eastern foods.
“They teach you all of the French and European basics, all the mother sauces and mise en place and hotel pans and stuff like that. But the money I made went towards Asian food.”
Given his interest in Asian cuisine, the staff at City College helped Tam land an apprenticeship at San Francisco’s Betelnut, one of the primary forces behind the Asian fusion trend of the 1990s.
“I looked at the menu and I was like, dude, really? Because it was a mix of all different types of Asian food,” Tam says. “I remember my first time looking at the (professional) wok thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to learn how to do this. I don’t care what it takes, I’m going to learn how to do this.’ ”
The obsessive Tam rose to the position of sous chef at Betelnut in his first year. In 2000, P.F. Chang’s hired Tam to work as a research and development chef. He moved to Phoenix for the job, but the research portion of his duties gave him the opportunity to travel the world, learning more about international flavors and cuisines.
Now, at Bitter & Twisted, he makes playful, over-the-top bar food to pair with Ross Simon’s mischievous (and lengthy) cocktail menu. But for Daring Dining, Tam wanted to show diners something closer to himself.
“The Chinese Neighbor is meant to be more personal to me,” Tam says. “I’m not cooking for the bar. There’s something personal to every single dish on that menu.”
Originally conceived as a restaurant that Tam hopes to open someday, The Chinese Neighbor is meant to be a casual, friendly experience where Tam is free to cook the food that feels natural to him.
“When you go to somebody’s house, you eat what they make for you. Don’t expect the norm. Expect it to be different, and hopefully it’ll introduce you to something that you wouldn’t have tried before.”
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The Chinese Neighbor dinner menu
Century Egg Salad
“Big Red” vinegar mayo, ginger, scallion, tobiko, grilled Noble bread
“It’s the (century) eggs, man. Some people love them, some people hate them. But I’m Chinese. We grew up eating this stuff. It’s the Chinese equivalent of cheese. (This dish) literally tastes like a slightly Asian version of egg salad, but more intense.”
Black Pepper Caramel Foie Gras
Bull’s Blood, shrimp crackers
“This is something that we used to do at Betelnut. I’ve made this for so many VIPs. The caramel is kind of like a Vietnamese catfish clay pot. It’s a fish-sauce caramel, so that’s what makes it so good. You’re just throwing more umami on top of the most umami thing you can think of, and the Bull’s Blood (wine) gives it a little bit of contrast.”
Hot Lamb Dan Dan
Homeboy’s hot sauce, Sichuan spice, cucumber, sprouts, wood ear, cilantro, egg noodle
“I went to Sichuan province to do research for P.F. Chang’s and this is very straight-up, except for the Homeboy’s hot sauce. You don’t see lamb dan dan, but there’s lots of cumin lamb, so I’m crossing the two dishes, basically. When people think of China, they don’t always think of lamb, but there are huge Muslim populations in the north.”
Duck on Duck Action
Crisp H.K. duck, Chinese duck “prosciutto” rice, Macanese tomato sauce, sunny egg
“You know the hanging ducks and chickens and stuff like that in Chinatown, you always see the one that’s soy-sauce based? To make that duck, you use the same (braising liquid) over and over. It becomes the master sauce. So I’ve been working this braise for two years now. I braise the duck in it, then I debone it and fry it. And the rice is like Spanish paella, almost. With an egg.”
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Daring Dining
What: Join chef Bob Tam and Republic/azcentral.com dining critic Dominic Armato at Bitter & Twisted on June 1 for a special evening of food and conversation. If you can’t make it, be sure to stop by Bitter & Twisted during June to check out Tam’s special Chinese Neighbor dinner menu, which will be offered all month.
When: Wednesday, June 1. Dinner begins promptly at 7 p.m. No need to come early. Your ticket serves as your reservation.
Where: Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour, 1 W. Jefferson St., Phoenix.
Tickets: $28.88 (includes tax and gratuity, beverages are additional); $5 off for subscribers. Click here for tickets.
Questions? Call Dominic Armato at 602-444-8533.