I went to lunch recently at the one and only ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen (opened last fall in Washington, D.C.) with my fellow board members of the Association of Food Journalists (AFJ). I loved the bold flavors and the upbeat atmosphere.
Located in Dupont Circle, it’s a long, narrow storefront, with minimalist design and a neutral color scheme. In front are bare wooden tables that can be moved around to accommodate all group sizes. Towards the back is the kitchen and the lively assembly line where diners create their “customized” entrée in the interactive format popularized by parent company Chipotle.
The “menu” consists of a bowl of rice, chilled noodles or salad, to which is added one veggie, one sauce, a “garnish” and a “topping.”
During our lunch, Tim Wildin, Chipotle’s Director of Concept Development, explained how the ShopHouse idea grew from a “tasting trip” he made through Thailand and Malaysia with Chipotle founder and co-CEO Steve Ells. While he talked, Wildin passed around small bowls of all the main ingredients for us to taste. My favorites were the roasted Vietnamese-style pork-and-chicken meatballs, and the grilled steak laab that’s tossed in a cilantro-lime fish sauce and mixed with toasted rice. I also loved the spicy red curry sauce and the tamarind vinaigrette.
The ShopHouse selection of hot veggies is awesome: green beans with roasted chili jam and shallots; eggplant with Thai basil; charred corn with scallions; and broccoli with fermented chili. Every vegetable looked great (no steam table fatigue here) and tasted bright and fresh. Chilled green-papaya slaw and Singapore-style pickled vegetables are also available to perk up your palate and your plate. I could make an entire meal of just the veggies, and will if and when ShopHouse opensin San Diego.
At the end of the line, just before you (should) choose a lip-smacking Bruce Cost Fresh Ginger Ale as your beverage, you get to garnish your creation with a cilantro-mint-Thai-basil herb salad and a choice of crunchy roasted peanuts, toasted rice, or crispy garlic. Prices range from $6.59 for the Grilled Chicken Satay Bowl to $7.50 for the Grilled Steak Laab Bowl.
After we tasted the individual ingredients, we were invited to go through the line and create our customized bowls. While we ate, Wildin explained the SHopHouse concept in detail:
**A ShopHouse is an iconic type of architecture prevalent throughout Southeast Asia; a colonial-style building where a family lives above the market or restaurant that it runs on the ground floor. Such restaurants are usually highly specialized, with each offering a specific dish such as noodles or curries or grilled meats.
**The selection of foods reflects the popular offerings of shophouses, hawker stalls and night markets in Singapore, Bangkok, and Hanoi.
**The ShopHouse menu is gluten-free and dairy-free.
**Ingredients are “responsibly sourced” with sustainability in mind.
**The culinary team working to put ShopHouse on the map is an impressive one: Kyle Connaughton hails from the Michelin-starred The Fat Duck outside London. Nate Appleman won the James Beard Award for Rising Star Chef when he was at A16 in San Francisco; and Joel Holland from Restaurant Terroir in Jackson, WY.
Wildin told the gathering of food writers that he and his partners were proceeding slowly with plans for additional ShopHouses. However, knowing the way Chipotle stormed the quality fast-food scene, I’m guessing that at least some of us will be scarfing down this delicious fare in the not-too-distant future.