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CONTACT ME

Taste Curator

904-290-6924 | mimi@tastecurator.com

PO Box 2922
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32204

130 Corridor Rd # 2922
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32204

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Guess what does the fact that I’m a Vietnamese from Texas that has anything to do with my making corn bread madeleines? Here I’m serving them with crispy #porkbelly , red pepper & eggplant spread, and the greens are #caulilini. Didn’t know the name caulilini existed until I found it on an American restaurant’s menu. So that’s what they’re called in the west, when we Vietnamese have been calling them #chinesecauliflower . If you like cauliflower, you’ll ❤️ caulilini. They taste even more delicious than cauliflower, and they look so pretty. If cauliflower and broccoli had a baby, it would look like these baby breath caulilini. But they’re only available less than 2 months a year, from late Dec to end of Jan, so hurry to your Asian grocery store (call to find out which one carries them; I found them at La Salsa in Jax). Rub them in olive oil and salt and roast them in 400F for about 15 min. The stems turn into a beautiful bright green color, just like in this pic, and the tips are white like cauliflower head. But if you mix a dash of turmeric powder in olive oil and brush on the tips, the bright yellow tips against the bright green stems look even more beautiful like mine here (not to mention the health benefits from eating more turmeric) #truecooks #instachefs #chefsofinstagram #homechef #homechefs #popupchef #asianchef #asianchefs #vietnamesechef #jaxchef #jaxchefs #jacksonvillechefs #jacksonvillechef #gourmetchef #gourmetchefs #asianchef #chefsgossips #army_of_chefs #professionalchefs #foodartchefs #gastroart #highendchefs #chefsalert #cookniche #food52 #chefstalk #chefsofinstagram #chefstime

Repost from @chefler_platformu. Lighten up folks, it’s a joke

I’m feeling purple veg right now: roasted purple cauliflower, purple Brussels sprout petals, ube aioli. Yummy #truecooks #instachefs #chefsofinstagram #homechef #homechefs #popupchef #asianchef #asianchefs #vietnamesechef #vietchef #jaxchef #jaxchefs #jacksonvillechefs #jacksonvillechef #gourmetchef #gourmetchefs #asianchef #asianchefs #chefsgossips #army_of_chefs #professionalchefs #foodartchefs #gastroart #highendchefs #chefsalert #cookniche #theartofplating #food52 #chefstalk #chefsofinstagram #chefstime #chefselection

Have you seen chef @reneredzepinoma (World’s 50 Best Restaurants)’s recent post listing Noma’s 13 modifications for each dish each week? Thirteen! Holy crap. To me, dining out to a fancy restaurant is like traveling. We don’t do it all the time so we should be more open minded to enjoy the full experience. Don’t get me wrong. ALLERGY is a SERIOUS thing, but intolerance and lifestyle is a choice. 10, 20 years ago, I don’t remember restaurants having this many options. Now people’s dining demands are getting out of hand. So what gives? Are we more entitled or less healthy than our parents’ generation?
I’m NOT discounting people with REAL food allergies. Or folks who used to be able to eat certain foods but now start to develop allergic reactions as they get older. It’s a real problem and it happens to a lot of people I know, with whom I can sympathize. Or folks with dietary restrictions. But there are also folks who confuse allergies with foods they don’t like. My main point is, with so many restaurants out there catering to specific needs already (vegan, gluten free, dairy free, etc), we shouldn’t expect every restaurant to be ALL things to ALL people. It’s hard enough for chefs to focus on cooking the best tasting food with quality ingredients, presented in a creative, aesthetically appealing way, in a beautiful setting with the best service. To add these customization layers can suck the life out of a restaurant and its staff. How far do we expect chefs to accommodate diners’ demands before they start to lose their creativity or their minds? We all need to examine this problem and find a solution for the next generation. Otherwise it will only get worse and our children will grow up with all kinds of food hang ups, false allergies (not disrespecting people with true allergies), dining entitlement, and lose the ability to truly enjoy a restaurant experience the way it is meant to be enjoyed, by eating what the chef puts on the menu. I’m sorry if I offend anyone; I just want to seek some understanding. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. (Please be kind to each other with our comments; no need to attack) 🙂

Okra rules, especially when stuffed with shrimp. So easy, quick to make, and so delicious! See comments below for recipe #roastedokra #okra

Nothing better than grits for breakfast! I used white corn stone ground grits with truffle pecorino, shallot confit, and fried egg sprinkled with “o mai” salt (made from Vietnamese “o mai”, a salted dry apricot that’s been my childhood snack, now available in a finishing salt packed with umami flavors, which my cousin from Vietnam recently gifted me when she came to visit) #bestbreakfast #grits #gourmetgrits #trufflepecorino #omai #chefsbreakfast #comfortfood #comfortfoods #comfortbreakfast #tastecurator #thetastecurator

And the celebration continues tonight when I made mushroom & roasted bone marrow dumplings, with black truffle, black garlic, red pepper & eggplant spread, savory, and zhong yuzu sauce. Did you know that black garlic has twice the amount of antioxidant and taste sweet raw by itself unlike the bitter taste of regular raw garlic? And #roastedbonemarrow is another #umami ingredient full of health benefits #chefsgossips #army_of_chefs #professionalchefs #foodartchefs #gastroart #highendchefs #chefsalert #foodstarz_official #asianfoodmedia #cookniche #theartofplating #food52 #thebestchefawards #culinarychefs #chefstalk #chefsofinstagram #chefstime #chefselection #dumplings #truffledumpling #bestdumplings #bestdumplingsever

NYE dinner made even more special when our best friends decided to surprise us by driving 12 hours to count down with us at Santa Fe’s #1 restaurant. Too much food, too many calories, but who’s counting? Risotto with chanterelle and wild mushrooms, seared fois gras with sweet bread, duck confit pasta, prawn & grits, osso bucco, salmon & white asparagus, bucatini & lobster #nyedinner #santafeeats #newyearseve #santafefood #santafefoodies #santafe #santafenewmexico #nyecelebration #foodie #foodies

Been having fun coming up with different fillings inside my puchka ever since I came back from my staging at Gaggan’s. So when my fam felt like some homemade guacamole and chips, I decided to pipe my guac into the fried puchka, and garnished with cilantro, chervil, jalapeño, and pomegranate for color. The puchka replaced the chips perfectly and elevated my guac & chips to a fancy dish #guacamole #guac #puchka #puchkas #panipuri #panipurilovers #appetizers #appetizer #amusebouche #amusebouches #tastecurator

I like cooking my own Italian because I can make my sauce more healthy and with any protein and indulgence I want, such as spinach tagliolini in leek pesto sauce, with roasted pork belly, seared scallops, topped with minced black truffle, truffle oil, brown butter sage and celery leaves #tastecurator #thetastecurator #jacksonvillechefs #popupchefs #popupchef #blacktrufflepasta #trufflepasta #spinachpasta #scallops #porkbelly

Made honey sage rolls #dinnerrolls #dinnerroll #homemaderolls #homechef #popupchef #popupchefs #jaxchef #jacksonvillechefs #tastecurator #thetastecurator

Perfect Instagram moment: when you went out to dinner and wore something that totally complimented your surroundings. Can anyone guess which restaurant’s entrance I was standing at, in Bangkok?

Weather like this calls for comforting food like this: brown rice celery porridge made with chicken broth, served with roasted bone marrow for the rich taste and health benefits. So yummy #riceporridge #riceporidge #roastedbonemarrow #ricesoup #porridge #porridgebowl #celeryporridge #vietnamesechef #homechef #popupchef

Tofu can be so delicious, not to mention nutritious, when cooked a certain way. This prawn & pork stuffed tofu will turn a tofu lover out of any skeptic. I used soft tofu, stuffed it with herbs & shallot marinated ground pork, topped with a butterflied prawn, lightly dredged before frying, then garnished with scallion in truffle oil yuzu soy that is so well seasoned that it also acts as a dipping sauce. A winner every time! #shrimptofu #tofudish #tofudishes #friedtofu #deepfriedtofu

My take on Thai’s staple dish, pad kra pao but made with ground lamb, with fried quail egg and garnished with sriracha powder, Hawaii black salt, pink pepperberry, and rice cracker #padkrapao #thaifood #padgrapao #thaifusion #thaifusionfood

I have been on the quest for the perfect spoon for my “spherification explosion” ever since I started doing my VIGLO (Vietnamese with global influences) popup dinners three years ago. @chefferran.adria first introduced this spherification technique at his restaurant, @el_bulli_ in Spain, where he formed olive liquid into spheres with very thin membranes that burst in your mouth. It’s a result from the reaction between sodium alginate and calcium. I have never had the honor of tasting El Bulli’s famous spoonful before it closed, but I have tasted @chefjoseandres ‘ version of liquid olive and @gaggan_anand ‘s yogurt explosion, and was blown away by both. Nowadays many high end restaurants have their own versions of spherification explosions (swipe left for a plethora of examples). The dish (or rather spoonful) is so memorable that I want the right serving spoon for it. The task is harder than I thought. Every time I traveled, I was always on the lookout for that special spherification spoon. Aesthetic wise, it has to be beautiful and unique. Image wise, it has to be modern (even better with a touch of Asian but can’t look too traditional). And logistically, it can’t tilt when sitting on a flat surface (like many spoons do). So it’s been a challenge to find that perfect spoon.
Then it’s the challenge of what I want my spherification explosion to be. I want it to taste incredible and is a perfect representation of my cuisine. For the longest time, I have decided that I would do a Vietnamese coffee explosion. But after seeing that it’s been done at @NénRestaurant in DaNang, Vietnam, whose chef Summer Le did a beautiful & delicious job with it, so now I want to go back to the drawing board to create something else. Maybe I need to decide on the right serving spoon first, and hopefully it would inspire me to come up with what to serve. Sounds crazy but my mind sometimes work that way, because I cook with all senses, not just taste. So far, I have collected 14 spoons that I have been picking up from all over the world. Which one(s) is (are) your faves and why (if there’s any particular reason)? Or feel free to send me any ideas of your own. Thanks

Just been inspired to cook Indian food lately. My first time making roasted okra rubbed in bhindi masala topped with rice poha crumbs turned out delicious. Also made corn poha crusted fried shrimp. Poha is dry flat rice sold in Indian grocery stores everywhere, yet I only knew about it when I staged at Gaggan’s Progressive Indian restaurant. We Vietnamese have been using the same dry flat rice in our cooking for centuries- with white, yellow and young green rice- called cốm, which is the same thing as poha. It’s fascinating to see so many similar ingredients & dishes around the world that are under different names and are cooked differently in different countries.

To me food has to taste freaking good. Period. But having eaten many Michelin starred meals, I sometimes I let myself get swept away by all the other stuff (presentation, plating, decors, atmosphere, customer service, wines, etc.) while the food itself took a back seat. However, once in a while, I would be blown away by an exceptional dish but at a cheap greasy spoon place that took me by surprise. This happened to me last night when we went to this hole in the wall Chinese restaurant in Houston named Spicy Hunan (don’t let the cheesy name fool ya), and had this noodle dish that was highly recommended by my brother- sweet potato noodles with cabbage. So simple yet so good, full of umami. We were looking at each other thinking “wow”. They might as well call it #cracknoodle (hey, if pastry chef Christina Tossi can call one of her desserts ‘crack pie’..). And their #eggplant #greenbeans were super delicious too. As a #chef, this place inspires me to focus on making #food that taste great first and foremost. It deserves at least a #jamesbeardaward in my opinion. #houstoneats #goodeatshouston #bestnoodle #bestnoodles #asianfood

There is one place I always have to go whenever I’m in Houston: 100% Taquito, a hole in the wall kind of place that has the best Chicharrón. Omg, they come out still sizzling from the hot oil, crackling & delicious, to be dipped in yummy guac. Their tacos are pretty good too. #taco #chicharon #chicharones #houstoneats #houstonfood #houstonfoodies

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