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    New Thai Restaurant

    Intriguing new restaurant offers fresh take on traditional Thai food with homegrown Texas ingredients

    Eric Sandler
    Oct 20, 2015 | 1:51 pm

    With Hunky Dory off to a solid start at the Treadsack "mothership" at 18th and Shepherd, the rapidly expanding Heights-based restaurant unleashed the second of its three fall openings on Tuesday. Led by celebrity fishmonger/chef PJ Stoops and his wife Apple, Foreign Correspondents brings a farm-to-table ethos to the traditional foods of northern and northeastern Thailand.

    Originally slated to be Hunky Dory's companion, Foreign Correspondents now anchors the North Main strip center that will also be home to Morningstar, the coffee and donut shop from Blacksmith owners David Buehrer and Ecky Prabanto, as well as Camella Clements's boutique Iko Iko.

    The restaurant doesn't look like a typical Thai restaurant — diners will not see any images of Buddha, for example — and the menu presents dishes that may not be familiar to most diners. Rather than draw from all parts of the country, Stoops has focused on the dishes from the regions of Isaan and Chiang Mai that he encountered when he lived there for three-and-a-half years. That trip offered Stoops his first taste of Thai cuisine, and it shaped what he knew about the country.

    "What I learned about the food was the boring food where I was living. Then I met Apple, and Apple is from the northeast. Whenever we go visit her mom and dad, it’s the same thing," Stoops tells CultureMap. "To me, that’s what Thai food is. I’m not saying that’s all Thai food is, obviously, but, from my exposure, what I knew about it, that’s it. We’ve kind of just tried to reproduce what I know and love."

    Texas fresh bamboo

    The farm-to-table aspect stems from a partnership Foreign Correspondents has entered into with Sameth Nget, a Cambodian farmer whose business in Rosasharon, Texas, is growing plants like tumeric, galangal and water spinach for the restaurant. Those ingredients grow well here, because the climate is similar to Thailand's. Stoops also expresses particular enthusiasm for the fresh bamboo that Nget is growing.

    "When I was a kid going to American Chinese restaurants and had canned bamboo in stuff, I hated it," Stoops says emphatically. "I moved to Thailand, and oh my god this is what fresh bamboo is like: a little asparagus, a little artichoke-y. It’s absolutely amazing stuff. It’s one of my favorite things in the world to eat, and it’s not something you can find of quality in Houston."

    Nget has also crossbred Southeast Asian chickens with the American heritage breed Rhode Island Reds to provide Foreign Correspondents with birds of a similar style to those found in Thailand. The chickens are skinnier than traditional American breeds and grow to full maturity in 12 to 20 weeks instead of four to seven, which Stoops says gives them a flavor that closely matches those found in Issan.

    Opening menu

    On the opening menu, Stoops uses these local ingredients in a variety of ways. Highlights include an appetizer where mackerel is wrapped with coconut sticky rice and an entree that mixes stir fried pumpkin with ground pork. Even the housemade charcuterie gets a bit of a twist, as one sausage uses water buffalo. Papaya salad, a signature dish from Isaan that's a staple at most Thai restaurants, gets two presentations on the menu as well as two variations: one made with fresh fruit and another with green beans.

    If the specific dishes are unfamiliar to diners, Treadsack co-owner Chris Cusack thinks people will understand the restaurant's culinary perspective once they taste it.

    "As an outsider, I sat down last night, as I hope many thousands of people will at Foreign Correspondents over time. I saw something familiar in terms of 'cool, I get the idea of the world of Thai food. I have some idea of what this is: it’s fresh, it’s tasty, there’s some sense of spice to it,'" Cusack says.

    Even knowing those things about Thai food from a trip to Thailand and having tasted Stoops's food during menu development, Cusack says his meal during the restaurant's friends and family surprised him. "It’s so far exceeded what I thought it ever could be and how we can bring people into some understanding of what this food is."

    Riffs on classic cocktails

    On the beverage side, bar director Leslie Ross has developed Thai-inspired riffs of classic cocktails like a cream soda made with vodka and hibiscus syrup and a namesake cocktail with Thai chili-infused green chartreuse. Beverage director Travis Hinkle's wine list follows the direction of award-winning Thai restaurants like Lotus of Siam in Las Vegas that feature Riesling and sparkling varietals designed to complement the cuisine.

    Finally, no discussion of Foreign Correspondents would be complete without considering the mural that runs along the restaurant's back wall. It's a brightly-colored, psychedelic affair of aliens and space ships that doesn't seem "Thai" at all, which is exactly the point. The food may be designed to be authentic, but it's being presented by an American chef cooking for Texans.

    "All of the conversations we had about how this place should feel and be went like this. How many Thai restaurants have we been to and seen? You can recreate the restaurants we saw in northern Thailand, and it would still be bullshit. You’re copying something that someone else is doing," Cusack says. "I feel like making this place the way that it is here is an effort to make it our own. To do something that is genuinely us, but it was also representative of something we love and we care about and we feel really great about."

    Stoops offers a similar opinion about trying to avoid stereotypical images and focus on the authentic affection he has for the cuisine and the country.

    "We’re trying to bypass some of the stereotypes. If it was Thai owned and had a Thai staff — look, Apple’s a really observant Buddhist — it would make sense and it would be boring," he says. "So go as far opposite as you can go. To me, that’s why I’ve always loved it, because it’s not that. It doesn’t even fit into any restaurant. That’s just it. There’s no theme there besides something really awesome to look at with beautiful colors."

    Familiar or not, the anticipation diners have for the restaurant is undeniable. Reservations for a three-night soft opening booked out in under two hours. With the restaurant ready to welcome diners, all Houstonians need to do is embrace Stoops' culinary perspective and prepare to travel to a delicious destination they likely haven't experienced before.

    Foreign Correspondents is open for dinner every day from 5 to 11 pm and for brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm. Lunch will follow soon.

    Tam Panlomai (fruit and shrimp salad with magenta rice)

    Foreign Correspondents fruit and shrimp salad
      
    Photo by Chuck Cook
    Tam Panlomai (fruit and shrimp salad with magenta rice)
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    What's Eric Eating Episodes 459 and 460

    Meet the men behind Houston's most under-the-radar Italian restaurant

    CultureMap Staff
    Apr 18, 2025 | 5:00 pm
    Fernando Rios Mike Sammons Mimo
    Courtesy of Mimo
    Chef Fernando Rios and sommelier Mike Sammons are this week's guests.

    On this week’s episode of “What’s Eric Eating,” sommelier Mike Sammons and chef Fernando Rios join CultureMap editor Eric Sandler to discuss Mimo, their Italian restaurant in the East End. The duo, whose history goes back to when they worked together at iconic Houston fine dining restaurant Da Marco, opened Mimo in 2023.



    The conversation begins with Rios explaining the progression of a career that took him from Backstreet Cafe to Da Marco to Weights + Measures, where he worked as the chef de cuisine while Sammons was a partner who oversaw the beverage program. Since they both live in the East End, they saw an opportunity to team up by claiming the former Kanomwan space on Telephone Rd.

    They discuss several aspects of the restaurant’s business, including Rios’ changes to the menu, the evolution of Mimo’s wine list, and how its been received by residents of the East End. A digression about Da Marco prompts Sandler to ask about its chef-owner Marco Wiles, who generally stays out of the media spotlight. Sammons shares that Wiles is the only chef or restaurateur who makes him nervous when he dines at Mimo.

    “He’s really not forgiving about things. This is very consistent with the Italian way of looking at things — there’s a right way to do things and that’s it. If it isn’t done that way, it’s wrong. A lot of my other mentors and friends can be more forgiving, but the standards Marco has kept for years has motivated me,” Sammons says.

    “He’s still the same way,” Rios adds. “That was insane to me. I thought, you get older, you’d be more relaxed, but the way he looks at you makes you nervous. Working in the kitchen, there was times he’d throw all my stuff away and say ‘start over.’”

    Was he right, Sandler asks.

    “Absolutely, yes. He was right all the time. I just think he was one of the best to do it,” Rios affirms.

    Listen to the full interview to hear both men discuss the one thing they’re most proud of about Mimo. They also discuss their plans for the future.



    In this week’s other episode, Sandler and co-host Mary Clarkson discuss the news of the week. Their topics include Houston’s finalists in this year’s James Beard Awards, the owners of Jūn adding a daytime concept called Third Place, and Aaron Bludorn promoting chef Allie Pena to be Bludorn’s new executive chef.

    In the restaurant of the week segment, Sandler and Clarkson visit Camaraderie, chef Shawn Gawle’s new restaurant in the Heights. They share their thoughts on the restaurant’s prix fixe menu, as well as its decor and beverage offerings.

    -----

    Subscribe to "What's Eric Eating" on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hear it Sunday at 9 am on ESPN 97.5.

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