James Syhabout, who was born in northeast Thailand, grew up in Oakland, Calif. His mother ran a restaurant cooking foods of her homeland, ever conscious of the American palate.

Pivoting away from the food he grew up with, Syhabout attended California Culinary Academy and worked in high-end kitchens ranging from Manresa in Los Gatos, Calif. with David Kinch, The Fat Duck outside London, and even a stint at El Bulli in Catalonia, Spain. 

He opened the fine dining restaurant Commis in Oakland in 2009 and earned two Michelin stars. Yet when the chance came to take over his mother’s lease and share his family’s foods, he opened Hawker Fare in 2011. (The lease recently expired, and the location was closed. Syhabout’s newest venture is Hawking Bird.)

For his first cookbook, Syhabout could have written about Commis, the first Michelin-starred restaurant in Oakland. Instead, he chose to dig in and tell a more personal story with “Hawker Fare: Stories and Recipes from a Refugee Chef’s Isan Thai & Lao Roots” (Ecco/An Anthony Bourdain Book, $39.99).

He takes readers on a journey, explaining the elements of Isan and Lao food, and how they relate to Thai food. He writes in detail about the ingredients that define his pantry. But nearly half the book delves into his family’s experience as refugees, detailing his travels back to Laos and Isan during his journey to reconnect with his mother’s family in Isan and his father’s roots in Laos. 

Question: What prompted you to move from fine dining and French influence at Commis to Hawker Fare?

Answer: I relieved my mom of her lease, decided to take over her space. It was the tipping point for me. I could easily open a French bistro, but there was something sentimental about the space. 

I helped my mother in the kitchen, but I didn’t know how to start from scratch. It was like learning to cook all over again from taste memories. 

Q: What did you learn from stepping into that new role?

A: In Lao the recipes are just a guide. My mom would make one dish five times and it would taste different every time, but there is a nuance there that is very consistent that makes it that dish. That’s the brilliance of cooking Lao food. 

I’m so used to being in the restaurant (Commis) five nights a week and everything is so meticulous. It’s the perfect brunoise, perfect julienne, three chives on this dish. At Hawker Fare, when I first started I still had this mindset. Recipes are great guides. You need to trust yourself. 

Q: How did you approach writing this cookbook? 

A: I had to air some dirty laundry, my personal life. I kind of disowned my heritage, my past. It was kind of a homecoming for me. I have two kids, ages 6 and 4, and the best way to communicate a culture to anybody, the best vehicle for that is food. Everybody eats. 

It was kind of a shame I have nothing to pass on to my kids. The best way to know about grandma, grandpa and my aunts and uncles back in Thailand is through food. My kids can’t understand the language yet, but they can eat. So I had to fix myself first. 

I can always do a fine dining book. They’re a dime a dozen. It wouldn’t be as personal for me.

It is also for me, coming out and saying it is OK to laugh and joke about ourselves. Maybe I’m trying to be the Asian role model I never had. It is OK that your house smells like the food. I was one of three Asian kids in the high school. 

Q: How has food helped you find your place in the world?

A: It is understanding the nuances and learning the history. Why did the Lao use a lot of dried ingredients? Because of climate and preservation. It was like the anthropology of the foods and how did the food come to be. It is the climate, there was no refrigeration so you salted everything. There’s a reason we use shrimp paste or foods are spicy. That became the fabric of the cuisine.  

Q: Your mom now lives back in her village, in Ubon, even shipping her furniture from Oakland back after living there for 30 years. What was it like to go and cook with her there?

A: It makes you realize what they can do with the very little amount of resources and (still) produce great food. You don’t need the fancy knives, fancy stoves. That was very eye-opening. 

Q: What’s something that you want people to think about? 

A: Delicious food is delicious food no matter what culture it is from. The thing that drives me nuts, too, when it comes to food and ingredients — no matter how you cook it, it costs the same.

Yet somehow when you cook it in the context of a specific cuisine, mostly ethnic, you have to devalue it, which is a goddamn shame. If I spend $5 on chicken I can only charge $10 for a sandwich at Hawking, but at Commis I use the same ingredients and charge $50 and people are fine with it. It is like a social experiment.  

Q: Let’s talk about ingredients in the Isan pantry. What are the hardest things to find? 

A: Water beetles, and beef bile, because it is not USDA-approved; you have to buy it on the black market. Water beetles are frozen and you have to find a Southeast Asian or a Thai grocer for them. 

Q: What’s a lesser-known dish you love to introduce to new audiences? 

A: The dish that’s going to be hard to produce, I just put in the book for street cred and to let people know: Gaeng Kee Lek, the Ubon Kassod-Leaf Curry with Water Buffalo Shank. It is hard to find the leaves. It is leaves my mom brings home when she comes back from Thailand. She’ll harvest and forage it in her village, dry it and bring it.

Isan Bbq Chicken Gai Ping (Gai Yang)

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Barbecue chicken is everywhere on the streets and in the markets of Isan (Thailand), James Syhabout writes in “Hawker Fare.”

“You can smell it from afar, like a smoke signal commanding you to come and eat,” he writes. “Chicken, roasted or barbecued, just spells comfort. It’s easy and delicious. And with gai yang, sticky rice and tum som, you’ve got a complete meal.”


  • 1 gallon water
  • ½ cup kosher salt
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 whole chickens (about 2 ½ pounds each), split in half, backs removed


  • ¼ cup thinly sliced lemongrass
  • 2 tablespoons peeled garlic cloves
  • ¼ cup cilantro root or stems
  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon MSG (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • ½ tablespoon kosher salt

Brine the chicken: In a large pot, combine the water, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar and salt, then turn off heat and let brine cool completely. Transfer to a container large enough to hold both chickens and fit in the fridge. Add chickens to brine and refrigerate 24 hours.

Marinate chicken: In a mortar, pound the lemongrass, garlic, cilantro root or stems and coriander seeds to a paste. Stir in curry powder, MSG, if using, oyster sauce, fish sauce, oil and salt and mix well.

Remove chicken halves from brine and drain well; transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add marinade and toss to coat. Marinate, refrigerated, at least 8 hours, but no more than 16.

Cook the meat: Preheat a grill to low, using gas, charcoal or wood. Grill the chicken halves over low heat, flipping and watching carefully — it will take about 1 hour. To help with even heating and creating a sort of hot smoker, you can cover the chicken with a lid as it cooks. To tell if the chicken is done, check the color of the flesh between the thigh and the breast: The juices should run clear and the meat should look opaque. Once done, the chickens can be hacked through the bones with a Chinese cleaver.

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