It’s a little bit bit exhausting to explain what Syd Suntha does. His day job is operating his Kottu avenue cart, which serves curry chopped up with roti, greens, and spices. However he’s perhaps most well-known for throwing an over-the-top 36-course Wu Tang dinner a pair years in the past, out of which got here another popular culture–themed dinners. He additionally hosts the Seattle Restaurant Podcast, which is without doubt one of the greatest sources of unfiltered opinions from Seattle-area cooks and restaurant house owners. He’s at all times doing one thing, and now he’s doing one thing new: Goose Swimsuit.
The title is a deep-cut I Assume You Ought to Depart reference, from a sketch the place “buff boys” placed on pretend muscle shirts — “goose fits” — for an absurdist pageant. The metaphor right here is that Goose Swimsuit is a form of “pretend fancy” getup, Suntha says, that he’s placing on his Kottu cart beginning on November 1.
The thought is impressed by the well-known meals stall scene in Japan, the place non permanent eating places with sit-down seating are frequent. The way in which it’ll work is that there shall be 4 seats in entrance of the cart, and in a form of improvised chef’s counter expertise Suntha will cook dinner three programs — an appetizer, entree, and dessert — in entrance of diners. The meal plus a nonalcoholic cocktail curated by booze-free bottle store Cheeky and Dry will run visitors $45. (To-go meals will even be accessible.)
The menu may have nothing to do with Kottu — Suntha describes it as a “chaos menu” with “bizarre taste combos.” His inspiration, he says, comes from his backstage catering gigs, the place “it doesn’t matter if it’s like, genuine Chinese language or genuine Mexican — simply make it style good.”
Although Seattle doesn’t have the meals truck tradition of, say, Portland, there are many carts and vehicles roaming the streets. However even those with everlasting parking spots and a few seating don’t usually provide prix fixe menus or cost prix fixe costs.
“At first I used to be actually apprehensive about doing a $45 meal,” Suntha says, however “the extra suggestions I’m getting, it’s like, 45 bucks ain’t dangerous for 3 programs.”
There are a number of causes Suntha is taking a break from Kottu. The primary is that cooking the way in which he does on the cart entails always chopping up meat and greens on the grill has taken its toll. “I simply slam my fist right into a metal plate for eight hours a day and it’s caught as much as me — my joints and every part hurts,” he says. Past the bodily side, Suntha has been becoming bored of constructing the identical dish again and again, and winters are sometimes gradual seasons for his cart anyway, making it an excellent time to experiment. Kottu will return when seasonal farmers markets begin up once more, Suntha says.
Goose Swimsuit shall be on the Fremont Sunday Market from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each week beginning in November, with different places TBD. Observe Goose Swimsuit on Instagram for updates.
